00:00Could you name every film and its subtitle?
00:03Yeah, Mission Impossible, Mission Impossible 2, Mission Impossible 3, Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Mission Impossible Rogue Nation, Mission Impossible Fallout,
00:09Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, Mission Impossible Phone Reckoning.
00:12That was really impressive.
00:14I impressed myself.
00:22We have Mission Impossible, Mission Impossible 2.
00:28Wait, there's no...
00:29Mission Impossible, Rogue Nation, Mission...
00:31Wait, that's 4.
00:32Mission Impossible Fallout, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning, Mission Impossible, Final Reckoning, Mission Impossible 3.
00:39Ghost Protocol?
00:40Ghost Protocol!
00:41Oh, shit, yeah.
00:42You have played the president twice this year.
00:47Funny how that worked out.
00:50You want to take this opportunity to announce your candidacy?
00:53I would not.
00:56But it was fun while it lasted.
00:59The latest installment came just in time to miss out on the stunt Oscar, and there's not going to be
01:05any for a while.
01:06So did the irony of that hit you at all?
01:09Or was anyone talking about it?
01:10I think we don't know, because we're not in it for that, genuinely.
01:17Regardless of any of that sort of thing, Tom makes movies because he's passionate about them, and he makes them
01:23for the audience, not for awards, genuinely.
01:25Like, he so wants to delight mass audiences, and wants to make movies that are designed for the big screen
01:32and to be watched collectively.
01:33And I think you feel that.
01:35You know, the film in itself is a celebration of filmmaking, and it's a celebration of this particular kind of
01:40filmmaking, which is entirely mechanical and real, and the locations are real.
01:45And it adds to what makes this movie so visceral and immersive, and that, I think, for me, speaks for
01:51itself.
01:52As this comes to an end, what's the one Tom Cruise story that you would share at dinner parties?
01:56Oh, my God.
01:57There's so many over the years.
01:59Just so many what I call Tom moments.
02:04I remember one time when we were shooting in Morocco, we all went ziplining before we went to Casablanca, and
02:12because we had to do it in a certain amount of time, we did like a speed zipline.
02:16We ran this entire canyon with Tom, and then we ran, and we got on this jet, and we flew
02:21to Casablanca.
02:22But I think the most Tom Cruise-y day of Final Reckoning, we were in South Africa.
02:27We were shooting the scene when the truck is driving up to the doomsday vault, and there was a helicopter
02:32behind us.
02:33It was, you know, following us.
02:36Tarzan actually said hilariously, he was looking around, and he said, wow, it's like we're in a movie.
02:40And I said, Tarzan, we are in a movie.
02:44But we got to the top, and then we'd get out of the car, jump in a helicopter.
02:48Tom would fly us back to number ones so we could do the shot again.
02:53And Tom would fly through this canyon, you know, with either side of us, like, showing off, doing kind of
02:57aerobatics in this helicopter with me, Hayley, and Pom, and Tarzan in the back.
03:01We'd jump out, do it again.
03:02We got the shot early in the end, and Tom said, hey, why don't we go shark diving?
03:08So Hayley, and Pom, and Tarzan, and me were like, no, okay, sure, why not?
03:12So we'd get back in the helicopter with Tom.
03:14He flew us out to the coast.
03:15We had a quick tutorial in how not to get eaten, and then we went and got in a cage,
03:20and we fed sharks for the rest of the afternoon.
03:22And that is a Tom Cruise day.
03:24Sometimes we were at the studios, and then we're, like, wrapping the day, and he was like, oh, do you
03:31want to ride home?
03:33And the ride home is in a helicopter.
03:35So I was like, yeah, sure.
03:37So he would just, like, fly me or, like, us back to central London with a helicopter.
03:43And it was so beautiful because it was sunset.
03:45So it was really cool.
03:47So, yeah, I don't know any other actor who does that or any other movie that, you know, that I
03:54have done that with.
03:55So that was really special.
03:56Is your presence in the franchise important to you more so than the coconut cake, or are they on pretty
04:03equal standard?
04:06Yeah, I love that I get that.
04:08Some years more than, you know, depend on my relationship with cake at the moment, you know, cake at Christmas.
04:15But it's pretty hard to resist, especially once you take that first bite.
04:20Are you getting the coconut cake?
04:22Oh, yes.
04:23Yes, every Christmas.
04:25And I tear it up by myself.
04:26So my little technique is to, like, slice it and then to freeze it.
04:31And I think it's even better when it's frozen because it's just the texture is so nice.
04:37And it makes it just slightly less sweet.
04:40And with the coffee in the morning, it's just amazing.
04:43But it becomes very addictive and every morning you're, like, craving the sugar and, like, I need the coconut cake.
04:49Well, see, my technique is to receive it, eat it within three days, and then self-destruct.
