Jeff Meacham Tom Cruise Spectacular

to talk Cruise for a long time. Yeah, I mean maybe the first thing I had the podcast chat later on, but I think maybe we should get just go ahead and talk about your podcast now. Is that will help explain why we're talking about Tom Cruise. Thanks? Man. Uh, you have a show out all meeting Tom Cruise that you do along with your co host Joel john Stone. And why don't you just tell me a little bit about this project and what the deal is here. Yeah. So I am your you know, I'm your typical. I

don't think that's the right word. I was. I grew up just obsessed with movies and and you know, and I'm I was born in seventy nine. So I and we've talked a lot about this on the pod, so I've I've kind of worked it out where there's this chunk of time where I was. I was basically I was ten by I was twenty, so I grew up where from a kid to an adult where Tom Cruise

was the biggest movie star in the world. And you know, man, you remember that was the height of the cineplex, and you know, like there was nothing more exciting than going to the movies, at least for us movie nerds, and there, you know, on a Saturday night. So I I was just I was just obsessed with the guy, like he

was he was the best. And then and then and then I went to a performing arts college and I think I kind of, I don't know, I'm I'm I'm a very exciting guy, excitable guy, get really pumped about stuff. So I think people just started to be like, oh yeah, Jeff's obsessed with Cruise, and it just kind of snowballed into this thing where I eventually started to come up

with this idea one day. And this was in like you know, I don't know, somewhere in the mid two thousands, and I was like, what if I there was a show about two guys who thought Tom Cruise was going to retire and it had to go like tell him not to retire. Yeah, and then and they had the perfect script for him. You know, Cruise has just missed his Academy Awards a few times, so uh, you know there's always the big star. Brad Pitts now got one. You know, clue he got his. So it's like, when

does when does Cruise get his Academy Awards? He know, he's been nominated three times, but he nuver won. He should have won for Magnolia. He should have one from

men and we'll get to that for uh. Because I am pissed um so he anyway, So I kept having all these ideas, ideas ideas, but of course, being the a d D, you know, sometimes lazy, sometimes distracted actor I am, and kids and all whatever, I just never did anything about it until my buddy Alec Lev who's a total go getter, was like, dude, you and your friend Joel are ridiculous together. You know, we we've known it.

Joel and I've known each other since ninety nine. And Joel is like he he reminds me of my best friend Seater anyway, and so he just has this crazy wild DestinE spot. I mean, he comes up to me one day he says, dude, dude, I know how excited you are about Cruise and loved him. I heard this story about him on the set of What Last Samurai and he's like and he's and he's pumping himself up on the set and he's just yelling the words Cruise is on fire. And I was like, that sounds like

Tom Cruise does, right. So anyway, my my buddy Alec was like, you gotta make this into a podcast. Let's at least just record one we did. This was I don't know fourteen fifteen months ago and a buddy of mine who remained nameless, gave me the Cruise cake that particular Christmas. And do you know about this cruise cake? Have you hear about this? No? I don't know what you haven't heard? Chuck all right, Dom's Bakery in the valley here in Los Angeles. Tom Cruise went there one day,

as Cruise would. Somebody or somebody brought one of the cakes from this bakery and Tom Cruise lost his freaking mind and was like, this is the best cake I've ever had before. But he's not a cake eater because he's keeping his body shredded all the time. So what he decided to do is every holiday send. We're not sure what the number is yet, thousands of these cakes. Two people. It's if you google right now Cruise cake and it'll pop up and you'll see Kirsten Dunns will

tell the story. Anyway, So my buddy gives me the the official Cruise cake that's got a little Ora him in on it and it says, you know, happy holidays from Tom Cruise. And so we put it into the pilot podcast and sold it to my heart and it's amazing, what a story. I can't believe it. And you know, and we'll get to more Cruise later. I do want to know a little bit more about your your background in childhood. I mean, I guess you're you were born

