European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 17, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tom cruise three mile Island ready to blow  Washington Post of cruise wants to Teh a Story. There s this contract who s working on my apartment in new York he says. I be been living with a bed end chairs and i had a Pool table. So i said Well i d belief have this place fixed up so i can have people Over so his son comes Over with him. This 7-year-old kid. A comes Over and we re talking and the kid s seen top Sun and i had this Little f-14 Model and 1 gave it to him we re talking. I m showing him around. And the kid leaves and they re in the elevator and the kid goes. To really love to meet thai Maverick Guy his father said that s Tom cruise Tom cruise is Maverick and the kid says Nan nah nah. That s no Maverick that might be torn cruise but Maverick s Cool,"1 and he laughs laughs because the kid is right it s so obvious he s Way too polite to be Coal for starters on of those please than you i Maori i m late Guys and his hair s too Short which is not Cool at All. Which is in tact out you could look it Upland he s wearing jeans and an inexpensive red sweater that is neither Cashmere nor Alpaca nor formerly belonged to Steve us queer just another Earnest Young Man. Except that at 24, this particular Earnest Young Man born Thomas cruise map Otherl has everything anyone would want youth Good looks health lame Money a close family and a Beautiful Girlfriend mini Rogers a statuesque blonde who appeared in to s paper doll the aforementioned apart men in a fashionable Greenwich Village building and perhaps most important to him critical acclaim that is reaching a Crescendo for his work in the color of one i feel Good to be alive Tom cruise says yeah i do i be been  but it s As Martin Scorsese says in the narration at the beginning of the color of Money for some people Luck is an Art. The Surprise hit risky business $59 million established the rame of Tom cruise top gun this summer s biggest movie More than $150 million not including its huge overseas Success sealed things for him. After the dust settles on the color of Money cruise s asking Price could exceed $2 million a picture. All of which makes Tom cruise the first major movie Star of his generation. The kids who buy movie tickets. The go Tor ill generation. And he has gotten where he 13 by Well going for it a kid who travelled a  living with his Mother and three Sisters after his parents divorced when he was 12. The Man of the House till he was 16, who sat Down with his Mother and Stepfather after making a big hit As Nathan Detroit in the Glen Ridge . High school production of Guys and dolls and asked Lor 10 years to try to make it As an actor. Since then his career has been As corny As it sounds and corny is very much a part of Tom cruise tribute to hard work. He got his first role in taps by throwing himself into the drills of director Harold Becker s make believe rehearsal period Boot Camp with such ferocity that he wound up winning another actor s part. He s 100 percent says Becker. He was Able 10 strut Down that Field and he had a crispness that a kid at a military Academy might work three or Lour years  "100 percent is the phrase that Springs to mind Tor almost everyone who s Ever worked with cruise. Don Simpson for example the producer of top gun feels he Learned everything you need to know about cruise at the Bob Bondurant school of race car driving which they both attended after completing the movie. I started calling him Las Rhead because he s so intense says Simpson. At he school you re supposed to study this manual about race car driving. My idea of studying was to go Beck to the room and have a couple of Beers and watch magnum. Cruise would coma to my room and say we gotta study.11 would say i graduated from College in 19691� he d Mako me out to this pizza place and he d make me quiz him Letl about Midnight. I said laser head jeez you go 100 percent about everything and he said that s the Only Way i know How Todd it right pet fund with Anthony a " up Qun he s like three mile Island inside just ready to  in All the flight moves Tom cruise played a kid who sees football As his ticket out of a dying steel town and much of his enormous drive you could guess comes from a desire 10 gel out. Growing up was difficult for him his family was at times extremely poor and his dyslexia an impairment in Reading made it hard for him to adjust to school. He was t As ingratiating then As he is now says a Hollywood insider who met him when he first came to new York As an actor. He was very new Jersey less polished than he is now. He was t attractive he was t a heartthrob. He had big Muscles he had his hair greased Back. A had an angry Edge to him. He was t As yes a am yes