20 Questions: Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise was burned out. The previous day's shooting on "The Color of Money," a sequel to "The Hustler," in which he costars with Paul Newman, had run into the early hours of an icy Chicago morning. Now, what the 23-year-old actor wanted most was some sack time. But it would have to wait. Instead, in preparation for his talk with Contributing Editor David Rensin, Cruise had reserved a suite at the Ritz-Carlton and had ordered coffee, tea, orange juice, croissants and assorted fruits. He wore cuffed-and-pleated slacks, a red shirt and cowboy boots. His hair was cut close, and he sported a goldplated stud in his pierced left ear. "It's something my character, Vincent, wears," he offered. "After this is all over, I may just let the hole close up."

1.

[Q] Playboy: Once and for all: Are you part of the Brat Pack?

[A] Cruise: It's something that the press made up. I want no part of that or this Brat Pack. Putting me in there is absolutely absurd and it pisses me off, because I work hard and then some guy just slaps me together with everybody else. We're all different. Paul Newman said to me, "The only way you are going to survive is learning how to get thick-skinned about some things." If I seem angry now, it's because I've been working very hard, I'm tired and the whole thing is just so much bull. This used to bother me a lot more. But one morning I woke up and said, "Why am I giving these guys the power? Forget it."

2.

[Q] Playboy: Do you have any free career advice for your peers?

[A] Cruise: Take big risks. You've got to. I'm constantly looking for material that will expand me. I want my characters to be fresh and real. Was it Spencer Tracy who said, "Acting is great. Just don't ever let anyone catch you doing it"? So it's a matter of constantly searching for characters who will let me explore different aspects of myself. What makes an actor's performance interesting is the choices. Once I've done something, I don't want to do it again. That just bores me. I like feeling nervous and excited about my roles. When I find good material, it wakes me up. It's exciting. But I always ask myself why I would want to do a film. What does it offer me? What do I have to offer it?

3.

[Q] Playboy: You suggested that we ask you about the three stages of an actor's career. What are they?

[A] Cruise: This is classy. I'm stealing this from Newman. One day he comes to see me and says that the first stage of an actor's career is when he shows up on the set and says, "You should have seen the girl I was with last night. God. I didn't sleep. She was amazing." In the second stage, he's a leading man. He says, "You know, I found the most wonderful restaurant. You wouldn't believe the fish." By the third stage, he's a character actor. Now he says, "Oh, I had the most lovely bowel movement last night." Newman's a funny guy. We love telling each other jokes. We see who can tell the worst.

4.

[Q] Playboy: What can an actor---like you---still in the first stage of his career learn from watching Newman? Ever watch him cook?

[A] Cruise: Mostly, I get the sense that there's a life beyond film. He's got a family. He's had the same wife for years. To a young actor, that's inspiring. Sometimes I'm working so much that I'm alone 95 percent of the time. It's tough having a relationship, because when I'm doing a film, that's all I think about. Now, I've done only eight films and Newman's done about 60. And with each film, I can feel myself becoming more and more relaxed; so seeing him, his ease and what he's achieved, makes me think that it's possible for me.

[A] Yeah, I've watched him cook. He prepares cod and ham hocks and a fantastic steamed lobster.

5.

[Q] Playboy: You get very involved in each film you make. Since there is usually a well-defined separation of powers in the movie business, how do you get your way? What kind of resistance have you encountered?

[A] Cruise: It's always seemed natural to me to be involved. I love movies. I'm really interested in the whole film process: editing, make-up, acting, how it gets to the screen. I like working closely with a director, and that means finding one I can trust. Paul Brickman, for example, who directed Risky Business, could really listen. When I worked with Ridley Scott on Legend, I went to script meetings and talked with the writer, William Hjortsberg.

[A] Doing Top Gun is probably the best example. I don't like to be at the mercy of scripts already written. This script happened to have been written with me in mind. When I met with the producers, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, I told them I was interested in the project but that I wanted a couple of months to see where the script went and that I would commit to the film on that basis. At first, Don, who has a pretty good story sense, was a little apprehensive. But after a script meeting, he began to trust me. Eventually, I spent a lot of time going down to San Diego and the air base and coming back to L.A. with information for the script.

[A] Now I have my own development deal at Columbia Pictures. It's what I've always wanted to do.

6.

[Q] Playboy: Just how much fun can you have in a jet fighter?

