[영화 대본] ‘Tom Cruise: The Last Movie Star(탐 크루우:즈: 마지막 인기 영화 배우,2023)‘ 결말 부분

[BRUCE]

In August, 2005, summing up

the wider public's reaction

to these events, "Vanity Fair"

ran the cover story,

"Has Tom Cruise

lost his marbles?"

For the first time, the kind

of public view of him soured.

I don't think he was able

to really process that.

Like "Why have people got

a problem with what I'm saying?

Usually, everything's fine."

He was a figure of ridicule

to a certain extent,

and suddenly, he's this weirdo

jumping on couches

and attacking Brooke Shields,

and yeah,

people start to turn on him,

and this is

his audience turning on him.

This isn't just like people

who never liked him

turning on him.

This is the people

who liked him turning on him,

and it puts him in a tough spot.

And this is a huge thing

for all huge stars.

If you don't have somebody

around you to say "no"

or to take you aside and say

"You're going

down the wrong path,"

left to their own devices,

like any of the rest of us,

you're going to make

a lot of big mistakes

and he made huge mistakes.

And although

this crisis erupted

just as he was promoting

his new Spielberg blockbuster,

"War of the Worlds",

it didn't affect that film's

commercial fortunes.

The following year however,

with the shockwaves having

spread across popular culture,

Cruise returned to the big screen

with "Mission: Impossible 3".

And although

it turned a profit,

it was the least successful

film in the franchise so far

and was considered

a disappointment

by its studio, Paramount.

I don't think you

can discount this kind of

souring of opinion on Cruise

having an impact

on "Mission: Impossible 3".

The reviews were strong,

but for whatever reason,

the buzz was muted.

There was certainly

a real world impact

in terms

of Tom Cruise's reception.

Was "Mission: Impossible 3"

an underperformer

because of how it was

associated with the PR stuff?

Maybe. Do I think it killed

the film? No.

But even if

it didn't kill the film itself,

the backlash did kill Cruise's

deal with Paramount Pictures.

The studio had signed an

exclusive distribution agreement

with Cruise/Wagner Productions

back in 1992,

and as the scandal escalated,

this crucial partnership

was terminated.

Sumner Redstone,

who was the head of the company

that owned

Paramount Pictures, saying

"This guy

is hurting our brand."

Amazingly,

the number one brand in movies,

all of a sudden,

is considered to be a liability.

So he was in a real

career crisis at the time.

The fall from grace

was complete.

Immediately firing

his sister Lee Ann,

the star was in

crisis management mode.

Looking for a new deal,

Cruise/Wagner Productions

was thrown a lifeline by MGM,

who approached them

to revive the floundering

studio, United Artists.

Yet, their first film

of this new arrangement,

Robert Redford's

"Lions for Lambs",

with Cruise on board as

both producer and co-star,

met with a tepid critical

and commercial response.

And then, in late 2006,

when he appeared

to be running on empty,

he was contacted by

Christopher McQuarrie,

an award-winning writer-director

at a similar low ebb.

It's interesting, you see

these stories in Hollywood,

where people

who have been through the mill

and had a great success

and then,

are kind of on tougher times,

will turn to each other.

Because Christopher McQuarrie

wins the Academy Award

for "The Usual Suspects",

one of the greatest screenplays

of all time.

And now, here's somebody,

it's only 10 years

after he won the Oscar,

and he can't get arrested

in Hollywood.

He had a big success

with "The Usual Suspects",

which he wrote, and

then tried directing himself.

And he made a film,

which I think is brilliant,

called "The Way of the Gun".

It wasn't a hit

for any number of reasons.

It was a very dark picture,

it was very grimy,

but for whatever reason,

he ended up in director's jail.

And it was a very long time

before he made another picture.

The project

McQuarrie brought to Cruise

was "Valkyrie",

an historical thriller

focused on a real-life plot

to assassinate Adolf Hitler

by a group of

rebel Nazi officers.

Cruise agreed to finance

the film through United Artists

and took the lead role

with McQuarrie's "Usual

Suspects" partner, Bryan Singer,

on board as director.

And although early reports

were negative,

upon its release,

"Valkyrie" proved

a minor critical

and commercial success.

I think "Valkyrie" is just

a rock solid studio programmer,

and it kind of reminded people

that, "Oh wait, that's right.

Most Tom Cruise

movies are good."

