Every week we take a look in the RTÉ Guide archives to check out the stories from years gone by. On this week in 1996, the Guide's Michael Doherty went to Madrid for an exclusive interview with one of the biggest film stars in the world - the one and only Tom Cruise. But initially it looked like the interview might not happen....
"I'm sorry sir, I don't see your name here.' The scene is the Ritz Hotel in central Madrid. Inside, Tom Cruise is getting ready for a select round of interviews with members of the European press corps," wrote Doherty. "Outside, the fans have gathered, keen to get even the briefest glimpse of the mega-star. Security is light, but those hacks with appointments are managing to filter their way through the thin grey line. But she doesn't see my name there. It's 42 degrees in the shade (of which there is precious little), my shirt and my back have become indistinguishable, and the Spanish PR girl doesn't see my name there. The situation could have come from Kafka. Then someone arrives with another list on which the blessed words "Doherty, lrlanda" are inscribed, and I breathe again."
Doherty was in Madrid for the launch of what would become one of the biggest film franchises of the last thirty years. "Tom Cruise is in Spain to promote the European run of Mission: Impossible, a film on which he is heavily involved as both actor and (for the first time) producer. You can always tell when a big cheese has entered the building because the staff are on edge. There are up-and-coming actors who will always get the better tables; there are top-notch movie stars who will always get the better rooms; and then there are the 'I'm so big I can get you fired if I don't like the look of you' Hollywood players. When Tom Cruise is around, everybody from porter to manager is on their best behaviour."
But Doherty stressed that Cruise was no diva. "Not that Cruise has a reputation for finicky tantrums," he wrote. "If he did, he would surely take a dim view of the artist who painted the giant Mission: Impossible mural which dominates the room in which the interviews are taking place. The portrait of the star passes muster, but big bold letters, is the monicker 'Tom Croise'. Oops. Never mind, at the appointed hour, Tom Croise, sorry Cruise, walks in, ready for action.You expect one of the richest and most famous movie stars in the world to be dressed to kill, so it is something of a disappointment when the Cruiser strolls in wearing · a lime-green v-neck jumper covering a simple white vest. His halr is slicked-back and the famous Cruise visage is adorned by a one-day stubble. The actor has only recently arrived from New York,where he wrapped his latest film, Jerry Maguire, and you get the feeling that he has not fully shaken the jet lag."
"The day following our interview, Cruise would celebrate his 34th birthday, but the man sitting three feet in front of me could easily pass for 21," Doherty continued. "And so to business. Mission: Impossible has done so well in the States that Cruise the actor doesn't need to waste his time talking to European journalists. But Cruise the movie producer is aware of the bottom line, and the success of the film in Europe will have a direct bearing on his own bank balance. and that of his new company. 'From a production viewpoint, it was the biggest picture that I had ever been involved with,' says Tom. 'In a lot of ways I didn't realise that until pre-production. As an actor I've been very involved with the development of all the films I've worked on, but never from their inception. I had been talking about starting a company since I was nineteen years old. My co-producer Paula Wagner, whom I've known for fifteen years, had brought it to my attention and I said, ·'man,this is a big deal!' The first picture you make sets boundaries for the company so the success of this film is very important.'"
In the interview, Cruise played down reports of stress on set between himself and the director Brian de Palma. "One can only guess what the final numbers on Mission: Impossible will be, but the film was not without its difficulties," wrote Doherty. "Rumours of conflict on the set between Cruise the producer and De Palma the director were rife, but the actor plays down the brouhaha. "I was happy to have Brian De Palma directing this project, and I have great respect for him," says Cruise. "But when you are making films, there is conflict. You discuss things in a way to make it better.more That's what being creative is all about. It's not about raging about it, it's about discussing it and working it out."
Cruise also discussed his personal life. At the time he was married to Nicole Kidman, with whom he had two children. "The busier the guy gets, the more determined he is to make quality time for them, and to strike the correct balance between Cruise the megastar and Cruise the family man," wrote Doherty. "'I tell you," says the actor, flashing smile to the fore, 'I've got a great, understanding wife but it's tough.It's not easy but somehow it's working. We've been together seven years and we've never been separated for more than two weeks in all that time. The kids are at a good age and they can come to the set. When I was finishing my picture in LA, she was shooting in New York (Portrait of a Lady for Jane Campion), so we would fly back and forth to each other over the weekends. Somehow you just make it work and you make each other a priority. And it's working. Also, I travel a lot. Nic and I are always on the road, if I am making a movie, she's making a movie. But I fly back and take meetings and can handle a lot of my work on the road. 'It is also quite good,' he continues, clearly warming to the subject,' because you become more efficient with what you have to do. I know what is important as far as organising my work day is concerned. You also find that you don't need as much sleep as you thought you did!"
The couple would famously separate in 2001, but Doherty saw no signs five years earlier. "Those who write about the 'inevitable failure' of the Cruise/Kidman marriage would do well to take a close look at the actor as he talks about his wife," he wrote. "Make no mistake. the man positively lights up whenever she is mentioned. And she is mentioned a lot nowadays,considering that his current project, Eyes Wide Shut, directed by the reclusive Stanley Kubrick, will pair them on screen for the third time,following Days of Thunder and, er, Far and Away. 'I'm very excited about it. I have great respect for her talent and to be able to share that is a wonderful gift." And is he worried that seeing her every day at work and every night at home might lead to strain? 'I would spend every second of every day with Nic,' is his simple answer."
Doherty seemed impressed by Cruise's professionalism and politeness. "Throughout the interview, Cruise comes across with complete confidence· and assurance (as well he might)," he wrote. "He' s generous with his responses and, unlike some of his peers, he gives the impression that he is genuinely interested in the questions that are being asked of him. When he talks about the possibility of directing in the future he gets visibly excited: 'There are a few things I am developing and looking at as possible films to direct. but I'd say that's about four years away.I'm enjoying myself so much as an actor and producer that I might wait till then.'" Thirty years later, Cruise has yet to direct a feature film.
The star was outspoken on political attempts to censor the entertainment industry. "When he discusses the intervention of politicians such as Bob Dole into the movie business, he becomes visibly agitated," wrote Doherty. "'I don't think the US government should be involved with this issue at all. I think they should rate films and say this is a violent movie and families should make sure that their kids don't see It. But governments telling people what they should and should not see disgusts me."
Doherty concluded that "the abiding impression one takes away from an hour in the man's company is that of a genuinely affable bloke who has overcome the adversities in his life - his parents divorcing when he was 11, estrangement from his father, dyslexia, and the break-up of his first marriage to actress Mimi Rogers - and channelled that energy into his career to the point where he has now become the most successful star in Hollywood, bar none. Maybe this explains, too, why Cruise is not interested in defining his success in Hollywood terms,. preferring instead to keep running with his own agenda. 'I judge my own success on a different level than simple Hollywood box-office," he explains, leaning forward in his chair. "I want the studios to make back their money, but it is the day-to-day quality of every scene that interests me. And I don't live in fear of failure.' Tom Cruise fail? Now there's a Mission: Impossible."