04:55Now the fate of every living soul on Earth is your responsibility.
05:06I was holding my breath, that whole submarine sequence.
05:08Was that a crazy one for you to experience in the movie theater?
05:11Yeah, I watched it for the second time last night.
05:15And I found, I think the first time I watched it, we were in Tokyo.
05:19We were really jet-lagged.
05:21We were really overwhelmed because we were nervous.
05:23We hadn't seen it yet.
05:24It was our first time.
05:25And we watched it.
05:26And it kind of, like, you know, we walked out dazed.
05:29And I couldn't remember it.
05:30I just knew I liked it.
05:31The second time I watched it, I felt so involved in it.
05:36You know, I know I am literally involved in it.
05:38But watching it, it was so, so immersive.
05:43And that sequence, the way that McHugh scores that sequence, his idea was that you can't have an orchestra underwater.
05:50So all the sound in the underwater sequences has to be something you could hear underwater.
05:56So he uses these Russian throat singers and this mega bass thing.
06:00It's so incredible.
06:02And then you have the revolver, the way when the sub is turning round, we had this insane gimbal on
06:07set, like nothing you've ever seen.
06:10And, you know, torpedoes falling everywhere.
06:12It's, it, it, it, it.
06:13I looked at my daughter, who was watching it with me, and she watched the whole thing with her head
06:18in her hands and her eyes wide open and her mouth open.
06:21And it was, you know, true, true, raw cinema.
06:26It was fantastic.
06:26I remember being on set and seeing the scale of what they were doing, what they were setting out to
06:33achieve.
06:33And seeing also his suit and his training for it and the extra training he had to do for this
06:39particular sequence.
06:41And it, to see the kind of dedication of bettering himself, like every movie for him is a new mountain
06:47to climb where he wants to top what he did last time.
06:50It's a testament to how committed he is to developing himself as an actor and as a producer.
06:54But then getting the chance to see it as an audience member, I get the, I get the joy of
07:01not having to do it myself.
07:04And just being able to go, I was there, I can see that it's all up on the screen.
07:09He's so dedicated and it's phenomenal what he's able to achieve.
07:13And it's all for the sake of thrilling an audience.
07:15Yeah, I was, yeah, to see that, because that's all fresh, you know, fresh eyes, you know, seeing these images
07:24for the first time and everything that's going on.
07:27It really, like, ups the stress level of what, you know, Erica's going through on her side.
07:32So they, you know, the stress, you know, is heightened on both ends, you know, like, will he make it?
07:38Will I make it?
07:41But so I really love that.
07:43You never know what you're going to do.
07:44So Tom is like, hey, you want to always be prepared.
07:46So he put us through, you know, these different programs, like, you know, motorbike riding, dirt bike, weapons, martial arts,
07:53skydiving, drifting, racing.
07:55So you go through a particular type of boot camp to be competent and showing that you can, you're able
08:01to do any and everything.
08:03There was unofficial reports that are now circulating that you're going to be in Doomsday, and everyone's wondering where your
08:09chair was.
08:10Oh, my gosh.
08:11Well, I mean, that's, I would be delighted to be ever called back and to reprise a role.
08:18I loved it.
08:19It was such an important part of my life.
08:21I'm sure there's so much more that can be done with that character as I've grown and developed as an
08:26actor as well.
08:27Yeah.
08:28I mean, if they want to give me a chair, I will happily sit in it.
08:32But I have nothing else to offer.
08:35That's news to me.
08:36Have you seen Sinners?
08:37I have.
08:38I have indeed.
08:39Yeah.
08:39I loved it.
08:40Even though it scared me.
08:42You know, I saw it through fingers, you know, one eye, you know.
08:48But, yeah, I loved it.
08:50The look of it, the music.
08:52Yeah, beautiful story.
08:54Yeah, your boy Coogler is just, I think he's officially confirmed to the world that he's a genius with this
08:59one.
08:59Yeah, I think so.
09:00I agree.
09:00I concur.
09:01Now that it's kind of come to an end, how has that changed the trajectory of your life?
09:06Oh, man.
09:06It's been a 20-year roller coaster.
09:09You know, I filmed my first scene 20 years ago this year.
09:13And here I am now, you know, promoting my sixth Mission Impossible movie.
09:17Something I never expected, you know, in a million years when I did the first one.
09:23It's been an extraordinary ride.
09:25I feel very privileged to have got to grow a character over that period of time.
09:30Get to return to him and add to him and, you know, sort of grow him as a character.
09:36I'll never get that chance again unless, you know, I wind up in some other franchise and spend 20 years.
09:41I don't see that happening.
09:43It's not something I particularly want to do because I feel like this would be a hard one to top.
09:49I need you to trust me one last time.
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