Tom Cruise is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Since the start of his career, Cruise has continually produced successful films, including Top Gun (1986), A Few Good Men ( 1992), and seven Mission: Impossible films, the most recent installment being released on July 10, 2023. Over the course of his career, Cruise has been no stranger to weird stories about him. While he doesn’t usually talk about them, he has debunked one of these stories.
Tom Cruise almost always runs alone
You probably never noticed, but if you think about it, Cruise always runs alone in his movies. The only time this rule hasn’t been followed was during The Mummy (2017). For Annabelle Wallis, Cruise’s costar, it wasn’t easy to receive this odd honor.
According to Wallis, Cruise initially said no to the idea, telling her, “Nobody runs onscreen [with me],” and he didn’t budge when she told him that she was a good runner. Things only changed when Wallis timed her treadmill sessions for when Cruise would be nearby, so he could see her run. It paid off, and the two were eventually filmed running together.
He once played hide and seek with other actors
Tom Cruise and Will Smith, January 27, 2007. (Photo Credit: Michael Buckner / Getty Images)
Leah Remini recalled in her book Troublemaker that she was once invited to play hide and seek with Cruise, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett-Smith. While at Cruise’s 7,000-square-foot house, which was on three acres of land, Cruise asked if Remini would like to join their game of hide and seek.
She answered, “I can’t play – I’m wearing Jimmy Choos.” To which Cruise responded, “Well, good. So you’re it, then,” tagging her and running to hide. She remembers telling her husband that he had to go play with Cruise and the Smiths because she wasn’t going to do that in five-inch heels.
Tom Cruise took COVID-19 safety protocols very seriously
Tom Cruise behind the scenes for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, 2020. (Photo Credit: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP / Getty Images)
In December 2020, during the filming of the seventh Mission: Impossible film, Cruise went on a rant regarding the social distancing safety protocols that the crew had to follow. In a recording that was quickly shared with news outlets around the world, Cruise is heard shouting at the crew, telling them that if they didn’t follow the rules that they would be fired.
He was quoted as saying, “I am beyond your apologies… We are not shutting this [expletive] movie down. Is it understood? If I see it again, you’re [expletive] gone. And so are you. So you’re gonna cost him his job. If I see it on the set, you’re gone, and you’re gone. That’s it. Am I clear?” He concluded by saying, “We are creating thousands of jobs, you [expletives]. I don’t ever want to see it again. Ever!”
While other actors, such as George Clooney, agreed with Cruise’s sentiment but disagreed with the way he said it, Cruise stood by his actions. He was quoted in Empire magazine as saying, “All those emotions were going through my mind. I was thinking about the people I work with and my industry.”
You can look at Tom Cruise
During the filming of Top Gun: Maverick, crewmembers aboard US Navy ships that Cruise and other actors were filming on were apparently rubbed the wrong way. According to some, “Tom Cruise was really on OUR ship telling the crew not to talk or look at him.”
This might have all been a misunderstanding, however, and according to a statement by a Navy master chief, “Some sailors may have misinterpreted guidance from the Navy that told sailors to not approach actors while filming and not use cell phones on the set. Tom Cruise and the cast were nothing but gracious and professional during filming to all of the sailors.”
This weird rumor that you can’t look at Cruise has been around for a long time. In an interview with the Sunday Times, director Chris McQuarrie debunked the rumor. He said that when he met Cruise, he asked him what the weirdest story he had heard about himself was. McQuarrie recalled, “Cruise laughed and said the greatest myth about him was that people on set ‘were not allowed to look me in the eye.’”