I think, in a lot of ways,

"Valkyrie" may prove

to be one

of the last gasps, for now,

of Tom Cruise, actor,

as opposed to

Tom Cruise, action star.

- They will wipe you out.

- It doesn't matter.

It only matters

that we act now

before we lose the war.

Otherwise, this will

always be Hitler's Germany.

And we have to show the world

that not all of us

were like him.

That is not enough for me.

There has to be

a chance of success.

Then find a way.

Even though

it didn't do huge business,

it wasn't a complete bomb,

and I think that, in a way,

that was almost good enough,

that it wasn't a complete--

it got mostly good reviews.

It did fairly well.

It did okay,

so I think, because

expectations were so low,

it might have

worked in his favor.

I think the arrival

of Christopher McQuarrie

in the Cruise story

is absolutely huge.

I think Cruise and McQuarrie

is just an amazing partnership.

It really made Cruise turn

a corner from that bad period.

So while "Valkyrie", which

actually is a pretty good film,

while that film wasn't

a particular success, and again,

has been kind of forgotten about

in the Cruise story,

however that film turned out,

I think that that relationship

was established.

And although Cruise

had a key new creative ally,

the road to recovery

would not be simple.

Following the release of

"Valkyrie",

the United Artists deal

fell apart,

and Cruise split

with his long-term partner,

Paula Wagner.

Without his own production company

to launch films

that he could control,

he was now thrown back into

the uncertain acting world,

auditioning for roles

in studio projects,

like "Salt" and "The Tourist".

He eventually took the lead

in "Knight and Day",

alongside Cameron Diaz,

before entering discussions

with Paramount

to return to the "Mission:

Impossible" franchise.

But when the film was released,

it was a commercial

and critical disaster,

and many questioned

whether Cruise would ever

be able to headline

a blockbuster again.

It's interesting

with "Knight and Day",

because on paper, you'd think

this is a surefire hit.

He's reunited with

Cameron Diaz from "Vanilla Sky"

in a very

different kind of movie.

She's so likable and has

done all these great comedies

that were huge hits,

but for some reason--

and it's not a good film--

I think Tom Cruise found out

people either wanted

to see him playing in

a romantic comedy or a drama

or in an action film

with real consequences.

I think the failure

of "Knight and Day",

it certainly upped the ante

in terms

of what he needed to achieve

with "Ghost Protocol",

the fourth "Mission:

Impossible" film,

bearing also in mind

that it's the

"Mission: Impossible" film

that follows

the least successful

"Mission: Impossible"

film as well.

In that sense,

he had to go back

to the series

that he'd set up himself,

had now come to define him.

He has returned to that,

but he had to make it better

than it had ever been before.

And in December, 2011,

"Mission: Impossible -

Ghost Protocol" was released.

At the premier and in

its promotion,

Cruise was front

and center once again.

Yet, ongoing doubts

at Paramount

over its star's popular appeal

had seen initial versions

of the script

sideline his character,

Ethan Hunt,

and the final cut

was a very different film

than the original concept.

It was supposed to

originally be

Ethan Hunt's last appearance

in a "Mission:

Impossible" movie.

So they brought in

Jeremy Renner as somebody

who would step up and

become a new team leader.

If you look back

on that idea now,

it seems completely absurd.

Renner is a terrific actor,

but he doesn't have

the kind of charisma

that Tom Cruise does.

That's what you need in

a "Mission: Impossible" movie.

You need charisma.

You need him to be Ethan Hunt.

Having

repaired his relationship

with Paramount kingpin,

Sumner Redstone,

during the production

Cruise drafted in

his new creative partner,

Christopher McQuarrie,

to rework the script and

shift the focus back onto Hunt.

Yet, after five years of

underwhelming

box office returns,

"Ghost Protocol" was still

a pressure project for its star.

But when it opened,

it became the biggest hit

of Cruise's entire career.

"Ghost Protocol" is

incredible,

because it's the fourth

installment of a franchise.

Usually it's by three

that things really

fall off the edge

with most great franchises.

And here's "Ghost Protocol",

the fourth entry

in the franchise,

and it's the best by far.

If none of the other movies

had been made

and it was just

a standalone film,

it would be considered one

of the great action thrillers

of all time.

If you argue

that "Mission: Impossible 3"

marked the end of Tom Cruise

as an unimpeachable,

matinee idol movie star,

"Mission: Impossible -

Ghost Protocol"

basically saved his career.

