Tom Cruise on The Nerdist Podcast

After having seen the amazing film Edge of Tomorrow on the weekend (go see it, now!) I noticed the Nerdist podcast had an interview up with Tom Cruise and so I decided to give it a listen. I’d heard Tom was an incredibly nice and gracious guy in person, and this podcast totally confirmed that. It’s a great and very personal chat between him and The Nerdist crew, which mostly focusses on his experiences in the movie industry and his thoughts about film-making in general. Given that he’s been in the business 34 years, he has quite a bit to say, so it’s worth a listen for that alone.

But, what this Podcast really made me realize about Tom is that he really isn’t that smart. In fact, I would say in terms of intelligence, Tom is a completely average guy, and if anything might even be a little dense. He’s a guy with a pretty face, a bit of charisma, and average brains who lucked out and got into the industry with his raw talent, and you know what? He knows it.

But, Tom has three things going for him that made him the star he is today- 1) he’s got an incredible memory, 2) because he doesn’t understand easily he’s extremely curious, and 3) he’s an astoundingly hard worker. He asks questions constantly, he remembers everything people tell him, and he puts that knowledge to work for him- and this is how he’s become the man he is today. He’s the perfect example of what one can achieve with hard work and a good attitude, and I have to say I admire that quite a bit. I may not be a fan of his religious choices, but this interview really made me respect him as a person and as an artist.

He also said something that stuck with me, a bit of advice Paul Newman gave him while filming The Colour of Money– “Just ignore all the white noise and do what you do”. Don’t worry about what other people think or say, just be true to yourself as an artist and be the best you can be. The world (and internet) is filled with people advocating causes and screaming about a million things, but we as artists need to just focus on making art which is true to us and our experiences. If we try to do what everyone around us wants, we’ll just go crazy or get nothing done.

Sage advice for an artist of any age or time.

Rob

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