in seventy nine. Here, I'm I'm a bit older. I'm eight years older, but you know, sort of similar era of of cruisiness especially and uh, you were just a movie head as a kid, where it was it always just your thing. Yeah, so I was my you know, I'm your my parents splay I was born in Connecticut. Parents split when I was quite young, and my mom and I moved to Florida in eighties six what part Sara Sota. We followed my grandparents, which you know is I can't tell you how many kids, even in my

school were just like in the same boat. We're all snowbirds, right right. Came from New England and moved to Florida, and you know, I loved it, but I oh, and then my parents made this agreement and this actually did kind of looking back, shape my life where my um, I told my dad that as long as he saw me somehow once a month, that he didn't have to pay child support. So I saw my dad a lot,

which was kind of crazy. Know, my construction worker father would fly down once a month from from Connecticut to Sarasota and we'd have a great weekend together. But then I'd go up and visit him for the whole summer nature holidays. So there, you know, I didn't have a ton of friends in Connecticut during those years, and especially in the late eighties, um, and that was the height of you know, blockbuster and I, dude, I was going

crazy last night doing research. Even when you just said like, what were your favorite movies as a kid, because I this is how much I obsessed over movies. I think I just realized that, like in the summer of eighty nine, I must have watched every movie on the planet a thousand times. And we're not talking about the good ones either, you know, we're talking about you know, like Ghostbusters too. I probably saw you know, an uncomfortable number of times,

but that just that's what I did. I was alone a lot, you know, I was a latch key kid in Sarasota because my mom was single and she was working a lot, and my my high school was I'm sorry, my my elementary school was right nearby, so I rode my bike there and then by, Like I said, by the summer of eighty nine, I'm you know, I'm able to ride my bike to the two local movie theaters that are right near me. And I still and I

remember that summer of eighty nine. I was ten years old, and I bring it up like I'm saying that year because I think that was like that pinnacle, you know, you get a little independence, your mom doesn't mind you're

leaving the house. And I still remember seeing the signs, the posters for Batman and Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade and being I still can feel, excuse me, I can still feel that visceral excitement of knowing that those two movies are coming out, and that feeling of I mean, remember, dude, you remember those days when you would you sneak into the R rated movies or double feature you know, you're you're, you're not exactly was terrible, terrible, not endorsing that, but

we used to, uh yeah, we used to kind of sneak in and see as many movies as we could for that single admission price. Of course, of course, because no matter what year it was, it was still a lot of money to a kid, and man, I just that year, you know, it's like Major League and the Abyss. Yeah, you know, it's funny, like there were there were some truly great movies, but it was also like it sounds like you were like me, where you would be like,

what are you guys gonna do? We're going to see Robin Hood Prints of Thieves, Like what else are we gonna do? Yeah, there was no other It wasn't even you know, there wasn't like that discussion like should we go to the movies or should we go do I can't even name what X was. It was just go to movies, like point break is out. What do you think we're doing on a Saturday afternoon? Exactly, Dude. I was such a nerd that even in my freshman year or movie nerd, at least my freshman year of college.

My best friend Seater, this guy, we would this is this is so Florida. He would get on I would get on my bicycle. He would tie a rope to the back of my bicycle and roller blade off the back of my bicycle. We'd go to Subway. We'd get our sandwiches, our chips and cookies, and go to the go to the movie store, go to the you know, Blockbuster. I still remember renting what was the the Bruce Lee story one that his son was in. It was called

like Oh Dragon, Dragon Dragon. I remember I was renting Dragon and then just kicking the ship out of each other for an hour, thinking that we were you know, Bruce Lee, and you know that those are my memories, my memories from my childhood and especially even my teen years where I went to performing art High school in Florida, already knowing that I kind of wanted to be an actor. That's all. It was, Like you said, it was movies. It was movies galore. Yeah, and you know I was

