For someone who’s been swimming in the ocean of practical effects for as long as four decades, it’s hardly a surprise that Tom Cruise doesn’t prefer dipping his toes in the pool of CGI. Sure, special effects are the bread and butter of studios like Marvel and DC, and as much as the Top Gun star appreciates a good superhero flick, his penchant for authenticity and deadly yet thrilling stunts is way stronger.
Tom Cruise Takes A Subtle Dig at CGI Gimmicks
Sure, watching Spider-Man spring from skyscrapers as he goes after Doc Ock is enrapturing in itself, but unlike Peter Parker, Tom Cruise doesn’t need a green screen to jump across edifices or catch the bad guys.
Even at the age of 61, Cruise is just as devoted and punctilious when it comes to making action movies as he was when he made his first-ever with 1986’s Top Gun. Be it chasing his arch-nemesis in a helicopter or free-climbing a mountain, you’ll never find the Mission: Impossible star peppering his stunts with any CGI-induced embellishments
Yes, it’s obviously much cooler to see someone plunge off a cliff on a motorbike, but that’s not the only reason why the Oscar-nominated actor does it, it’s also because the emotional intensity of such experiences speaks to the audience, which is exactly what Cruise wants, for his fans to be able to cherish his work and have a more visceral bond with his films.
“It communicates to an audience when it’s real. It’s different, there’s real stakes and […] and there’s performance. Part of that is – they can put cameras in the places with me, that you might not think of when you’re doing CGI, or, it just has a different emotional vibe […] it has a different emotion for the audience, a different quality. And I grew up watching practical action.”
11/10 for ingenuity.
Is That Why the Action Icon Has Sworn Off Superhero Films?
As a child, Cruise looked up to some of the most celebrated action legends, the likes of which include Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen. So, no, going against villains from the multiverse or being aided by Iron Man’s famous AI J.A.R.V.I.S. is not something the Jack Reacher star would like to explore, at least not in this lifetime.
That’s not to say he doesn’t like superhero entertainment; Cruise enjoys watching the Marvel and DC saga as much as the next individual, but he’d rather be a part of the audience who enjoys such movies instead of being the one who makes them. Perhaps that’s why he declined the golden opportunity of playing Tony Stark on the big screens before Robert Downey Jr.‘s iteration of the character became MCU’s prized possession.
Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I is currently playing in cinemas.
Source: The Project