And with

"Incredibles" director Brad Bird

at the helm, the focus

of this fourth installment

was action.

And where "Mission: Impossible

3"' had been light on stunts,

with his return

to the franchise,

Cruise pulled out all the stops.

Brad Bird kind of

conceived "Ghost Protocol"

as this set piece machine.

In the series,

I think that is the one

that most acknowledges

that what people love

about these movies is seeing

Cruise and company squirm

out of really

difficult situations.

I think it has some of the

best stunts in the whole series.

I think him climbing

the Burj Khalifa is

really hard to top, actually.

I think he's been

trying to top it since,

and I don't think

there's been a sequence

in the franchise that's

as exciting as that sequence.

Okay, now remember,

it's a rolling off motion

that disengages the bond.

When the meter is blue,

that's full adhesion.

Easy way to remember--

Blue is glue.

- And when it's red?

- Dead.

Here's your cutter, okay?

And your server interface

both going back here.

One, two.

Okay, Ethan,

the hotel server's

11 stories up

and seven units over.

Okay?

- Com check?

- Yeah, copy.

So...

"Ghost Protocol"

gave Tom Cruise his mojo back

by letting audiences see his

fear and laugh with him again.

None of the gadgets work,

none of their plans work.

They're constantly perplexed

and flustered

and on the brink of death,

because nothing around them

goes right.

He's relatable again.

And I think he transitions

from Tom Cruise

to being almost like

an American Jackie Chan.

Yet,

at almost 50 years old,

Cruise was still determined

to provide the audience

with a performance of

remarkable physicality.

What's amazing about

"Ghost Protocol" is,

at this point, it is probably

the most physical performance

he's ever given.

It's interesting,

because we don't say,

"You know, that Tom Cruise,

he's got a lot of star power

and energy for his age."

He just does,

and I guarantee

a lot of 30-year old actors

are sitting around going,

"What is it with this guy,

that Energizer Bunny thing?"

We actually believe

he could chase down

the 26-year old bad guy

from behind, because he can.

I think it's absolutely

astonishing that Cruise,

at the age that he was

when he made "Ghost Protocol",

was doing the kind

of things that you would

only expect an actor

in their 30s to do,

that even he wasn't

doing himself in his 30s.

So it just adds to this idea

of him being ageless.

The character of

James Bond is ageless

because they keep recasting

new people as it.

The character of

Ethan Hunt is ageless

because he's Tom Cruise.

With some

of the best reviews

he had ever received

and a worldwide gross

of nearly 700 million dollars,

"Ghost Protocol" provided

Cruise's career

with the shot in the arm

it so desperately needed.

The reaction to his

adrenaline-fueled performance

also provided him with

a roadmap for future success.

Yet, when 2012's "Jack Reacher"

and 2013's "Oblivion"

divided critics and failed

to attract large audiences,

it suggested

that Cruise's career revival

was a work in progress,

rather than a certainty.

In 2014, however,

he returned to the big screen

with the high-concept

science fiction thriller

"Edge of Tomorrow",

and critics instantly

hailed it

as one of the strongest films

he had ever made.

"Edge of Tomorrow"'s

a terrific film,

based on some

great source material.

It's kind of

a "Groundhog Day",

except with much higher stakes.

Adapted

from the Japanese novel,

"All You Need is Kill",

Christopher McQuarrie

was once again drafted

into the script writing team.

And the film's narrative,

of a cowardly military officer

caught in a time loop

after dying on the battlefield

during an alien invasion,

allowed Cruise to probe

his own onscreen persona.

"Edge of Tomorrow"

in some ways, I think,

is sort of a culmination

of Cruise's career.

That movie is Tom Cruise,

I think, acknowledging

and even playing with

the audience's

love-hate relationship

with him.

At the beginning of the movie,

he's playing this kind of

slimy military big wig

who has been sort of

thoughtlessly propagandizing

for this war that's

causing the death of

thousands of people

every day,

and he is drafted into the war

and dies on the battlefield.

And I think those

early scenes very much play

with the idea

that there probably is a portion

of the audience

that doesn't like Cruise,

that would really

relate to being allowed

to dislike a Cruise character.

The film plays to

multiple aspects of his career

and elements of

his versatility as an actor.

Come on!

The ship is going to explode!

What are you doing?

Find me when you wake up.

What?

Come find me

when you wake up.

