Tom Cruise

Cruise plays Ethan Hunt in this thriller, directed by J.J. Abrams. Hunt has to stop a villain who possesses a deadly virus that causes death 24 hours after exposure. Hunt is engaged to a  nurse named Julia, who thinks he is a highway traffic control engineer. But once she is captured, Ethan must put himself in jeopardy and release the “Rabbit’s Foot” to the villain. Co-starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Michelle Monaghan.

 I really wanted this one to be more personal. When I started Mission: Impossible, I had never done sequels. But with this, there’s always the potential of a new adventure to go on. I’m fascinated by this genre. And when J.J. Abrams came on board, I was so excited, because I had seen his work before. Here’s this filmmaker who also loves this genre, knows it better than anyone, and has this incredibly unique voice. He can tell a story in the way of the great pulps of the Twenties and Thirties. Very tight, layered, relevant and resonant, but not pretentious.

Tom Cruise stars as John Anderton, a Washington, D.C. detective in this sci-fi thriller set in 2054. Anderton works for “Precrime,” a special unit of the police department that arrests murderers before they have committed crime. When Anderton discovers that he has been identified as the future killer of a man he’s never met, he is forced to become a fugitive from his own colleagues as he tries to uncover the the victim-to-be’s identity. When he kidnaps Agatha (Samantha Morton), one of the precogs, he begins to formulate a theory about a possible frame-up from within his own department. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Co-starring Colin Farrell, Max von Sydow, and Neal McDonough.

I thought when I read it and then read the short story it had great potential–very cinematic. I thought, “Oh, man I’d love to see what [he’d do] with this. What would this world be like? What will he create with that?” It was a film that for a director was very challenging. You’re creating this world, and yet it has great characters for an actor, for performance…it’s not a walk-in-the-park kind of film to make. Spielberg knows how to tell a story. It was his choice to [set] it in 2054 and make it so that people could identify with it–not this removed world, but relevant to our lives. You can see how the guy can just really tell a story.

Cruise plays Ethan Hunt in this thriller, directed by John Woo. Hunt is an operative for the top-secret government agency IMF. Fellow agent Sean Ambrose steals a virus named Chimera that could rapidly wipe out the world’s population. Ambrose’s plan is to sell Chimera to the highest bidder in exchange for shares of stock in the winner’s company. Hunt is assigned to recruit the help of Ambrose’s former lover Nyah Nordoff-Hall, who left Ambrose broken-hearted. Once he meets and spends a night with Nyah, however, Ethan is smitten, and now must both capture Ambrose and keep Nyah alive. Co-stars Dougray Scott and Thandie Newton. Director John Woo on Cruise doing his own stunts:

To establish that he is a real person. He enjoy life, enjoy the nature, he has dreams, he has passion, just like any young man in the world. So, that’s why he Tom Cruise like to do every shot by himself.

Cruise plays Dr. Bill Hartford in this erotic thriller by Stanley Kubrick.  When Dr. Hartford discovers his wife’s sexual fantasies, he sets out on a quest to quench his own desires.  He finds himself skirting the edges of an elite secret society that wishes to remain that way. After many close calls, and disturbing situations he finally abandons his quest and confesses himself to his wife.  Co-starring Nicole Kidman as Alice Hartford and Sydney Pollack and LeeLee Sobieski

People thought that making the film was the beginning of the end of my marriage, but I don’t really think it was. Tom and I were close then, and it was very much the three of us. Onscreen, the husband and wife are at odds, and Stanley wanted to use our marriage as a supposed reality. That was Stanley: He used the movie as provocation, pretending it was our sex life — which we weren’t oblivious to, but obviously it wasn’t us. We both decided to dedicate ourselves to a great filmmaker and artist.

Cruise plays Lestat de Lioncourt, in the film adaptation of the Anne Rice novel. Lestat is an ancient vampire in a tale told to a modern day reporter Daniel Malloy by one of his “children,” Louis.  He tells Malloy of how it came to be that Lestat would change him.  Based in colonial Louisiana, the tale goes on to tell of a young plague victim named Claudia whom he also turns.  The trio travels to Europe to seek out more of their own kind and find far more than they bargained for.  Co-starring Brad Pitt as Louis, Kirsten Dunst as Claudia, Christian Slater as Daniel Malloy and Antonio Banderas as head-vampire Armand. Anne Rice comments on the casting of Pitt and Cruise.

…the worst crime in the name of casting since ‘Bonfire of the Vanities,’…   casting Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer…

Cruise plays Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a military lawyer defending two U.S. Marines charged with killing a fellow Marine at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Although Kaffee is known for seeking plea bargains, a fellow lawyer convinces him that the accused marines were most likely carrying out an order from a commanding officer. Kaffee takes a risk by calling Col. Nathan R. Jessep, played by Jack Nicholson, to the stand in an effort to uncover the conspiracy. Co-starring Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak, James Marshall, J. T. Walsh and Kiefer Sutherland. Nicholson:

He will out-everything you. He will outwork you, outthink you, outstunt you and outnice you. If you’re an athletic, 25-year-old production assistant, he will outsprint you in front of the entire crew.

Cruise plays Irishman Joseph Donnelly in this turn of the century love story directed by Ron Howard, also starring his wife, Nicole Kidman, as his traveling companion Shannon Christie.  The plot takes viewers from the events in Ireland that lead up to the couple’s fateful trip to America. The two get to know and love each other as they face crime, poverty, jealousy and bad luck on their way to stake their claim in the Oklahoma Land Run of 1893. Kidman:

Finally when I got to work with him I learned that he works from this level of fun.  He’s always got people laughing.

Cruise plays Vietnam vet, Ron Kovic, in this autobiographical drama by Oliver Stone. The film follows Ron from his decision to enter the Marines through the war until he is injured and paralyzed from the chest down. After a lengthy stay in the deplorable conditions of the VA hospital, he returns home to find that nothing is the same, or even as it seems to be.  He struggles with physical, emotional and mental changes for years before finally coming to grips with his life and the world around him.

For me I wanted Ron to be happy. I wanted to be sure that he felt good about it and also Oliver felt that way.