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CNN Live At Daybreak

Top Sword: Tom Cruise as a Samurai

Aired December 05, 2003 - 05:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you still think of Tom Cruise as a "Top Gun" fighter pilot, this may throw you. In his new movie, he is still a warrior, but this time he is a Civil War veteran who travels to Japan.
Our Jim Moret talks to the actor and looks at "The Last Samurai," which opens today, by the way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: It's a character that is a man of few words, and I haven't played a character like this before.

Guys that I -- that I did the scenes with, they did stuff like that for -- you know trained their whole life. And I had to see well how far can I get to make it look like I have done this for the amount of time that I have, you know, in the picture.

And I couldn't even bend past here, you know, when I started out. I was like, man, you know how am I going to lift these swords? What are we going to do? And those sequences we shot from the beginning to the end.

JIM MORET, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And there's no faking it?

CRUISE: No, we did it. We did it. There was about 25 pounds of muscle that I put on, you know, just to be able to sustain that kind of work day and be able to move the swords and the amour in that capacity.

MORET: The risks, though, were real. I saw a headline in the London paper. It said, you'll laugh, Tom Cruise nearly beheaded. And I really did.

CRUISE: No.

MORET: Talking about one of these fight scenes. How...

CRUISE: I don't think I was nearly beheaded. I wasn't nearly beheaded.

MORET: I have this December issue of "Marie Claire."

CRUISE: Yes.

MORET: You must be aware you the first man to ever be on the cover of this magazine. Did you know that? CRUISE: Well, I hope it sells.

(LAUGHTER)

MORET: Well, you know, and I'm thinking...

CRUISE: Going to go (ph), man, the first and the last, that's it.

MORET: And you are very -- you are very open in this, perhaps more so than I have seen you in the past. Are you feeling it a place in your life where you are more comfortable in your skin publicly?

CRUISE: I have always felt myself to be open, you know, in terms of it. But certainly there are things that I am sharing now and discussing now that I think it's time and it's appropriate. And I feel -- I feel they need to be said. But I definitely feel more comfortable with myself, no question.

MORET: I turn on to my computer this morning, headlines in Asia, headlines in London, quoting you talking to an American journalists saying I love Nic and I always will. That -- and you are very honest and open about things that you have often guarded in the past.

CRUISE: You know the things that I said about Nic, I have always said that about Nic. I mean even when things were starting with us, that was always -- that's always how I felt. I told her that, you know. All that was there, you know, but it's -- and it's -- that doesn't change, you know. That doesn't mean we're going to be back together, you know, but we'll be friends. I will always be her friend, always.

Nathan Algren.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am honored to meet you.

MORET: Come back around finally to "The Last Samurai," if you will.

CRUISE: Sure. I will.

MORET: You talk about the risk.

CRUISE: Yes.

MORET: What surprised you the most in making this film that you come away with and say this is what I am most proud of?

CRUISE: I'm proud of the humanity in the picture. I am proud of definitely many aspects of this scope of the film that we even accomplished it at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of making the movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Cut. Great. First viewing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.

CRUISE: Fabulous. Fabulous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Movie opens today. There is much more about Tom Cruise on CNN's "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." That's Saturday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern -- or Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, I should say.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








Aired December 5, 2003 - 05:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you still think of Tom Cruise as a "Top Gun" fighter pilot, this may throw you. In his new movie, he is still a warrior, but this time he is a Civil War veteran who travels to Japan.
Our Jim Moret talks to the actor and looks at "The Last Samurai," which opens today, by the way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: It's a character that is a man of few words, and I haven't played a character like this before.

Guys that I -- that I did the scenes with, they did stuff like that for -- you know trained their whole life. And I had to see well how far can I get to make it look like I have done this for the amount of time that I have, you know, in the picture.

And I couldn't even bend past here, you know, when I started out. I was like, man, you know how am I going to lift these swords? What are we going to do? And those sequences we shot from the beginning to the end.

JIM MORET, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And there's no faking it?

CRUISE: No, we did it. We did it. There was about 25 pounds of muscle that I put on, you know, just to be able to sustain that kind of work day and be able to move the swords and the amour in that capacity.

MORET: The risks, though, were real. I saw a headline in the London paper. It said, you'll laugh, Tom Cruise nearly beheaded. And I really did.

CRUISE: No.

MORET: Talking about one of these fight scenes. How...

CRUISE: I don't think I was nearly beheaded. I wasn't nearly beheaded.

MORET: I have this December issue of "Marie Claire."

CRUISE: Yes.

MORET: You must be aware you the first man to ever be on the cover of this magazine. Did you know that? CRUISE: Well, I hope it sells.

(LAUGHTER)

MORET: Well, you know, and I'm thinking...

CRUISE: Going to go (ph), man, the first and the last, that's it.

MORET: And you are very -- you are very open in this, perhaps more so than I have seen you in the past. Are you feeling it a place in your life where you are more comfortable in your skin publicly?

CRUISE: I have always felt myself to be open, you know, in terms of it. But certainly there are things that I am sharing now and discussing now that I think it's time and it's appropriate. And I feel -- I feel they need to be said. But I definitely feel more comfortable with myself, no question.

MORET: I turn on to my computer this morning, headlines in Asia, headlines in London, quoting you talking to an American journalists saying I love Nic and I always will. That -- and you are very honest and open about things that you have often guarded in the past.

CRUISE: You know the things that I said about Nic, I have always said that about Nic. I mean even when things were starting with us, that was always -- that's always how I felt. I told her that, you know. All that was there, you know, but it's -- and it's -- that doesn't change, you know. That doesn't mean we're going to be back together, you know, but we'll be friends. I will always be her friend, always.

Nathan Algren.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am honored to meet you.

MORET: Come back around finally to "The Last Samurai," if you will.

CRUISE: Sure. I will.

MORET: You talk about the risk.

CRUISE: Yes.

MORET: What surprised you the most in making this film that you come away with and say this is what I am most proud of?

CRUISE: I'm proud of the humanity in the picture. I am proud of definitely many aspects of this scope of the film that we even accomplished it at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of making the movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Cut. Great. First viewing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.

CRUISE: Fabulous. Fabulous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Movie opens today. There is much more about Tom Cruise on CNN's "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS." That's Saturday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern -- or Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, I should say.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com