The Many Faces of Tom Cruise

On the recommendation of a friend, I recently started listening to podcasts at work. If you didn’t know, I’m a dishwasher at a busy-ish restaurant so the podcasts have really helped distract from the tedium of the endless dish cycle. I was listening to Marc Maron’s interview with actor (and former clown) John C. Reilly, in which he talks to Reilly about the separation of his private life from his acting career. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the dichotomy of public/private. When Maron asks him how old his kids are, Reilly replies: “they’re private citizens until they’re old enough to tell you how old they are”. Reilly like many actors prefers to keep his identity out of the public sphere to fully embody his roles. When you see Dr. Steve Brule you don’t necessarily think, “Oh there’s John C. Reilly doing a silly voice.” This is because John C. Reilly is a self proclaimed “character actor”. You see this term being thrown around a lot and everyone has a different definition. William H. Macy said semi-facetiously that character actors are just people who aren’t attractive enough to be cast in lead roles. Reilly sees a causal link between “character acting” and privacy. Character actors are actors who don’t let their private persona influence or dilute their roles. But I think with acting, the self inevitably finds its way into a performance. Despite his aversion to the public, John C. Reilly is a famous actor. There is a John C. Reilly-ness to all of his roles, however intangible that might be. Film as a medium revolves around the close-up. We develop a relationship with faces. As a film student I’ve been told to focus on the eyes because they’re what the audience connects to most. I swear this is all going to connect to Tom Cruise. Give me a second. Jeez.

So Character Actors, Celebrity, Privacy, Faces, Eyes. All of this had me thinking about stars. What does it mean to be a star? What separates a star from a “character actor”? I think I agree with John C. Reilly. It’s this intimate knowledge of an actor’s life, a lack of privacy. The world of celebrity that we live in. It’s why the Dalai Lama is famous, but Kanye West is a Celebrity. And when I think of celebrity actors I think of Tom Cruise. 

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Tom cruise is the star of stars. And that means we know him intimately, not only the Tom who starred in countless films but the Tom who jumped up and down on Oprah’s couch professing his love for Katie Holmes. The Tom who is the veritable face of Scientology. The conflict over his daughter. The gay rumors. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. There's drama on and off the screen. However, it’s hard to argue against his insane filmography. He’s worked with the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, Paul Thomas Anderson, etc. I mean he’s been an A-List actor for over 30 years. Who else can you say that for? He barely even looks different!  

He might be an alien. But he’s an alien who’s managed to stay relevant for longer than I’ve been alive. He’s done that by developing a cult of personality around himself, almost like brand recognition in marketing. The ethos behind stardom is exactly the inverse of character acting. You don’t want to blend in and become the character. You want the character to become you. So when we see Tom Cruise on screen we are watching Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible (1996), Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt in Rain Man (1988), Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire in…you get the picture. It's always him up there. While that might usually distract the audience, Cruise makes it work and in fact I would say it's his bread and butter. The Cruise Factor®. Tom Cruise’s face is his livelihood, his brand. There’s even a rumor that TC has a clause in his film contracts that promises a certain percentage of screen time for his face. Now I can’t substantiate that rumor but it would not surprise me at all. Take TC's first hit, Risky Business (1983). The film opens with a slow track out of Cruise's face wearing those trademark sunglasses. And since then, no one has ever forgotten that face. The movie itself is a little dated. Pretty much your standard white male fantasy. But there are some genuinely weird and funny moments that still hold up. There's this scene where Cruise is basically running a brothel out of his parents house and an admissions officer from Princeton shows up (awkward!!!!). The guy tells Cruise he's not exactly ivy league material and Cruise makes this ridiculous face and says, "Guess it's University of Illinois!" 

“Hold on!” you say. “He’s so blehhhh though. I can’t stand Tom Cruise films”. That’s fair. I’m not trying to win you over on Cruise, just understand him a little better. I think TC is such a polarizing figure because he puts so much of himself into everything. His acting, his public persona. It’s so uniquely him. He can definitely get a little tiring, especially when he’s on some press junket spouting Scientologist nonsense about how much he can help people. But I think he’s an important actor because of the bravado, the swagger, and the magnetism that he brings to his roles. I watched Top Gun (1986) for the first time recently and GOD is it bad. In the film he plays a fighter pilot named Maverick who (wait for it!) always goes by his gut and never listens to the higher ups! Honestly some of the least subtle writing I’ve ever heard. BUT I kept watching for some reason and I think that has to do with the Cruise Factor. Despite the ham-fisted plot and characters, I was able to hold onto Cruise’s sheer presence to get me through the film. 

When I was researching Cruise I found that he had aspirations to become a priest before his acting career. And that totally makes sense to me. He has all of the charisma of a preacher and a sort of religion around him. I want to imagine some kind of superhuman being that got bored with its life in another dimension so decided to spend its time on Earth becoming a movie star. But Cruise is just a guy. And like any of us, he’s influenced by his upbringing. It's why he's so natural in front of the camera. Maybe his role that's closest to priest is Frank T.J. Mackey in Magnolia (1999). Creator of “Seduce and Destroy”, Mackey is a pickup artist and motivational speaker who coaches sad, lonely men on how to get "pussy". It's a disturbing, visceral performance that I'd say is some of TC's best work.  I think this kind of character is so natural for him to access because it encompasses so much of his true personality. The magnetism, the bravado, the passion. 

Another facet of TC's personality that I want to explore is his daredevil streak. Yes, he really does do his own stunts. TC is the Richard Branson of the entertainment industry. An eccentric insanely rich person who's addicted to adrenaline. Here's a picture of Cruise on top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (tallest building in the world) for Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011).

I know it looks photoshopped but it isn't. Cruise is anything but subtle, in his performances and personality. This calls back to public vs. private. The two seem to merge in Cruise's life and I would argue in the lives of most superstars. On screen Cruise becomes off screen Cruise. This is the caveat of stardom; you lose the option to keep your private life private. When you think about it there's an entire industry devoted to cultivating celebrity worship. And this idolization is so dangerous because it leads to paparazzi and tabloid harassment. The same industry that promotes superstardom turns a blind eye when the shit hits the fan. Mental health is often neglected in the pressure cooker that is Hollywood. It's fine to idolize, all I'm saying is we need to remember that stars are the same as us.

I want to end this post by discussing Jerry Maguire (1996), a movie that I only saw for the first time recently. Jerry Maguire was the initial reason why I wanted to write about Cruise. I love this movie. Before all of the sappy Rom-Coms of the early and Mid 2000s, there was Jerry Maguire. But what sets this movie apart is it's actually fucking SINCERE. Cameron Crowe's filmography is spotty but he struck gold with this one. Sure it's corny. It has all of the tropes you've seen a million times. But I think it invented a lot of them. It's not just a romance though, there's so many angles to this film. There's the romance between TC and Renee Zellweger, the comedy, the sports drama, the underdog story. A lot of movies try to juggle genres like this, but I would argue none keeps all the pins in the air like ol' Jerry Maguire. If no other Tom Cruise movie proves his range and actual raw ability, it's this one.

You had me at hello.

Thanks for reading, I love you. 

P.S.

In no way do I endorse the Church of Scientology or TC's involvement in it. For a private organization, they are very powerful and downright shady. Besides taking money from rich people, they have been known to abuse their own members and harass their critics. This is a strange world we live in folks. Think for yourselves and don't buy into bullshit. Hope I don't get put on a list!