[A] Cruise: Landing on a carrier deck in an F-14 has been described as having sex in a car wreck. I've always enjoyed going fast. I've always wanted to be a fighter pilot. I enjoy competition, though not in terms of war and battles---I'm not a warmonger. I just love jets and flying---in the romantic sense. During Top Gun, it was such a thrill for me to go to the officers' club in San Diego and talk with World War Two fighter pilots about combat. Now, with air-combat maneuvering, there's a computer in each plane. Everything is calculated by computer, so that combat is a huge video game. The A-4s and F-5s simulate Migs. You get the conditions: hard deck at 5000 feet. You make a head-to-head pass and enter combat. It's like two warriors jousting. You see the fighters coming down, full throttle, to the deck, the exhaust just ripping out of the planes as they tear over the desert canopy to canopy, inches apart. The key thing is to try to get nose to tail on the enemy aircraft. We've also got missiles to shoot head on. But since it's all computer-guided, there's a chance the missile won't go off. So you have to switch to guns. When you're down on the ground, you can listen to the pilots' voices in combat and see it all on a big video screen from the pilots' point of view.

[A] I took three hops while we were shooting. I also took lessons in a Cessna to prep for the film. I came close to getting my license but didn't really have enough time.

7.

[Q] Playboy: If you could ask Chuck Yeager one question, (continued on page 172)Tom Cruise (continued from page 107) what would it be?

[A] Cruise: Why are you still alive?

8.

[Q] Playboy: When are you most dangerous?

[A] Cruise: At about 160 miles an hour on my motorcycle. It goes 170.

[Q] Playboy: Say you're going 80. What goes through your head as you wind it out?

[A] Cruise: [Grins] OK, it's like this: A Porsche cuts in front of me because the guy doesn't see me. So I calmly pull up next to him and honk my horn and say, "What do you think you're doing?" But he just takes off, thinking that he's in a Porsche and I'm just on a bike. So I lay across the tank and pull the throttle back a little bit. I start to pass things. The Ninja begins to bear down as I speed up. I see the taillights of the Porsche coming closer and closer. Then, as I'm passing, I look right into the big, surprised eyes of the driver.

[A] The Ninja really holds the road, so I don't worry about balance. But I wouldn't do this on roads I didn't know, either. I just like going fast, but [Snaps fingers] anything can happen.

9.

[Q] Playboy: There have been varying interpretations of your breakthrough film, Risky Business. What would you tell a film school class the picture was about?

[A] Cruise: It's about capitalism and the idea that there has to be more to life than making money. Joel Goodsen is a kid from upper-middle-class society who has an ultimate capitalist adventure by organizing call girls---the ultimate capitalists. I love the way Rebecca De Mornay played her part, because she didn't do the happy hooker. There was sadness and reality. She asks, "Why does it always have to be so tough?" Then, when Joel says, "My name is Joel Goodsen and I grossed $8000 in one night," he is really saying that he now understands the system and that he's not going to play.

10.

[Q] Playboy: Your name has been linked lately with those of a few actresses. Would you rather have a girlfriend in or out of the movie business?

[A] Cruise: Again, the press makes things up. I haven't been in a relationship with anyone since Rebecca.

[A] I'm not really sure whether it is an advantage to be with someone in the business. I know I need someone who is adaptable, someone who can go from one extreme environment to the next and not go crazy. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and want to work. Other times, I can sleep for days. And I'm always going from one location to the next. I want someone extremely bright and creative. That kind of woman is likely to be pursuing her own vision in life, which for me is ideal. I don't want someone living for and depending on me for everything, because I do need a lot of time alone.

[A] But just as I'm still at the beginning of my career as an artist, it's the same in relationships. I'm not looking to get married right now. But I love to be in love. That's what makes it all worth while. Outside of a high school sweetheart I went with for about seven months, Rebecca was my first serious girlfriend. Living with her was fantastic. She's bright, talented. I've since dated women other than actresses---no, not the check-out girl at the local market. [Laughs] Lawyers, writers, artists. But in the final analysis, it's just the person, isn't it? Who knows? One day, I'll just be walking down the street and there she'll be.

11.

[Q] Playboy: Whose company do you enjoy more---women's or men's?

[A] Cruise: Women's. I like the company of men, but I prefer women. Maybe it has to do with having three sisters. I trust women easier than men. Also, I got to see all the stuff they went through. I know that women are at their worst in the morning. [Laughs] I used to talk with my sisters about women. I saw how they liked to be treated, what upset them. We were close. And now I am very careful with the women I date. I treat them the way I would want my sisters to be treated.