It is an interesting way

to do it,

because he's doing it

within the context

of this surreal,

fantastical situation,

where he's

just constantly dying

and having to repeat this day

over and over and over again.

And through that,

he builds up his expertise,

which is also such

a Tom Cruise thing to do.

It is totally like

the young cocky Tom Cruise,

him going from that to the sort

of man-of-action Tom Cruise.

It's all about him sort of

redeeming himself

in a way, that, I think,

as a movie star,

he kind of has over the years,

at least in some people's eyes.

But despite rave reviews

and positive word of mouth,

"Edge of Tomorrow"

was yet another disappointment

at the box office.

"Edge of Tomorrow"

continues to confound me,

in terms of why

it was not more successful.

It's one of his strongest films.

It's a great performance.

It's one of

his funniest performances.

The film's really smart.

It's a great sort of sci-fi

setup, alien invasion film.

And again, Christopher McQuarrie

was involved

in working on the script.

So they've taken it

and spun it and twisted it

and done everything interesting

they can do with it.

He had a great co-star

in Emily Blunt.

So there's all these things,

and yet,

for some reason,

it doesn't add up

to a box office success.

But obviously,

it's become, over time,

appreciated and recognized.

And I guess it's one

of those weird things.

It's a Tom Cruise cult hit.

And although

the film did gain in stature,

its initial struggle

to attract an audience

demonstrated how

the landscape was changing.

When Cruise's career was

revived by "Ghost Protocol",

back in 2011,

the Marvel Cinematic Universe

was only five films

into its unprecedented run

of releases.

By 2015, it was king

of the box office

and soon to be joined by

a raft of remakes, revivals,

rival superhero universes,

and the return of "Star Wars".

Refreshing original

star vehicles

like "Edge of Tomorrow"

stood little chance

of getting noticed

amidst the appeal

of the familiar.

The studios are

trying to find things

that people are

familiar with and then,

just making more and

more and more of them.

This does also

change the star system.

Stardom is defined not

so much as

this actor making

whatever they want,

but it becomes this actor

playing this character.

Mr. Robert Downey Jr.!

The paradigm has shifted

in a really big way,

in terms of Hollywood's

relationship to movie stars.

I do think that audiences

don't necessarily require it

in the same way

they used to,

and it is about

the intellectual property,

it's about the characters.

Now, some of the films

are good,

some of the films are bad,

some of the films

are middling,

but it's almost like

it doesn't matter.

The best Avengers movie

and the worst Avengers movie

both make a ton of money,

and it doesn't seem to matter

if one is better than the other.

Marvel's success

also happened to coincide

with people no

longer going to the movies

to see regular movies.

So it wasn't just that Marvel

was taking over

the blockbuster ecosystem,

which fine, whatever,

but they were basically

taking over cinema in general,

because the people that

would've seen everything else

stopped going

to the movies.

Now, within this world,

Tom Cruise, I think,

understands that people like

to see him playing Ethan Hunt.

And Cruise returned

in the "Mission: Impossible"

franchise once again,

in the summer of 2015,

with "Rogue Nation".

Upon its release,

it was surrounded

by high-profile

comic book blockbusters.

But unlike

"Edge of Tomorrow",

it didn't struggle

to find an audience.

"Mission: Impossible" had

become one of the most popular

and lucrative franchises

in the entire film industry.

And Cruise's nearly

20-year tenure as Ethan Hunt

was unprecedented.

It took some amount

of foresight

to put himself

in this position,

because he made his first

"Mission: Impossible" movie

in 1996,

and he sticks to it.

Through thick and thin,

he sticks to it, and now,

suddenly, he is essentially

kind of a superhero.

With Christopher

McQuarrie not only scripting,

but also taking the reins

as the film's director,

it proved another critical

and commercial smash hit.

And "Mission: Impossible"

was now more popular

than it had ever been before.

"Rogue Nation" absolutely

built on "Ghost Protocol", 100%.

To be honest,

it's been escalation ever since

with those films.

"Ghost Protocol" was the best

"Mission: Impossible" movie

up to that point, then

"Rogue Nation" comes along,

and it's the best

"Mission: Impossible" movie

up to that point.

That is the film

when you realize that

this franchise has

become an ensemble franchise.

They take this ensemble cast

and turn them

into a surrogate family,

and you want to spend time

with all of them.

It's interesting,

because the first film

is about sort of

killing off the idea

of "Mission: Impossible"

as a group franchise.

