The past few weeks have been full of excitement for Tom Cruise. “Today” host Matt Lauer sat down with the actor and talked about his new love, his new movie, “War of the Worlds,” and the recent firestorm he caused when he commented on Brooke Shield’s use of therapy and drugs to cure her postpartum depression.
Matt Lauer: Anything at all interesting happening in your life these days?
Tom Cruise: Well, you know, same old, same old.
Lauer: Same old you know what?
Cruise: Same old you know what.
Lauer: How are you handling this? I mean every magazine, every newspaper, and every entertainment show. What’s it like for you to be living through this right now?
Cruise: I have to tell you. It’s just a great time in my life. I’m really happy. And, you know, I’m engaged. I’m going to be married. I can’t restrain myself.
Lauer: It’s like you’ve got two little cords on your mouth and you can’t stop smiling. I was thinking about it. On the one hand, it’s got to be a little hard to see yourself everywhere, splashed across the pages. Another aspect of this, though, is, how many actors 20-something years into a career can generate this kind of interest still?
Cruise: You know, I just do what I do. I love making movies. And I feel privileged to be able to do that, always. And it’s something that — I’m just living my life, you know.
Lauer: We talk about life in a second. Let’s talk about the movie, though. Okay, “War of the Worlds.” I mean, I’ve always been fascinated by this whole concept, the "we are not alone in a big way," concept. Do you remember your first exposure to it, to the story?
Cruise: I remember, I was a kid. And I heard about the Orson Wells radio play. It was my first exposure to this story.
Lauer: This is not just an alien movie. The story breaks down on a lot of different levels. And on one of the levels, your character is a father?
Cruise: Mm-hmm.
Lauer: Not the best father in the world.
Cruise: Mm-hmm.
Lauer: Tell me how that plays into this whole scenario.
Cruise: When we were working on this story three years ago, [director] Steven [Spielberg] and I came up with this idea of making it about a family. And so now, he is forced in these circumstances to rise to the occasion. Will he rise to the occasion? And I just think it’s very human. I think the — you know, you’re a father.
Lauer: Sure.
Cruise: I’m a father, you know. I always wanted to be a father. Remember when you first held your child? It’s like wow, tremendous sense of responsibility.
Lauer: Life-changing.
Cruise: Yeah. And we talk about it. But not until you experience it can you really know it. We wanted to imbue the story with that journey.
Lauer: Is this a scary movie in the traditional sense of Hollywood scary?
Cruise: I think it’s Spielbergian scary.
Lauer: Is that a word?
Cruise: It now is. I think, you know, I tease him. ‘Cause I say, I know your movies better than you [do]. You know, I studied his edits so many times. I’ve studied his movies. And having worked with him, it’s not analytical. He’s just creating. And he has tremendous power because he understands the medium. And he’s just that great, great, great storyteller. I think he’s the greatest storyteller cinema has ever known.
Lauer: Let’s talk about selling this movie. You’ve just toured around the world, getting the story of “War of the Worlds” out there. And at the same time, you’ve got this great thing happening in your personal life that has become the subject of so many headlines and stories.
Cruise: Really?
Lauer: Yeah. From what I’ve seen. You want to count? Three thousand, four hundred and four.
Cruise: Are you serious?
Lauer: No. Made that up. Is there any fear in your part that what happens personally overshadows the movie?
Cruise: Nah, it never does.
Lauer: Has it helped the movie?
Cruise: I don’t know. You know what? It comes down to the movie. It always comes down to the movie.
Lauer: You are being so much more open. You’ve been on this show in the past at times where you were in other relationships. And I’d kind of broach the subject of a personal life. And you would very gingerly steer it away. That was how we came to know Tom Cruise. And now, you’re saying, "You know what? I’m okay with it." So, it does seem like a different guy.
Cruise: Yeah. But they’re still writing it. You got to understand. All that stuff, they’d still write it. They’d still talk about it. And the thing is, I still feel I will talk about what I feel, what I want to talk about.
Lauer: Right.
Cruise: And I won’t talk about what I don’t want to talk about. And it just doesn’t matter. It comes down to the movie, you know. And I also feel, Matt, I’m living my life. And I feel fortunate, you know. I feel really fortunate. And I’m excited.