Transcription de l'émission :
Michael: My first guest is living proof that the American dream can come true. A dyslexic boy with an unsettled childhood,
he became the biggest film star in the world. He has made 27 movies grossing more than four billion dollars at the box office.
His latest film is called Collateral, in it he plays a professional killer, making the rounds with an unsuspecting cabbie. (Excerpt from Collateral)
Michael: Please welcome Tom Cruise. (Applause)
Michael: Must be like a home fixture for you!
Tom: Thank you it's very nice. 
Michael: What about the movie? We saw a clip there, you with grey hair; it's like a preview of the Tom to come.
Tom: I guess so, it's gonna happen.
Michael: You play a wonderful sociopath, wonderful in the sense that he's a very interesting character,
a multi-layered man and he's really quite charming, an articulate man isn't he?
Tom: Well you look at these anti-social personalities and they aren't just one-dimensional.
They bring chaos into our lives. One quote, Churchill said he was glad he'd never met Hitler because he might have been 'charmed by the little devil'.
So that interested me in playing a character like this that they're not just one-dimensional.
Michael: But also too he's a sociopath so there's a connection there that's rather loose,
it's not like that rest of us but he doesn't see himself that way. He argues with a cabbie about the rights and wrongs of his job.
'I get rid of scum,' he says. 'What's wrong with that?'
Tom: Yeah. That's the thing; you look at people like that.
You've got to almost not listen to what they're saying necessarily but look at what they create in the environment.
You know, if they're in business what are their products? Are they wreaking chaos or are they bringing sanity?
And Vincent is someone who doesn't bring sanity, he bring chaos.
Michael: Mm, what about the allure of a part like that? I mean, obviously you are Tom Cruise,
the biggest film star in the world, you're a big producer, you're a big wheeler-dealer in Hollywood, the biggest. (Tom laughs)
Michael: Well you are that, you've got more clout then anyone else.
I mean four billion dollars at the box office ain't hay, as they say, so people listen.
But my point is that you must get a thousand scripts and what makes you choose that from the thousand scripts you get.
Tom: I just read something and I respond, I have an emotional response to it.
The first time I read something I read it as if I'm an audience. Michael Mann sent me the screenplay with photographs of Los Angeles.
Originally the film took place in New York City and when he moved it to LA he sent me an art motif,
it was an art motif of what he wanted and it really evoked a lot of emotion and that's how I decided.
And I read it again and I look at the character and it's not necessarily an analytical choice for me it's just do I feel is this something and
a lot of times I don't really analyse it till later.
Michael: And yet later on what you do do is spend lots and lots of time analysing your characters.
You even write a history of your characters.
Tom: Yep, I build up a whole history.
Michael: What's the history of this sociopath?
Tom: (laughs) Well you know the story of this film takes place in 10 hours so you have to create the
40 years prior to that to inform the scenes and finding out certain moments. When does this character become fractured?
Does he become fractured and how and why? So you create a whole background and do a whole lot of research,
I spent five months with Michael Mann and I had weapons training. You train, train, train and work and structure a character.
I mean, as a character he came from Indiana and it informs the choices of the kind of suit he wears you know and so all that history will inform
his behaviour. So that when you show up and you start working then it just happens.
Michael: The relationship between him and the taxi driver is the fulcrum of the film,
it's the very heart of the movie and it's about two very disparate characters. One who's a very gentle and kind and quiet man and the other,
as you say, who is a chaos bringer. There's some lovely scenes between you and this guy, let's have a look at one of them. (Excerpt from Collateral) (Audience applause)
Michael: So that's the counterpoint of the story that builds the film to an extraordinary climax.
Tom: Yes, it's interesting when you look at characters like people who have no sense of responsibility for what they've done.
I really find people want to justify, everyone thinks they're right and they justify what they do, you know finding that,
that urban ironic humour was something Michael Mann and I discussed and worked very hard to capture that but it had to be totally embodied within
the character of Vincent. But it is that counter, I mean Max is that middle class American where as you look at
Vincent who came from that very lower class, was the kind of background that informs these scenes, his whole philosophy of life.
Michael: You are such a man of the movies. I mean you grew up in the movies didn't you? I mean you started at such a young age.
Tom: I always loved movies.
Michael: You did. 
Tom: I mean I'd cut grass and deliver newspapers so that I could save my money and go to see movies.
I never thought that one day I'd be acting in them and have that opportunity, ever.
Michael: So it was just a dream?
Tom: It was just I dream. One day I'd saved money and I was going to go to France and I was going to ride a bicycle through
France and I had saved about $900. And I thought, you know what, I'm gonna go to New York and I'm gonna try it.
Went to fifteen different schools and I just went and it was, actors hate hearing this...
It was actually my first film audition and I got the role. (Everyone laughs)
Tom: I mean what's so difficult about this? What's so hard?!
