Actors spilling the tea that Tom Cruise is a pain in the arse to work with isn’t anything new, but Thandie Newton’s recollection of working with him on Mission: Impossible 2 is wild on a whole different level because her anecdotes include Scientology, how he was a “nightmare” to work with, and his supernatural ability to grow zits.
Speaking of wild stories, the GOAT team talk about the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell and what it all means on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
In an absolutely sensational interview with Vulture that covered everything from racism to her thoughts on Crash, it’s Thandie Newton’s anecdotes about working with Tom Cruise on Mission Impossible II that really sends everything off the rails.
After talking a bit about working with Paul Haggis, the problematic director of Crash, Thandie revealed that Tom Cruise was really into sharing Scientology stuff. Apparently he was so extra about it that he gave Thandie a “book with the greatest hits of Scientology” for Christmas to which she responded with this gem of a reaction:
“I was curious, because it’s like, ‘Wow, if it’s going to attract people, powerful, high-profile people, there’s got to be some glue that sticks this shit together’. Didn’t find any.”
Okay, we knew that Tom Cruise was into his Scientology stuff already so that’s not a surprise. What was a surprise was Thandie’s recollection of being “scared” while working with him on Mission: Impossible 2.
Noting how there was a lot of frustration while on the set due to poorly written scenes, a director who didn’t speak English, and Tom being over-the-top with his perfectionism, Thandie recalled being super “angry” with her co-star and vice versa because she “had the shittiest lines.”
Apparently it got so bad that Tom simply took over during rehearsals and played Thandie’s part while forcing her to play his role, an experience that “pushed [her] further into a place of terror and insecurity.”
But the pièce de résistance of Thandie Newton’s Tom Cruise anecdotes is the one about his supernatural ability to grow zits.
During the filming of a scene, Thandie recalled she noticed seeing “this slight red mark on his nose” at the beginning of the night and how that mark became a “big whitehead where that red dot was” by the end of the night.
As impressed as she was with Tom’s “fierce” metabolism, Thandie ended up calling legendary director Jonathan Demme to talk about the zit story and how she viewed that night as a “nightmare.” Demme reassured her she’s doing fine with some tough love (“Thandie, shame on you for not backing yourself”) and it helped Thandie get through Mission: Impossible 2, though she admits the environment she was in was “not the best way to get the best work out of someone.”
Having said all that, Thandie Newton did stress that Tom Cruise “wasn’t horrible” and was just “really stressed” about making Mission: Impossible 2 good. In fact, she had nothing but nice things to say about Tom’s then-wife, Nicole Kidman, who actually got her the role in the film ironically enough.
The Tom Cruise stories alone are worth their weight in gold but Thandie Newton’s entire interview with Vulture is arguably the best thing published in 2020 and you should definitely read it all right here.
Always be in the loop with our snackable podcast breaking the biggest story of the day. Subscribe to It’s Been A Big Day For… on your favourite podcast app.