um as as being a little older. My heyday earlier on was like et Raiders, goon Ease, Back to the Future. But you were just on the heels of that. So those were your VHS specials exactly, and you're like HBO specials, Um, those were those were big deal. Do you remember? Also, I loved keep my I had this uncle, Uncle Ray, and Uncle Ray was he was like the first person to dub every movie. You know, we all had that person in our life that just took the VHS day

made SLP. So I had six hours worth the worst possible quality, the worst quality, and you'd have all three Rambos on there. You know, he'd fit on two tapes. He'd fit like every key and you just go to town watching like you said, e t or any of the Indiana Jones. It was everything. Yeah, those home collections recording off of cable TV. I was an HBO kid to like and when h and I've talked about this on the show before I grew up on Initially it was a gravel road and then they eventually paved it,

but it wasn't some big neighborhood with kids everywhere. It was just a street with like six houses sort of in the woods. And uh, it was great looking back. We had a creek behind her house and you know, lives on a couple of acres. But at the time I wanted to live in like the et neighborhood with kids everywhere. Last key, kids everywhere. Um. But what we did get finally, when I was like ten or eleven, was HBO and MTV cable came down our little dirt road,

and those two things changed my life. I sat around and watch MTV constantly because I was a big still am big music guy, and and HBO. I would watch some of these movies. And my wife always kids me about my sort of weird, semi sophisticated taste as a kid. It was just because it was on HBO. Like I was the only twelve year old that would that had seen on Golden Pond nine times, or you know, these movies that were adult movies. But I just ate it

all up. Man. Nobody nobody told us back then. You know, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but it is. Because nobody told us that you need to not let your kids watch these particular movies. Like no, you know, now I think about myself as a parent now. I just did another pod recently for somebody who wanted to talk about Cobra, and I thought Stollans Cobra as a kid was the coolest movie. I watched that movie again just recently. It is so horrifically violent and terrible

for any child to watch. And then oh god, they were so violent. The killers were all very angry. You know, we watched movies we should not have been watching. Yeah, for sure. And and even like with the on Golden Ponds, these movies that are the content wasn't like something I shouldn't have been watching. But it's just what's a twelve year old kid watching a movie about aging, uh, you know,

octogenarians and loving it? Yeah, of course, of course, remember the Remember just even the way the HBO symbol and the music would come. Remember that feeling you'd get every time, and sometimes when you didn't know what the movie was, you know, you turn it on and you didn't you know, you didn't flip over to the channel that had the scroll on it, so you were you were pumped. You didn't know what you're about to watch, and all the surprise is gone, and I don't want to be, you know, krusty,

old fifth year old guy. I know, but the and the ease of access is wonderful. It's all great, but there was something a little special when we've talked about it before about going to that blockbuster and not knowing if you can find your movie and looking at those people coming in and returning movies to that cart and they're like, is it in? Did did they just returned

the Last Crusade? Because I really need to see that movie? Sorry, Like all twenty copies are out when they when they come in the return tonight at somebody, well where is that guy? Do you know his address? What when when he rented it? What time did he rent it? You know? All right, I means you probably watched it, okay, you know, yeah, it's not rewound. I don't care give it to me.

Seeing the guy even turn around and and seeing that kind of avalanche of movies, you seeing kind of funnel through and hope that you see the copy or remember remember when you'd walk to the back shelf and you'd see the you'd look at the thickness of the movie. So if you knew that one was kind of sticky out three dimensionally, is there, Oh, there's one, there's one, you know, because they'd give the new re member, they'd give the new release, like the whole wall and yeah.

