Reading a script? Mission: Impossible.
Tom Cruise revealed that he has directors read scripts to him when he’s considering whether to take on a new project.
“What I do with directors and writers is, I don’t read the scripts. I have them read it to me,” Cruise, 64, said during an appearance on Jason and Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast Sept. 18.
“I have them read it to me because I don’t want my ideas to invade it yet. I want to understand: What is their communication? They’ve been working on it, and they have things that are just there,” he explained, gesturing toward his head.
Tom Cruise (pictured above on “New Heights”) revealed to Jason and Travis Kelce that he has directors read scripts to him rather than reading them himself. New Heights/ Youtube
Cruise explained, “I have them read it to me because I don’t want my ideas to invade it yet. I want to understand: What is their communication?” New Heights/ Youtube
The “Digger” actor said he puts himself in the shoes of a moviegoer while listening to the script.
“I’m a popcorn guy. I’m a meat-and-potatoes popcorn [guy],” he said, explaining that he asks himself, “Is it moving me, or am I invested? Am I not invested? Where am I engaged? Where am I not engaged?”
“That’s just who I am,” he added.
Cruise (seen above in character in “Digger”) said he puts himself in a moviegoer’s shoes while listening to the script. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Cruise (pictured above at a trailer launch event for “Digger” in Burbank, California) explained that he asks himself, “Is it moving me, or am I invested? Am I not invested? Where am I engaged? Where am I not engaged?” Getty Images for Warner Bros. Pictures
Cruise said he also likes to hear the wardrobe and lighting departments’ plans for a particular scene and understand “their take on it.”
“We get to a place where I start to understand and then I’m like, I know how to contribute to that motion now,” he continued. “It sparks ideas and I kind of have certain ideas that I have and certain things that I’d like to play with and then I don’t necessarily talk about it. I just do it.”
Just days before his “New Heights” appearance, Cruise was spotted chatting with Travis’ wife, Taylor Swift, in a VIP suite at Arrowhead Stadium during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Sept. 14 game against the Denver Broncos.
Cruise (seen above arriving at the London premiere of “Digger”) said he also likes to hear what the wardrobe and lighting departments’ takes are on a particular scene. / SplashNews.com
“We get to a place where I start to understand and then I’m like, I know how to contribute to that motion now,” Cruise said. Brett D. Cove / SplashNews.com
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Their conversation immediately had fans wondering what they were talking about, with Cruise later explaining on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” that Swift was “schooling” him “on football” and calling her a “genius.”
“I hadn’t been to a football game since pre-COVID, where I was working and everything, so to get to hang out there and have that moment, it was a lot of fun … she knows her stuff,” the “Top Gun” star said.
He also revealed that Swift told him she knew nothing about football when she first met Travis and that the Chiefs tight end was “so patient.”
“I said, ‘I’m sure he was.’ I think everybody would be very patient [with her],” Cruise said.
Cruise was previously spotted chatting with “New Heights” co-host Travis Kelce’s wife, Taylor Swift, during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Sept. 14 game. Brett D. Cove / SplashNews.com
Cruise also confirmed last week the long-standing rumor that he’s “intense” on film sets. Brett D. Cove / SplashNews.com
The Golden Globe winner previously confirmed long-standing rumors that he’s “intense” on film sets in a GQ cover story published Sept. 15.
“Even when I was a kid, they were like, ‘Oh, come on, Tom. You’re so intense.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know what to say. I am intense,’” he told the outlet.
Cruise added, “I work hard, and people that work with me, they know. I expect a lot, and I’m up-front about it. It’s like, ‘The rumors are true. And do you want this?’”