It's all about Tom Cruise.

It felt to me like

a process of figuring out

which characters people liked

and kind of getting that perfect

configuration over the years.

And then, at a certain point,

you get a core team

that people really like.

And "Rogue Nation"

wasted no time

in introducing this core team.

The opening scene,

when they're

waiting for the big plane

to take off,

first, you see Simon Pegg.

You're like, "Ah,

I remember that character.

I like him."

Then you see Jeremy Renner,

"Ah, I liked him

in 'Ghost Protocol'.

I'm glad he's back."

And then you see Ving Rhames.

"Ah, Ving,

always happy to see you."

And then, you see Ethan Hunt.

Can you open the door?

- Ethan, where are you?

- I'm by the plane.

Benji, can you open the door?"

And it's a perfect

introduction to the movie.

And then, you have

this crazy ass stunt.

Benji, you open

that door right now!

Yeah, I'm trying.

There's a collaborative

quality to these films,

and really, Tom Cruise is there

to provide some emotional throughline

and also to do like two

or three big stunts.

And

into this ensemble,

"Rogue Nation" added both

charismatic veteran Alec Baldwin

and an electrifying newcomer,

Rebecca Ferguson,

as British agent Ilsa Faust.

That's probably the first

"Mission: Impossible" movie

where the most interesting

character isn't Ethan Hunt.

Pretty much everybody's

favorite character

in that film

was Rebecca Ferguson.

She's a brilliant character.

She leapt off the screen,

she looked great,

and she was very sexy, but she

wasn't there as a sex object.

She was there because

she was a really capable agent,

almost as impressive as Ethan

Hunt himself, one might say.

Cruise is

smart enough to know,

he's always been

smart enough to know,

if the whole movie is good,

if everyone else in it is good,

it will raise your profile,

it will raise your ship as well.

These films have

helped regain some of his mojo,

by being, again,

willing to step back

and let somebody else

be your favorite character.

But although

"Mission: Impossible"

had now firmly reestablished

its blockbuster credentials,

Cruise's appeal away from the

franchise still looked shaky.

A 2016 sequel to "Jack Reacher"

performed even more poorly

at the box office

and killed off

the franchise,

while the following year's

"The Mummy" opened

to the worst reviews of

the actor's entire career.

So, following a well-received

starring role in the smaller,

more mature feature,

"American Made",

in 2018, it was announced

that Cruise was

due back at movie theaters

once again

as Ethan Hunt in

"Mission: Impossible: Fallout".

And this time, during

the film's promotional campaign,

an injury he sustained

during the production

became a key selling point,

highlighting more than ever

his unique daredevil appeal.

The world we live in now,

I think,

where all of this pre-release

information is out there,

it doesn't surprise me

that they would weaponize

the fact that he hurt himself.

There's a certain morbid

fascination with the fact

that he keeps doing this,

and how far is he going

to take it?

The stunt itself

wasn't that remarkable, really.

It was Cruise jumping from

one rooftop to another rooftop,

but compared with

hanging off the Burj Khalifa

or clinging to

the side of a plane,

it seemed pretty mundane,

relatively speaking.

He did the jump,

and it went a little bit wrong.

He broke his ankle,

and then,

and this is the amazing thing,

pulls himself up,

and ever the pro, he doesn't go,

"Oh, God, I've broken

my ankle, guys. Stop rolling."

He carries on.

He gets up and runs,

so that

they can complete the shot.

And that to me is sort of

the defining attribute

of Tom Cruise's

career in a nutshell,

is that he will break

his leg to entertain you.

Cruise was willing

to go further than that.

With the key ensemble returning

and Christopher McQuarrie

at the helm once again,

"Fallout" featured

a blistering array of stunts

and set pieces, including

a high speed motorbike chase,

a helicopter battle,

and a dangerous

halo parachute jump,

all performed

by Cruise himself.

"Fallout",

just for the record, I think,

is an absolutely

astonishing film.

It's almost up there with

"Mad Max: Fury Road" in my mind

as just being

a masterpiece of action cinema.

The film is terrific.

The action sequences

are incredibly creative,

and because they're doing

a lot of this stuff for real,

it has a kind of immediacy

that really translates

to the audience.

When you're watching the film,

you feel the danger.

You feel the danger

for these characters.

I watched "Fallout" convinced

Tom Cruise was going to die.