sir Success has allowed him to be  but if his background has driven him he s been Able As an actor to draw on those emotions to use fear and anger to unlock the characters he s played. Acting in scary at times cruise says. You have to face a lot in yourself. There s certain things you can hide from and Gat away from. A lol of times looking at a character first you decide what they re afraid  and then Cru a launches into a discussion of some of the characters he s created Maverick the reckless Timboy of top gun Vincent the impulsive Pool shark of the color of Money and Joel Goodson the confused future Enterprise of risky business. Maverick is most afraid of death. He s afraid really. To gel involved wild people really get involved. 1 mean the Best Friend he Ever had was Goose and he killed him he says laughing and Hen with mock ominous Ness thai s what happens. Vincent is not part of Hie crowd. He s always needed a lot of attention and affection and he s very afraid of being alone because in some sense he always atone. Vincent has a lot of fear that s Why he moves so fast. When you see him walking it s a so land a  and Joel Goodson of god poor Joel cruise says Joel is the kind of Guy who cried when his Mother Tell him in kindergarten you know what i mean Joel is afraid of everything. He s afraid of women he s afraid of sen. And he s afraid of not being part of the  there Are actors cruise s age like Sean Penn who May have More varied technical resources than cruise. And there Are others like Rob Lowe who Are More conventionally attractive. But no one else has thai cruise smile the big toothed Sliver that says it s great to be Tom cruise and invites you to join in the fun the thousand kilowatts of thumbs up and a hauls Heck that As top gun producer Jerry Bruckheimer once remarked has teen age boys wanting to be like him end teen age Girts wanting to be with him. None of which Means much to Tom cruise you can t live your life for applause or for Box office or reviews says cruise. It s not to say that it does t affect me at All. But my choices in life can t a based on that. The Good thing about being a movie Star is thai luxury of being Able to do what i want to do to be Loit Unate enough to work with a  that s not merely self serving on cruise s part for the facts Are there he s used his leverage As a movie Star to develop his skills As an actor another Star in his position might not have taken a second part in the color of Money and reportedly a Culin pay Lor the Chance Low Ork with Scorsese and Paul Newman. In the process Newman became a kind of role Model for cruise both personal and professional they race cars and shoot Pool together and hang out at Newman s Connecticut Home. Our relationship was t one like hey let s sit Down i want to give you some tips on acting cruise says. Because acting it s so personal. It s living life and having enough courage to let that go and express that. I m very detail oriented with just Little things cruise Saya of his acting approach when you look at the Way Joel Goodson walks he s got kind of a Duck walk when you see the Guy. Or look at Maverick. Maverick carries his physique the shoulders very slow he s not the kind of Guy who s Gonna run anywhere  cruise has in Chapman s words what Alt talented actors have a kind of genuine intelligence which is not necessarily a verbal or literary  you see that intelligence in cruise s willingness to probe and push the Way a character is written to lift off the Page. I m looking for a different Angle trying to find something new about the character that has t been done before that s something in myself or that i be seen somewhere and incorporating it cruise says having arrived at his Conception of the character cruise goes after it with a kind of reckless bravery whipping his Pool Cue around like a Kung fun artist s nun Chuka Sticks jumping up and Down on a hotel room bed in his underwear. He s Back at the Bob Bondurant school three mile Island ready to blow. Whan i Wake up in the morning if i did t feet Good and i did t feel that i was going to do the Best i could do that Day 1 would slay in bed. And i did that fora while he says laughing. It s been a struggle. Growing up it s been difficult and this have been difficult. Sometimes for people failure is much easier than Success. Because once you gel in the position where you re Given everything it s in some ways a frightening thing. Because of friends and family who have been around me it s made it enjoyable. And t wan it to be enjoyable. I Don t want to be afraid of ii. I just want to live my he because trial s what enriches my work. It s just a matter of not pulling Back from that my letting it be easy. It s the thing of like anything what do i want?1 ult  Page in the stars and stripes monday november 17,1988