The etiquette of someone is standing right in front of your movie and there's the only one copy and you're like, can I just just trying to reach this thing, but technically like no, I'm sorry, this is my zone. You need to wait your turn. When I would spend those summers with my dad, uh, there was this place and then and I remember there were the other movie places. So there were the independent places, which I've worked at

some of those. I love those. Of course. Of course those were always the guys like you that would work there, that knew everything about movies, so you could ask him any questions. They'd be like, well, man, listen, you know, Cobra is good, but if you really want to watch over the Top and yeah, maybe they were smarter than

still Loan films. But we had this place down the street called Eastern Video, and I remember it was at the bottom of a hill because man, that trunk back up that hill was tough on the bike, and they had a deal which was five movies for five dollars for five a's and you couldn't do new release though. That was the only thing. And again there you go, like,

that's that's my summer right there. I would I think there were days where I would by two days later, I'd go back and return all five because I burned through them so quickly, and get a new set of five. But it's not like at the time I was watching the highest level of films. I think, you know, Jean Claude Van Dam and stallone and so I think I watched Under Siege way too many times, you know, just an uncomfortable number of times. Yeah, I mean the video

store experience is great. That certainly did all the Blockbuster. Uh you know, I supported Blockbuster, but the mom and pops were like they were still around. Like when I lived in l A, which doesn't seem like that long ago. I guess it's been like sixteen or seventeen years. But I lived in loose Felas and I went to Video Hut that was just right there across from House of Pies, and yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, there was a Video Hut there, and there was the

Blockbuster down the street. But you went to Video Hut if you you know, if you lived in the Eric, because they had everything. Yeah. And as soon as you got as soon as we grew up in you know, college and young adult you, especially for those of us in the business, you started to learn about other films and you wanted to see those, and usually Blockbuster didn't have them or you know, so if you wanted to watch and I don't know in elikas and film you were like, I'll go to this other place and start

to learn about these people. And again that person behind the desk nine times out of ten just had knowledge. Man had weird crazy knowledge or flicks. Yeah, the one I worked at in college was Vision Video. It was very much the cool indie one. And then there was one in Atlanta that was really great called Movies Worth Seeing, uh and Video Drum. And Video Drum is still around. It's like the only kind of one in Atlanta, still

in the same little tiny building. And if you want to go find the first Jim Jarmish movie, then you can go in there and get it. I love that. That's that's something that God I missed that. I and Sarah so do we at a place where you could take a tag? It had a it had a little a little hook and tags underneath it, so you know, an he had a system. You know then the systems

were the best. And and of course there was always that room in the back and most of these places you see it as a m you were like, oh, man, that's what's back there. I want to know what's in there? Right exactly? It's like, why is my the head dean of my deacon of my church coming out of that room? What's going on? Hey? Is that my third grade teacher? Mr? Johnson? Uh? When did um? When did you start acting in and

when did Blackish come along for you? You were on from the very beginning, right, I was, Yeah, since the pilot. In short, I started acting at a I guess a fairly young age. I found out quickly that I was a terrible student and my mother was having trouble keeping me uh in school, So she sent me to kind

of a delinquent middle school. And in that school, the head of this school just I mean there was literally eight of us that were in eighth grade and I had gone to like this other private, delinquent school before that, and finally she was fed up and she sent me to this weird school in the middle of nowhere in Sarasota. Anyway, they the teacher, they're just saw it in me. She was like, you're you're you're a performer, and that's your thing, man,

you you love to perform. So they put on a play and she told my mom, she was like, listen, Jeff, jeff'son actor. This is what he's gonna do. And there's this performing arts high school in Sarasota called Booker, and you should have him audition and and and send him there. And I did, and I did. I auditioned for it. I I still remember my mom telling me, you know,

to do the interview as a fourteen year old. She was like, please tell them that your favorite actors are in your own pacino and you know, stallone and and uh. And I was like and uh. And I got in and and and it kind of was, you know, there's history right there. I went to that school and it was amazing. You know, I started high school in ninety three, so we just had a great group of people and back in those days, it was a big deal to

go to a conservatory for college. So you know, people were going to n y U and Carnegie Mellon and Juilliard and and n c I, s A and all these like you know, big, big performing arts schools, and you heard about the famous actors that went there. And I got a pamphlet for a school called Sunny Purchase that my friend Brandon showed me and on the cover was Wesley Snipes and I was like, what that guy is awesome. I'm coming to Blade University. I want to