The idea that he's

this kamikaze daredevil

who's just like you,

but he's willing to do

these crazy things

that you won't do

to make the best movie possible,

that plays very well.

And "Fallout"

did play very well,

both the highest-grossing film

in the franchise,

and in 2018,

the highest-grossing film

of Cruise's entire career.

And when he hit the publicity circuit

with his co-stars

to promote it,

he was already in production

on another blockbuster,

the long awaited sequel

to "Top Gun".

Having resisted a follow up

to the iconic '80s hit

for 30 years,

Cruise had finally signed on

to return

as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.

But in February, 2020,

the COVID pandemic hit

and everything

ground to a halt.

There are much

huger problems with COVID,

real-life tragedies,

but for the industry,

it was a crisis

that the movie industry

had probably never seen ever.

Productions

were paused and theaters closed,

leaving a huge backlog

of unreleased films.

A lot of major studios

and a lot of big films,

they were saying, "Well,

it's better to get it out.

Let's put it on Disney Plus.

Let's put it on Hulu.

Yeah, it was shot

for the big screen,

but we can't just sit

on these movies."

With streaming

services thriving

due to a captive audience,

the fate of the cinema industry

hung in the balance.

In the summer of 2020,

when restrictions were being

tentatively lifted,

the release

of Christopher Nolan's "Tenet"

was the first real test

of whether audiences

would return to theaters.

And Cruise,

keen to show his support

for the big screen experience,

issued a video

on his social media.

It's hugely heartening

to have seen Cruise

go out there

and bang the drum.

There was an element

of that kind of caution,

but at the same time,

it's like,

"Well, we can't let

this entertainment form,

this art form, die, can we?"

He's a champion of cinema,

of movie making,

and of the thousands of jobs

behind the scenes

that go with making movies.

And as a producer,

Cruise was acutely aware

of his responsibility to

those working on his films.

He had been keen

to restart shooting

on the next

"Mission: Impossible" film,

in an effort

to keep the industry going,

with the production governed

by strict health guidelines.

But in December that year,

audio was leaked from the set

of Cruise berating crew members

for not

following COVID protocols.

The clip quickly went viral.

You would've

thought, certainly, whatever,

looking back on what

happened in 2005

or looking back

on other incidents, like,

for example, Christian Bale.

Again, he was someone

that got caught ranting

at a crew member.

Those things,

they don't really come out well.

People quite rightly say

"You shouldn't be like that.",

But what's really

interesting with Cruise

in this instance,

he came out of it pretty well.

I think the vast majority

of people out there were like,

"He's looking out

for the safety of people.

He's trying to keep this production

from being shut down,"

which happened with

a lot of major movies.

He's saying what other people

probably wanted to say

on that set and couldn't say,

because

he could get away with it.

So I think it actually

worked in his favor.

After his

reputation had been so damaged

in the early 2000s,

this response was evidence

that Cruise

had turned a corner and

that public opinion

was back on his side.

And his standing

was further enhanced

when he continued to

resist the opportunity

to sell "Top Gun: Maverick"

to streaming,

holding out for

a theatrical release.

As the producer

and the star that he is,

he had the heft

to prevent

that from coming out

and just going straight

to streaming.

Cruise knows that his

particular kind of entertainment

that he offers plays better

on the big screen.

The Burj Khalifa scene

in "Ghost Protocol",

that's not going to play

the same on your TV at home.

At a time that cinema

is endangered,

when the streamers have

eaten away so significantly

into global cinema box office,

Cruise's insistence

on keeping "Top Gun"

and not releasing it

until there was

an opportune moment,

it was sort of a case

of Cruise to the rescue.

And Cruise's

instincts were right.

Having held back for two years,

when "Top Gun: Maverick"

was released

exclusively to cinemas

in May, 2022,

it went ballistic.

I was absolutely

blown away by it

as a theatrical experience.

It's spectacular.

Visually, it's spectacular.

It's also a very good movie.

It made perfect financial sense.

It made perfect artistic sense.

It made perfect

showmanship sense

to hold off on the release

of that film

until you knew people

could go into theaters safely.

"Maverick" is a really slick

legacy sequel

that's trading on people's

affection for an old movie,

but it's doing it with

this kind of romantic sincerity

that a lot of them don't have.

It's a very canny

piece of nostalgia.

When you see him first

in the beginning of the movie,

this really rousing

main theme that comes up

and whips off that tarp

and the old motorcycle is there

and he's zipping around,

and it got to me.

