The biggest movie star in the world talks about slipping into a Nazi's clothes in this Sunday MiD DAY exclusive
The biggest movie star in the world talks about slipping into a Nazi's clothes in this Sunday MiD DAY exclusive
Taking a break from his blockbuster outings, The World's Biggest Movie Star returned recently to flex his acting chops in a period ensemble film, a World War II drama no less. Tom Cruise, under the baton of X:Men director Bryan Singer, has brought the inspiring story of Nazi officer Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg to the screen in Valkyrie. 
The film centers around an unsuccessful conspiracy hatched by Stauffenberg and other members of the German Resistance to assassinate the Fuhrer.
Both Singer and Cruise (who took the part of Stauffenberg), insist the film isn't your typical historical epic, preferring instead to describe it as a 'suspenseful thriller'.
Looking relaxed in his suite at the Hyatt in Seoul, Cruise is warm, friendly and full of energy despite having landed only hours ago from Los Angeles. In less than 48 hours he'll be back on a flight, headed to Berlin. If he's tired, he doesn't show it.
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Flashing that legendary thousand-watt smile, the actor is as keen to question as he is to answer yours. He enquires about your flight into Seoul, your response to Slumdog Millionaire, and the business that Hollywood films do in India. The funny thing is he seems genuinely interested. Only fair you return the good manners...
What was it that drew you to this film?
I think what's thrilling about this film is that it's about taking down Adolf Hitler from the inside. When I read Chris McQuarrie's script, the first thing I thought about was how incredibly suspenseful it was, really a great thriller. And Bryan (Singer) is someone that I've always wanted to work with since I saw The Usual Suspects. We actually met at the premiere of Mission Impossible, the first one. And I said to him straight off, "I want to work with you." Then when I put the script (of Valkyrie) down, I thought, "This can't be true, this story. How much of this is actually true?" And as it happens, it was indeed a true story, and I just thought it was great. I'd never heard it before. I also wanted to work with him. So off we went.
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You've said in some interviews that as a child you played Allies vs Nazis in your backyard, so you were obviously fascinated by World War II stories. Is that something you shared with your director, Bryan Singer?
Bryan is someone who, as a young filmmaker, even as a kid, was making World War II movies. He also had an obvious fascination with this time period. And he's someone who is not new to this time period. With Apt Pupil and even in X:Men he had dealt with the atrocities of World War II. So with that kind of interest and dedication you could feel all of us coming together and going, "Okay let's make this as exciting a film as we possibly can."
Your research towards playing Stauffenberg involved meeting and speaking with his descendants, and also extensive reading on German history. What's the image you had of him in your head by the time you arrived on set?
He was a philosopher, an intellectual, he came from a lineage of 900 years of serving kings. He was very much raised to believe that 'to lead is to serve'. He's a man who said as early on as 1938, 'Someone ought to kill this b**t*rd.' He was a man who by many counts could handle a tremendous amount of pressure, had tremendous organisational skills and a man ofu00a0 high intellect. But who was always cool under fire. And when you look at that, even going home and seeing how the poison of national socialism and Nazi Germany was destroying his family... And he recognised what the future of his country in the world would be like if this thing was not stopped.
Do you think Stauffenberg saw himself as a hero? As someone who might have changed the course of history if that bomb hadu00a0 done what it was meant to do?
I don't think that Stauffenberg saw himself as a hero. I think that when you're in the middle of it, you don't think of those things. He saw it as the correct thing to do. To try to end the war, to spare human lives and the damage to Europe and the World. He worked hard to get in a position to do that. Knowing the odds... and he wasn't someone who went about something in a blindly 'baring his chest to the bullets'.
He really recognised the ramifications of what Hitler was doing and what the Nazi regime was doing, and realised what the stakes were for himself, for humanity and for the world. So I think that knowing that and wanting to end it, wanting to do something about it, that's a lot of integrity, and it takes a tremendous amount of courage to do that.
In Germany, you filmed at real locations where many of those incidents actually took place, including Benderblock where Stauffenberg and the other conspirators were ultimately killed.
We were trying to create a kind of pressure, and understand the kind of pressure that these men and women (the conspirators) had to have been under. Stauffenberg couldn't even tell his kids. As a father, that's something that struck me because I have an incredible relationship with my children and we're able to discuss anything and everything.
To experience it from his perspective and these men... what they risked, not only their own lives but also their families. And then arriving at Benderblock... you know I really can't find the words to articulate what those evenings were like... To be there and to think of that, it was invaluable, you can't qualify what it was like to shoot in those places. It was eerie, it was intense at times and very difficult. But also mixed in was the exhilaration of making a movie, and a movie on this scale. So it was also thrilling.
What was it like putting on the Nazi uniform to play Stauffenberg?
Looking at the world in that was very disturbing. It definitely changes your viewpoint. But looking at it from Stauffenberg's viewpoint, of what it meant to him wearing that uniform and the conflict that he had... I think it helped very much.
To digress from Valkyrie now, you're considered the world's most successful movie star. What does success mean to you personally?
I'm going to do this for the rest of my life, and to have the ability to make the kind of films that I've been able to make and to work with the kind of people that I've been able to work with, I think that is success. I remember thinking early on in my career when I was making Top Gun or Risky Business, I remember saying to myself, "I just want to enjoy these moments because I don't know if it's going to end right here."
Then there were the occasions that I had the opportunity to work with Paul Newman, to work with Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, and Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone and Steven Spielberg u2014 the people that I've been able to work with Bryan Singer and so that kind of creative freedom that I've been privileged to be able to have. I'm really proud of that.
And finally, are you familiar with Indian cinema?
I am. I enjoy musicals enormously, and I can't wait to come to India. You must be so proud of Slumdog Millionaire, it's such a moving Indian story. I've seen it a few times already, and I had the privilege of presenting them the Best Picture (Drama) award at the Golden Globes; it was a great night.
(Rajeev Masand is Film Critic and Entertainment Editor at CNN-IBN)
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