Tom Cruise: Turning Japanese

Since we first saw him slide across a polished floor in his tighty whities in Risky Business, we've enjoyed watching Tom Cruise and warmed to that incredible toothy smile. Whether he is struggling businessman Jerry Maguire, a hot spy on an impossible mission or a future cop writing a Minority Report, Cruise is always one of the most dedicated and charismatic actors around. We knew him as part of a golden couple during his marriage to Nicole Kidman and now as dashing suitor to Spanish spitfire Penelope Cruz, but always as a good dad to his kids. Now, Tom takes on his first epic motion picture, the sweeping The Last Samurai.

When we got to speak with the actor in Los Angeles, he rushed in from the set of his current film Collateral [working title] in which he plays a tough hitman, and watched him reflect on his time making a film set in a different century about an American soldier absorbed in a Japanese conflict. Tom's hair is short and spiky now, he's got just the shadow of a beard and, in black slacks and shirt, he was the total opposite of his character in "Samurai" , a long-haired, dashing figure in either Army uniform or a Samurai armor. Cruise chatted with us about his exhausting preparation for the film, his kids, his love of Japanese culture, plans for Christmas and the fact that the first time he put on his Japanese costume, he put the pants on backwards!

TeenHollywood: What is it you'd like people to know about this movie and why they should see it?

Tom: Each audience walks away with an experience from the movie, whether it's a thrill ride or an epic or a romance or a thriller. I'd like them to have that feeling that they're gonna go see a different world in the same way that I did as a kid. This movie is going to take you to a different place, a different time. History books sometimes are just nice fiction but when you start reading diaries of the Civil War or during the American Indian wars, people who had been to Japan - their personal diaries that weren't altered for social benefit, you can't help but connect. You can see what it's like through their eyes. [The audience] is going to go to a time and it is authentic, even though the story is fiction. The time frame and the humanity in the picture is real. It's about the Japanese meeting the Industrial Revolution and it's the death of one culture and the birth of another. It is a process that continues through history. Ultimately, the film is about what a man who wanted to die and at the end when he's faced with death, he's able to live.

TeenHollywood: Were you impressed with the Japanese culture while filming The Last Samurai?

Tom: As a kid growing up, I remember vividly being at a drive-in and I was on the roof of my family station wagon, and across the screen was the Sahara Desert [Lawrence of Arabia]. I always wanted to see other places and learn about how other people lived. I've just been absolutely fascinated and in awe of the [Japanese] culture. When you study the Sword, that is the greatest sword ever made in the history of this world. It is both a powerful weapon yet it's aesthetically superb; the balance, the engineering. When I went to Japan, I used to go walking in the rain at night when we landed because I was jetlagged. I saw the businessmen coming out of their meals at 2:00 in the morning. I was excited and pleased to see how much we had in common. I remember what surprised me in their history was if you were a foreigner and you were washed ashore, you were beheaded instantly. I was very happy that it's a little different when you show up at the airport now. They welcome you.

TeenHollywood: You looked pretty comfortable in your Samurai robes.

Tom: I had a great dresser. She did a wonderful job. I don't know, you can't put that on without help, the Kimono that I had or the armor. But the first days that we were putting it on, I did put the pants on backwards. I did that whole first thing through the belt wrong, but they carried me through it. I wore the Kimono a lot. It's actually really comfortable. I wish it would come back in fashion. You walk around, it's breezy. You don't have to worry, great movement, I liked it.

TeenHollywood: You spend a lot of time prepping and researching your film roles. I assume this one was no exception?

Tom: It took me almost a year to physically be able to make this picture. I take great pride in what I do. If I'm going to do something, I go all the way and I didn't know if I could do it, honestly; if I could find that kind of physical elegance and movement that the Samurai have. It was a year preparing not only physically but developing the character. I had to study the American Indian Wars. I thought I knew about that time period in our history, but I was blown away by how little I knew. Also the Japanese history during that time period and a little earlier. I revisited the Civil War again for myself, just because Algren [his character] had lived through that time period. I collected a small library. I've never made a film that I didn't believe in. However the picture turns out, I've always given everything to it. That's kind of how I approach life. I can't help it. There's no part-way with me on anything in any area of my life.