12.

[Q] Playboy: We loved the train scene from Risky Business. Whom would you like to have directed in it?

[A] Cruise: [Long pause] Hmmm. Who would I like to see make love on a train? Sean Penn and Madonna? Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd? Actually, I see more of Kim Basinger and... Paul Newman. I'll throw him in there so he can have a good time. [Laughs] Whom else do I want to do a favor for here? The list will be long and distinguished.

13.

[Q] Playboy: Sunglasses have often been part of your movie attire. How many pairs do you actually own? Do you lose them often? Ever been asked to do any eyewear ads?

[A] Cruise: I have only one pair now, sort of wire-rimmed but not aviator style. The lenses are black. They do the job. Sometimes I have a second pair, because my shades are always getting lost or crushed. I won't do ads. I'm an actor and not into that kind of stuff.

14.

[Q] Playboy: Do you have a favorite acting-profession joke?

[A] Cruise: A guy is in a bar, talking to the bartender. He seems down and out, and the bartender is concerned. "The problem," the guy says, "is that I have an I.Q. of 185 and I can't find anyone to have a decent conversation with." Just then, the guy two seats away pipes up, "An I.Q. of 185? Mine's 184." So they start talking about Star Wars technology, black holes in space, theoretical mathematics. Farther down the bar, another guy says, "I have the same problem. My I.Q. is 135 and I can't find anyone to talk to." But a guy a couple of seats away says, "One thirtyfive? Mine's 134." So they talk about their new BMWs, the best pasta, vacations in the Hamptons. Finally, a guy near the end of the bar says, "Wow. I have the, uh, same problem. My I.Q. is ... 85, and there's, uh, no one to talk to." But the guy next to him says, "Eighty-five? Mine is ... 84 ... can we talk?" "Sure," says the first guy. "About what?" "I don't know," says his new friend. "Let's see. Uh ... been on any good auditions lately?"

15.

[Q] Playboy: Defend Sean Penn.

[A] Cruise: He got a bum rap from the press with Racing with the Moon. The film didn't do well, not just because he wouldn't promote it. He did his job. He did hard work. If you feel comfortable doing interviews, fine. But if they make you nervous or you have nothing to say, why should you be pressured into doing them? Now everything he does is blown out of proportion. It must be a drag. And now that he's married Madonna---the wedding with all the helicopters, it was absurd. Though when you marry Madonna, it is pretty hard to keep things private. It was a beautiful setting, but the helicopters made it difficult to hear what was being said. But she's perfect for him. They're in love. The last time I saw Sean, he was really calm, feeling good about himself, focused, getting ready for another movie. What's important is the work an actor does. There he delivers.

16.

[Q] Playboy: What's the most ridiculous rumor you've heard about yourself?

[A] Cruise: On the set of Top Gun, Duke Cunningham, a Naval ace, came up to me and said, "Congratulations, Tom, about your new house."

[A] I said, "My house?"

[A] "Yeah, didn't you just buy a house next door to Cyndi Lauper in Connecticut?"

[A] I said, "Wow. If I did, it must have been a hell of a night last night."

17.

[Q] Playboy: When you cook to seduce, what's your meal of choice?

[A] Cruise: I make reservations. A bottle of Château Lafite at dinner is also nice.

18.

[Q] Playboy: When in your career has a movie critic gone too far?

[A] Cruise: I read a review of my dance number in Risky Business that somehow failed to talk about my work. After I'd worked so hard to create a character, that was frustrating. Critics are supposed to educate the audience by discussing what they like and don't like about a film. But when one comments on the clothes I wear or how I talk, then I feel like saying, "Hey. Just do your job." I don't read a lot of reviews, because if I believe all the great ones, then I have to believe the bad ones. I want people to like and respect my work, but I essentially do films for me.

19.

[Q] Playboy: In Risky Business, Joel was urged to adopt the attitude "What the fuck." Was there a point in your life at which you did the same?

[A] Cruise: I think my whole life is "What the fuck." My family traveled. Each year, I was the new kid in school. I knew there was always going to be some jerk who would take a cut at me. Someone was going to say something weird about my sister. I learned early on just to take a deep breath and go for it.

20.

[Q] Playboy: OK, let's see if you'll go for this: If you could be any woman you wanted to be for a day, who would that be?

[A] Cruise: The perfect woman.