Tom Cruise and Chris McQuarrie’s partnership is built on the power of “mass entertainment”
The secret to Tom Cruise's career resurgence is that he just likes making movies that everyone will enjoy
Aux News Cruise
The creative partnership between Tom Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie is going to be regarded as one of the most fruitful in Hollywood history, both in terms of how much money they’ve made together and in terms of how well McQuarrie was able to help Cruise resurrect his career and embark on a second act that nobody could’ve possibly seen coming. The two don’t have a perfect record, but even with The Mummy and the forgettable Jack Reacher movies, it’s still hard to argue with their batting average together with the recent Mission: Impossible movies, Top Gun: Maverick, and the unfairly maligned Edge Of Tomorrow.
Now, ahead of the release of Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One, McQuarrie has shared some details on what it was like when he and Cruise first met on the set of 2008’s Valkyrie. McQuarrie was a writer on the film, which was about a German plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, and he told The Times that Cruise asked him to rework the script when it became clear that they’d need more money to finish production. Cruise’s plan was to make the movie appeal to as wide an audience as possible, with Cruise sharing a philosophy with McQuarrie that has carried both of them to untold heights since then: “I make mass entertainment.”
It’s a simple idea, but it really does seem to sum up Cruise pretty well: He just wants to make movies that everyone likes. It took some doing to figure out how to make that possible, but he did eventually land on the solution, which involves risking his life in increasingly outrageous ways and starring in movies where he doesn’t play a person as much as he plays… the living manifestation of destiny. It’s similar to Simon Pegg’s friendship with Cruise, where if you try to push it too hard it’ll snap, so you just accept it and be happy.
21 Comments
Well, I make ass entertainment.*pulls pants down, farts for 20 minutes straight*
Your movie would have been a box office smash in the year 2525, under the Camacho administration. You are an artist ahead of your time.
I am God-Emperor Bezos in the year 2525, and I approve this message.
“It’s a simple idea, but it really does seem to sum up Cruise pretty well: He just wants to make movies that everyone likes. It took some doing to figure out how to make that possible, but he did eventually land on the solution, which involves risking his life in increasingly outrageous ways and starring in movies where he doesn’t play a person as much as he plays… the living manifestation of destiny. It’s similar to Simon Pegg’s friendship with Cruise, where if you try to push it too hard it’ll snap, so you just accept it and be happy.”Barsanti usually makes me queasy but that one downright made me gag. Jesus Christ, have a little self-respect, sir!
Manifestation of destiny?You just got your most recent Scientology Newsletter, right?
It’s a line from one of the movies. It’s how Alec Baldwin’s character describes Ethan Hunt.
Remember, kids: a huge paycheck & lavish lifestyle will reliably insulate your soul, no matter whether you decide to partner up with a maniacal predatory ebebophile director OR a closeted star who believes himself to be a messianic reincarnated alien entity!
Soul? I’m guessing he’s only about insulating his precious @ss from any contact with us heathen, dirty masses. But point very well taken. And I didn’t know that about McQuarrie. Gross.
I think the whole thing was about McQuarrie’s working partnerships – Tom Cruise being the ‘closeted star who believes himself to be a messianic reincarnated alien entity’ and Bryan Singer being the ‘maniacal predatory ebebophile director’.
The first Jack Reacher movie kicked ass, even with as obviously miscast as Cruise was. Shame about the second.
In its defence, the book that Reacher movie was based on isn’t very good either. So many other, better options that they could have made.
Yes, simple popcorn fare, designed-by-committe like any well-branded product. Get your money, you’ve pleased the masses.If you want to talk about fruitful partnerships I’m more impressed with solid artists like Elton John and Bernie Taupin who worked together for 50 years and actually made a significant impact on the culture.
There’s only 3 MI films: the first, the second with Roxburgh playing a Yarpie that had Limp Bizkit on the soundtrack, and the third one – by which I mean all the ones after it, because as far as I can tell, they’re just the same damn movie that was just released in chunks years apart.I honestly couldn’t tell you if Henry Cavill was in the third one or the fifth(?) one. I’m not sure it matters.
Have you considered suicide?
“Yes, simple popcorn fare, designed-by-committe”
Yep, all the BTS footage sure shows this is designed by committee.
Actually it’s built on entertainment media being complicit in crimes against children. Cruise is best friends with his cult leader and regularly gets updated on the “behind the scenes” goings on straight from the horse’s mouth. But hey, ignore that and trash whatever Marvel’s doing.
“Cruise is best friends with his cult leader and regularly gets updated on the “behind the scenes” goings on straight from the horse’s mouth.”
Oh hey everyone! Aaron has the evidence needed to ever do anything to Tom Cruise, or he should probably fuck off.
Cruise LITERALLY believes he’s a superior species. Hubbard called it “Homo Novis”. We poor Homo Sapiens (or saps in Scientology lingo) are seen as no better than dumb pets. Remember that next time you see Cruise pulling his Ted Bundy surface level “charm” in some entertainment media blowjob piece.
I like it when he does his creep stare and thinks he’s firing off “intention beams”
I’m not sure what’s more Hollywood: a failed sci-fi author starting a cult in order to get at least some people to read his shitty books, or a bunch of stars and starlets buying into it.
“It’s similar to Simon Pegg’s friendship with Cruise, where if you try to push it too hard it’ll snap, so you just accept it and be happy.”
I don’t understand this need to pretend that it’s normal to talk to co-workers about their religion, rather than simply acknowledging that anyone who does that is a fucking ASSHOLE.