He took the IP and

the nostalgia as a challenge

to say, "Okay,

we already have this.

Can we still

make a good movie?"

And for

the first time in his career,

Cruise's return to

the role of Maverick

in his late 50s would

specifically focus on his age.

We're definitely

getting a more mature Cruise.

In "Maverick", he's gone

from being the cocky upstart

character to being the mentor.

What the enemy

doesn't know

is your limits.

I intend to find them,

test them, push beyond.

Today, we'll start

with what

you only think you know.

Show me what you're made of.

One of the things

that it does with Tom Cruise,

it acknowledges that he's

an older man

than he was in the '80s,

while at the same time

defying that.

- Break right!

- Breaking right!

Rooster

just saved your life, fellas,

but it's going to cost him.

Not this time, old man.

"Top Gun: Maverick", everybody

knew was going to do well.

Everybody figured would probably

get fairly good reviews,

but it exceeded

all expectations.

Now, here's this guy.

First of all, he looks--

people see him and go,

"Jesus Christ.

How does he look like that?"

We believe him

on the motorcycle.

We believe him in the cockpit.

Even though we had

already known

that this guy

is a huge movie star,

it's like, "Wait a minute,

he's not just a big star still.

He's the biggest star."

And that was confirmed

when "Maverick" pulled in

a staggering $1.5 billion worldwide,

becoming one of the highest

grossing films of all time.

At 59 years old,

Cruise had achieved

his biggest hit to date,

but the shockwaves

of the film's success

sent ripples across

the entire industry itself.

The figure who had stood

through COVID

as an ambassador

for the cinematic experience

now stood at the forefront

of its revival.

While other franchises

appeared to be running on empty,

Cruise's relentless work

ethic was the driving force

behind his film's

remarkable popularity.

One of the reasons

I think the Marvel movies have,

the more recent ones, have been

a little bit less successful

is that they've

operated under the assumption

that they don't

need to be as good,

that people will show up

no matter what they are,

and that's kind of

the anti-Tom Cruise perspective.

Cruise is,

whatever you think of him,

Cruise is very much like

"We have to give

110% to everything."

The whole, "I have to

be up there in the jet,"

I think, is

an extension of that idea,

is that truly entertaining

people is about

giving all that you have

to give to them.

And as

the industry tried to process

just how "Maverick" had managed

to become such a phenomenon,

Cruise himself was reeval‎uated.

Having been written off by

many only a decade beforehand,

he had won back his audience

and risen to new heights.

Headlines and

articles were emphatic,

declaring that not only

had Tom Cruise saved cinema,

but that he was

also the last movie star.

And as he embarked

on completing

the next two

"Mission: Impossible" films,

it was announced that, afterwards,

he would be retiring

from the role of Ethan Hunt.

It'll bring his historic involvement

in the franchise to a close,

the longest consecutive run

that any actor has played

a single character on screen,

and complete another stage

of his remarkable career.

And whatever Cruise does next,

despite his age,

he is certain to bring

the same dedication and daring

that has made him

the most distinctive movie star

in the world.

Part of me thinks

that Cruise won't stop.

He does not seem like

a person who is capable

of turning this off.

A part of his appeal as

a star is a mania about him.

It's why I've always said

that the Tom Cruise

jumping on the couch,

that Tom Cruise

is not that different

than the Tom Cruise we see

in the "Mission:

Impossible" films.

That level of enthusiasm

and that mania

exists

in his performances too.

He's been going for five decades,

but what's remarkable

is the level of success

that he's had during that time.

There's been a lot

of talk through the years,

like,

who's the last movie star?

I think, with Tom Cruise,

it's a much more apt label,

because of the way

the business has changed.

Even though there are tons

of great young actors

and actresses in

their 20s and 30s,

there's almost no way

they're going to have the career

Tom Cruise has had.

There's so much emphasis

on these huge franchise movies

that there's not that much

room for the star system.

So in a lot of ways,

Tom Cruise probably

is the last movie star.

I don't think Tom Cruise

is the last movie star,

but I do think that Tom Cruise

is the last of his kind.

And I think a lot of the big

stars that came in his wake,

like Matt Damon and DiCaprio,

followed the Tom Cruise playbook

of being an actor first

and a movie star second.

And I think, once he retires,

I don't think we're ever going

to see another like him.

He's such a unique

and singular figure

in the industry that I don't

think he's replaceable.