TeenHollywood: How did you prepare for the awesome fight scenes?

Tom: I couldn't touch my toes when I started out. I bent down and I couldn't get my hands past my knees. 50 pounds of armor doesn't seem so much but when you start lowering your center of gravity and bending your knees, it's a tremendous amount of pressure on the knees, the groin, the hamstrings. So I put on 25 pounds for the picture. I was 25 pounds of muscle heavier than I am right now. I worked with a great stunt coordinator, Nick Powell who built me up very slowly, he did all kinds of swordwork to build up my forearms and my shoulders in order to make that movement, the rotation. I'm more concerned about not hurting someone else because when you're moving those swords, even though at times they weren't razor sharp but they could still cut your finger off at the speed we were traveling. The guys I worked with were excellent.

TeenHollywood: The Samurai have a code of philosophy: loyalty, fortitude, courage, sacrifice called Bushido. Did those values draw you to doing the film?

Tom: Those values are very important to me. The Samurai were the artists of their time. They were educated to be leaders and to help people. And what I think struck me when I read Bushido, is compassion. I try to lead my life like that. I think it's important. Helping someone and seeing them do better in life is the most gratifying thing in the world. That's what the movie is about. I connect in a very compassionate and deep way to the code of Samurai.

TeenHollywood: Other than to live with compassion, what do you want in life?

Tom: I want a world without war, a world without insanity. I want to see people do well. I don't even think it's as much what I want for myself. It's more what I want for the people around me. I really want to see an end to the drugging of children throughout the world as a solution to improper education. I want people to have tolerance. Those are the things I work toward.

TeenHollywood: The Last Samurai is also a film about war. Is there a lesson to be learned?

Tom: Wars don't resolve conflict. Ideas do. And if you look at how history keeps repeating itself, we in society are at a time where we have great technology, we have very sophisticated way to communicate, to travel, yet there's still famine and there are still wars. So you have to look at what is it we're doing wrong. We've got to change the operating basis at some point. Where there is no understanding, you're going to have conflict. Where there is no ability to communicate, it lessens the amount of affinity you have for another person.

TeenHollywood: How do you explain war to your children?

Tom: I ask them, "What do you think about it? How do you feel?" I try to educate them to a broad sense of history. A broad sense of different cultures. Different beliefs. I teach them to really learn about them and really respect that in others. It is conflict. Unfortunately, conflict does exist. They look at it and they are shocked. What happened on 9-11? Why are there wars? Why is this going on? I took them to the Museum of Tolerance and they learned about the Civil War here in this country. There are some times that you have to make a stand for what is right. But you have to do it from a position of true knowledge. And not from "might is right". On a very basic level, when they have a problem, just getting them to communicate resolves. So it seems very simple and you know what? It really is simple.

TeenHollywood: You have had great scenes with kids in a lot of your movies. How do you relate to kids so well?

Tom: I love kids. I was a kid myself, once. [laughs] I actually still am a big kid, really. I taught at YMCAs when I was a kid. I just love children. I just find it very easy to communicate with them. I don't talk down to kids. I am not authoritarian with children. I have actually found that giving them respect and dignity and asking what do they think about it is better than ordering them. So, I find out what do they want to do. With [the little boy in the film] we'd draw each other pictures. He doesn't speak English. We had a wonderful communication together.

TeenHollywood: Are you playing a bad guy in your current film Collateral?

Tom: The film is actually untitled right now. But he's a contract hitman. That's pretty bad.

TeenHollywood: What are the holidays at your house like? Do you cook?

Tom: I can cook. I have cooked turkeys in my day. But when mom is around, I will let her do that. My mother is a great cook. Fried chicken, southern food. I like her stuffing best. I like having lots of people around. Lots of kids. I live with my sister and her three kids. I would say one of the best Christmases as a kid was the time when we didn't buy anything. My mother came up with this idea to pick names out of a hat and for a month you had to do something special for that person every day and you can't reveal who it is. I had one of my sisters. So I had to go in and make her bed while she was in the shower. And you can't get caught. Then Christmas Day came and we each stood up and said who we had and wrote a story and I just loved that. What is a life if you are not contributing to others and doing something to help someone?

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.