Tom Cruise pushed Thandie Newton into ‘terror and insecurity’
Actor Thandie Newton has spilled the tea on Tom Cruise, and his behaviour on the set of 'Mission: Impossible 2'.
Actor Thandie Newton, who worked with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible 2, has said in a tell-all interview that Cruise made her feel 'insecure' on the sets of the film. "I was so scared of Tom," she told Vulture.
Narrating an incident from the set of the film, directed by John Woo, Newton said that they were shooting a scene together, and it wasn't going well because the lines weren't very good, and the results made Cruise angry. "So this scene was happening, and Tom was not happy with what I was doing because I had the sh**tiest lines," she said, adding that Woo was unavailable for support because he didn't speak English.
At one point, she said, Cruise got 'so frustrated' that he proposed they switch roles, and that she play his character and he'd play hers. "And it was the most unhelpful … I can't think of anything less revealing," Newton continued. "It just pushed me further into a place of terror and insecurity. It was a real shame. And bless him. And I really do mean bless him, because he was trying his damnedest."
She said that at the end of the day, she called filmmaker Jonathan Demme and told him how terrible the experience had been. "Jonathan was like, 'Thandie, shame on you for not backing yourself.' He was really sweet," she said.
And then Cruise called. Newton was expecting an apology, but all he said was "We're going to reshoot this next week." She continued, "And the next time we shot it, I went in there and I just basically manifested all the — because I realized what he wanted. He just wanted this alpha b*tch. And I did as best as I could. It's not the best way to get the best work out of someone."
She said that Cruise wasn't 'terrible', but that he was under a lot of pressure to feel liked. "He was a very dominant individual," she said. "He tries superhard to be a nice person. But the pressure. He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done."