Life Lessons from Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise by Herb Ritts for Interview

Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, we’re revisiting our cover story with Tom Cruise from our May 1986 issue. In it, Cruise sits down with Cameron Crowe in the weeks prior to the release of three box-office smashing films: Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money and Ridley Scott’s Legend, and Top Gun, which would become the actor’s most legendary franchise. Cruise, then 24, opens up to Crowe about his experiences with loneliness and rejection, his addiction to flying in F14s, and his plan to become the biggest name in Hollywood. Today, nearly 40 years later, Cruise is back onscreen reprising his iconic role and introducing a new legion of characters to the Top Gun universe with Top Gun: Maverick. So sit back and buckle up—you just might learn a thing or two. 

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“I didn’t have a lot of friends. The closest people around me were my family. I think they felt a little nervous about me because I had a lot of energy and I couldn’t stick to one thing… I feel good about the fact that I finally found something I love.”

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“I was always packing and moving around, staying in Canada, Kentucky, Jersey, St. Louis—it all helped because I was always learning new accents, experiencing different environments.”

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“I felt that the people rejecting me were there to help me in the long run. Sometimes it hurts, but I truly believe that there are parts I’m supposed to get and parts I’ m not supposed to get and something else is going to come along.”

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“I just went to Francis [Ford Coppola] and said, ‘Look, I don’t care what role you give me, I really want to work with you. I want to be there on the set and watch.’ And he said okay.”

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“I’m not a very good cold reader. What I do is start with a line and go off and ad-lib and kind of find my way down the script.”

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“The important thing is to be relaxed in your work. Same in life. Don’t make everything too intense. Then you can let everything go and not ‘act.'”

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“When you fly in the F-14, it’s one of those experiences that is bigger than life itself. It blows your shit away. These guys do it everyday and you know why they want it. Flying is so intense and emotional. But ever since I got involved in Top Gun, I didn’t want to make a warmonger movie. I wanted to get into the personality of these guys, what makes them fly. What makes my character, Maverick, want to fly? I wanted to give him a sensitivity.”

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“I go to rushes every night, not just to see my performance, but to see what the director’s done in terms of choosing his shots and lighting. I enjoy seeing the overall process.”

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“Making a movie is like a chess game. It’s about constantly changing patterns, adapting to new things. It’s not just black and white as you know.”

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“I hope the public and everyone realize that I’m still growing. I’m still feeling my oats here. I’m working toward the long range of what I can be as an artist. And I work my ass off trying. Because I know what I want to be.”

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