Natalie Barr has asked Tom Cruise if he ‘ever gets scared’ of performing the wild stunts he has become known for as the starstruck host avoids asking the movie star about his affiliation with the Church of Scientology or his daughter Suri.
Cruise, 60, appeared on Sunrise on Monday morning to promote his new movie Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning during an exclusive interview.
Dozens of excited fans crowded with posters of Cruise crowded the studio as Nat Barr and Matthew Shirvington quizzed the actor on the making of the film.
One of the many stunts Cruise performs involves him riding a motorbike straight off a cliff before parachuting to the bottom of a steep mountain.
The stunt has been described as the actor’s most dangerous yet, with cast and crew members forced to watch Cruise perform the stunt up to eight times in a row.
‘Do you ever get scared?’ Barr asked the Hollywood star.
‘Yeah, I do. I just don’t mind being scared, that’s the difference,’ he replied.
‘As I’m breaking things down, I like that feeling. I like that feeling of ‘what’s going to happen’, and I train, train, train for everything.’
Cruise, 60, appeared on Sunrise on Monday morning to promote his new movie Mission Impossible: The Reckoning Part One (pictured)
Cruise told the hosts he had been riding motorbikes for most of his life and that he liked to ‘study every single department’ when working on a film.
‘I’m constantly working to be competent in things. So I’ll study every single department from writing, to cinematography, to wardrobe, every department. Then I studied studios and distribution. I want to travel the world,’ he said.
Cruise said he worked closely with the film’s director Christopher McQuarrie to design the awe-inducing stunts, build the characters and form the story.
Shirvo asked the Hollywood star how he had honed his sprinting technique.
‘I’ve been an athlete my whole life. I came out running. I was that little kid where I would get a new pair of sneakers and have to hit every puddle,’ Cruise replied.
‘I watch people. I study. Then I try different things of my own. I’ll watch someone and I’ll imitate them, I’ll ready about other people’s training.’
The Hollywood star was also called out for his well-known habit of going undercover to the cinema to watch the audience reactions to his films.
‘I’ll go with my movies but I’ll also go with other films,’ he said.
‘I like Friday or Saturday night, opening weekend, to see a movie with that packed audience, those people who love the cinema, love the movie they’re about to go see, it’s really fun. I just go in and wear a cap.’
Barr asked if people ever recognised him in the movie theatre.
‘They do, sometimes when I go in and they’ll say ‘hi Tom’. There’s a few selfies then everyone settles down to watch,’ Cruise replied with a smile.
However, there were several things the hosts avoided asking Cruise about, including his affiliation with Scientology and his relationship with daughter Suri.
There were several things the Sunrise hosts (pictured) avoided asking Cruise about, including his affiliation with Scientology and his relationship with daughter Suri
‘Super excited for Tom Cruise to finally get grilled about his scientology links live on #sunrise this morning … or maybe not,’ one viewer tweeted.
‘#TomCruise looks incredible for a man in his 60s. Makes me rethink Scientology. If that’s the result then sign me up. Show me the literature, Tom!’ a second wrote.
During a 2017 trip to Australia, Cruise was pictured alone on his balcony after a brief visit to Scientology’s Australasian headquarters in Chatswood.
The centre in Sydney’s lower north shore has been described as the religion’s ‘biggest spiritual centre outside the United States’.
Facilities include 60 ‘auditing’ or spiritual counselling rooms – where technology called ‘e-meters’ are used, a chapel, grand auditorium, production studio, and an office devoted to L. Ron Hubbard.
In the same year, the movie star also visited the multi-million dollar Scientology headquarters in Auckland after it opened in January.
The headquarter is said to feature a sauna and a ‘Purification Centre’, designed to rid ‘toxins, pesticides and drugs lodged in the fatty tissues of the body’.
The movie star was pictured shaking hands with Auckland church members, behind a sign that read: ‘Take Your Free Personality Test Here’.
Cruise (pictured) made a rockstar arrival at Sydney Harbour on Sunday as he attended a media event for his new film Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning
Cruise has previously campaigned for Scientology to become a recognised religion in Europe and is said to be considered ‘god-like’ by other followers.
His ex-wife, Katie Holmes, left the church after her divorce with Cruise in 2012.
It was reported at the time that she departed Scientology because she didn’t want their daughter Suri, now 17, to be involved with the church.
Since 2008, the Mission Impossible star is understood to have limited interviewers from asking about his association with Scientology.
In March of this year, reports that Cruise is estranged from his daughter resurfaced.
In transcripts from his 2012 defamation lawsuit against Bauer Media, Cruise was asked if one of the reasons he and former partner Katie Holmes had parted ways in 2012 was ‘in part to protect Suri rom Scientology’.
‘That was one of the assertions, yes,’ Cruise responded.
Holmes, who lives in New York City with Suri, is said to be giving her teenager daughter the most normal and stable upbringing she possibly can.
‘What has been really important for me with my daughter, because she was so visible at a young age, is I really like to protect her,’ she told Glamour in April.
‘I’m very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She’s an incredible person.’
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