Michael: It's interesting too that you had the problem of dyslexia as a child. How bad was that?
Tom: It was fascinating. You know they wanted to put me on medication when I was young and my mother said no.
And at that time, unfortunately now in the United States they can ask you not to go to school unless you are medicated.
And I was fortunate that I didn't and I did everything that I could. And then when I became a Scientologist there's a study technology that
L. Ron Hubbard developed and I started applying that and I realised that it's just a label dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, ADD,
there's no science behind these things whatsoever.
Michael: And they are curable?
Tom: Yeah, what it is, it's about having the proper tools available to be able to educate yourself.
Michael: When you talk about Scientology you're used to the response you get, that you're some kind of nutcase,
some kind of lunatic fringe religion thing.
Tom: Used to the response? I mean, that's bigotry! That's the religious equivalent to racism.
Michael: I mean it's what people say.
Tom: No, I think that's what they say to you, they don't say that to me. (Laughs)
Michael: I'm representing a point of view; it's not necessarily my point of view.
Tom: I think it's an uninformed point of view and it's something that,
well I've been a Scientologist for twenty years and it's something that's helped me in every aspect of my life,
whether it's study technology, the things that I'm interested as a man, which is drug rehabilitation,
the rehabilitation of crime, the rehabilitation of education. You know you look at the character of Vincent and I'm the antithesis of
that as a man and so it's something that has helped in every aspect of my life.
Michael: Well, quite obviously so. I mean, how bad was the dyslexia?
Tom: I was a functional illiterate and there are different levels of that.
I remember for Top Gun I wanted to go and learn how to fly a airplane for research and it's very difficult,
I'd just sit there listen and try to pick things up and a lot of times I wouldn't say things,
I'd just try to pick things up. Now I'm a commercially rated, instrument pilot.
I fly P51s and I run three companies and I've worked very hard and I actually help families and educate them on the horrific aspect of
psychiatry misdiagnosis and putting kids on these psychiatric drugs. Medically, I've been, it's harder getting kids off these drugs.
Sometimes you need a medical detox before you do that. We have an easier time getting people off heroin than methadone and these psychiatric
drugs and I've worked very diligently to educate people about this because it leads to drug abuse, children fail just the same on these drugs
and it leads to significant complications.
Michael: When you are back in your childhood before you took this journey. And that kid was looking at movies,
I suppose, Errol Flynn, and that kind of stuff.
Tom: Casablanca! Have you all seen that? Beautiful movie, Ingrid Bergman, I was in love with her.
Michael: Who wasn't? I had her on my show. I just stared at her and didn't say anything for several minutes.
Now, you used to do impressions didn't you, as a child?
Tom: You want me to do impressions? Billy Connolly's coming on later and he's funny!
I used to do impressions of Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne and Jimmy Cagney and Woody Woodpecker and Donald Duck.
I used to do Donald Duck as John Wayne. (Audience laughs)
Michael: How does that go?
Tom: Oh, you're terrible! You all don't want to hear this do you? Audience: Yes
Tom: I'm hoping you'll let me off the hook. OK, OK.
Tom: (duck voice) Ah phew! (Audience laughs)
Tom: (duck voice) Hello Parky!
Michael: That was very good. (Audience laughs)
Tom: You know I need a little warm up there.
Michael: Now let's get all the embarrassment over in one go right now. You're first role was in a song and dance, in Guys and Dolls.
Tom: Oh I'm not going there man! (Audience laughs)
Tom: Yes I played Nathan Detroit. Isn't Billy Connolly coming on soon?! How does the first song go?
Tom: (sings) Luck be a lady tonight... (M joins in) (Audience applause)
Tom: We should go on the road!
Michael: The other thing that's interesting about your life is the company of women. You were brought up by your mum.
Your dad - they were divorced. You lived with your mum and your three sisters.
Tom: Yeah, my Mom worked three jobs too, she was an amazing woman. We all worked.
Michael: Obviously she was an amazing woman, bringing up these children, working and she was broke, no money at all.
She brought up very nice, decent children; I've only met you and your sister. And when you think about it that's an extraordinary achievement isn't it?
Tom: She really taught me how important it is, it's not what you get out of live but what you give to life in terms of helping people.
Michael: But what was it like being the only guy?
Tom: Well, ladies, it was great! Amazing women each distinctly different and beautiful. But you know they're going to get all the hot water! (Audience laugh) You learn to do things very quickly. When a door knocks you get out, you have to be very patient. We were very close, we travelled around a lot and I always felt very protective of my sisters and they of me. The girlfriends that I brought home were scrutinised to an intolerable degree.
Michael: Talking about being with all these women. I read somewhere that they used to make you go through kissing practise!
Tom: Not them! Their friends. They were at that age when they wanted to practise for their boyfriends.
So at the end of school I'd sprint home when I knew their friends were going to be there and the friends would take me into the bathroom and
practice how to French kiss and you know, you have to breathe when you're kissing. The first time I kissed I thought I was gonna pass out!
I was holding my breath; this girl was very patient with me. So sisters have friends, it's a good thing.
Michael: When I read about you it says you had this fractured childhood but I think you had a ball.
Tom: I had a great time.
Michael: I wish I'd had some practise like that! (Advert break)
Michael: In your business of making movies what you know and what the audience knows is what you're aiming for all the time,
those moments in movies. We talked about Casablanca, I mean that moment you see Ingrid Bergman. We've all got our favourite moments.
Can you guarantee them? Can you manufacture them? Or do they just come out of nowhere?
Tom: No, it's a good question. You work, you work and you work to just create an environment
where a moment will happen and you just discover these moments. And you set up and ideal scene and you drive towards that.
Michael: I think a lot of people's favourite moment is that moment at the end of Rain Man and I want to ask you about that. (Excerpt from Rain Man) (Applause)
Michael: It's still moving isn't it? You haven't seen that for a while.
Tom: I haven't seen that for ten, twelve years.
Michael: And that wasn't rehearsed where you touched heads?
Tom: No that wasn't rehearsed, that just happened, we just shot it. A lot of that film was like that,
we knew the story but we were writing and rehearsing and adlibbing as we were going along.
You work towards having those moments and you hope that they work and they communicate.
Michael: Another film about relationships as your latest film is about relationships.
Can I talk to you about your relationship with your father? When I read about you your mother comes out as this very large figure,
your father is more in the background. Is that how it was or was that just how it's been told?
Tom: No, that's how it was. My mother was there. You know, she was the strength, the guide, that's how it was.
For her, no matter what happened, I mean she's not Pollyanna, she's not a bluebird about life but she really looked at life as her cup being half full.
And she loved being a mother and loves still being a mother and that's how she is as a person.
Michael: And your father wasn't like that?
Tom: Yeah, I'm not saying he was a bad person but she is the one that helped us.
Michael: And when they divorced you didn't see your dad?
Tom: No, I saw him right before he died in Kentucky and it was tragic for him, he looked at what he missed out on.
I believe that people are basically good and you see what they do to themselves and when he finally had that realisation as a father,
as a man, what he had created for his life it's tragic, I felt for him. He's my father and I loved him most definitely.
Michael: And you were reconciled?
Tom: Absolutely. I feel no... I'm reconciled with him absolutely.
Michael: What affect did coming from that fractured background have on you as a father? I mean has it made you more overprotective?
Tom: I travelled around a lot and the benefits of that are incredible. To be able to see and meet a lot of people, even from a little kid.
I've never met 'normal'. Every person I ever meet has a story to tell, some adventure, some part of life that is extraordinary in some way.
I don't know what this normal is. I think people are all unique and very special, so you could say...
Michael: So do you regard your life now as normal?
Tom: No I have an exceptional life, an extraordinary life and my whole life has been extraordinary.
Michael: What is so extraordinary is how you have to live it. I talked to Nic, Nicole Kidman your...
Tom: Yes I know she's my ex-wife! (Audience laughs)
Michael: She said that when you went sightseeing in Rome you had to go at midnight because if you went by day you'd be mobbed.
Tom: Yes. (Audience laughs)
Michael: I mean that's strange, do you remember that?
Tom: I do remember that, I mean sometimes that happens, it's an exciting life and you get to meet a lot of people,
a lot of wonderful people and it has benefits like that. I mean, who doesn't want to see the Colluseum at night? It's fun.
Michael: You'd probably get arrested.
Tom: I thought I was gonna get arrested actually. She teased me because I climbed over the thing and she flashed the lights
to pretend to be the police and I thought I was gonna get arrested. (Laughs)
Michael: You're a well-known opponent of gossip. And you sue people who gossip about you.
Where do you draw the line in terms of gossip?
Tom: I dunno, it really started with the kids, when I started thinking OK, things that are going to affect my kids.
I always ask for an apology.
Michael: You're single now.
Tom: Am I? Yes.
Michael: I just wonder finally, does getting married again figure in your plan?
Tom: Oh yeah, I'm getting married this weekend! (Laughs)
Michael: Can I be a bridesmaid?
Tom: Yes!
Michael: Do we know the person involved?
Tom: You'll find out this weekend. No, I'm not getting married this weekend.
Michael: But you'd like to again obviously.
Tom: Yeah, I'd like to. I like marriage, I like relationships. I enjoy having that dynamic with a woman,
it's very beautiful and sacred and I want that in life.
Michael: Good, well, Tom Cruise I've really enjoyed talking to you, I really have. Tom Cruise. (Applause)
Tom: Thank you so much; it's a great pleasure. I'm really honoured to be part of this, Ingrid Bergman and all people who have come on.
You are a legend, you are a legend. (Applause)
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