go to Blades University. That is so exactly. I'm like the dude from White Man Can Jump Sure, and uh. I auditioned for Sunny Purchase and I was for some reason obsessed over the school, and it was you know what. It was also just outside of New York's. It is just outside of New York City. So it was this great tie between being able to go into the city anytime, but not actually lived there because I was still a little intimidated by New York. And and then my dad

was close by. You know, my dad lived in Connecticut, so I was able to kind of move back up there at eighteen, go there, I I graduate, I'm your very just this is I just love to like, I did anything I could to make money in the A lot of money in the shortest amount of time. So I found out about becoming a children's party entertainer. And I would dress up like Superman and Batman and SpongeBob and Barney and whatever the power Rangers I did. Power

Rangers could ever imagine. And I would travel all over the Tri State area and you know, Greenwich and all the super rich up and uh, you know, up up the fifteen in Connecticut and just just you know, New Cane in And it did that for years and then I booked this in two thousand six, giving you my whole quick history to get the blackish I booked. I booked this internet commercial called Shave Everywhere dot com and you know, this is the internet has jud nothing has

gone super viral yet at this point. It's it's yeah, two thousand six, and uh, they're like if Phillips No. Roko was like, oh, we got this product for men shaving their junk, and we want to do a whole funny campaign about that. And I was like, I'm your guy. Early man scape, no, that is it was the first man escaping thing, and uh, people later told me that they actually used in like business schools. This this was the first viral you know video and this way and anyway.

It ended up winning the can Golden Lion Award for like best Website. And I mean, dude, I'm I'm playing softball in the park one day in Central Park and I get a phone call from my commercial agent who's like, listen, there's there's this agent from CIA that wants to meet you. And I literally the first thing I thought, Chucko was like, that's Tom Cruisers Agency, like that, we're are you whatever you need me to do in this moment, whatever you need me to do. So I end up calling that

agent and yeah, he was. His name was Raj and he's an incredible agent and he was like listen, I we love your video. And people are calling. People started just calling. They were like, who's this guy in the white bathrobe? Who's who was talking about shaving his junk? And it was The website was ridiculous. You could you could click and like you could type in questions and ask me questions and I had answers. There was a

music video, there was It was crazy. It was crazy, and I just I went from a guy who only had his equity card from doing a playdown and you know, Florida and a couple of commercials under my belt, and you know, I head lines on Guiding Light and all

my Children and that's it. That's all I had. And next thing in on im at c A. So by the time I got out here, that's how people start, you know, I got all these general meetings because I'm with c A now, But of course I'd walk into these meetings, you know, with the head of casting at NBC and they'd be like, how were you here? You have nothing on your resume, And I was like, oh, I have a ball shaving commercial. And they loved it.

Everybody loved it. Still to this day, there's casting directors, you know, with whatever success I've had since no, no, no, they still are like, remember that commercial you did and so yeah, so I did that for years and now we're just gonna skip over the you know, the hard times and the ups and the downs and kids and marrying my amazing, beautiful why and how many kids go I have to I have two boys, they are eight and a half and four, and um, yeah, my my,

what about you? You got kids? I have a five and a half year old daughter. Oh you're in it then, you know, fun age, fun age, but pandemic age. That's tough. Yeah, we're doing okay. Yeah. She was able to go to this tiny, little micro school with four other kids outdoors at that's one of the parents houses. And so that was. That's been a savior. But that's that's it. That was then you has been super tough. Yeah, but they're back now,

my kids are back. Well, he's friend in school. That's great, which, you know, again, very so lucky to be able to send my kids to one thanks to Blackish. So I just was your you know, I was booking jobs here and there, a couple of pilots here and there. Um. I never yeah, I don't know, I never. I like

missed the improv scene. People. Just I would lie always in jobs if someone said to me like, hey man, you you do improv like you're you're a funny guy, and I'm like, yeah, no, I'm part of this troupe back in New York were called the Shenanigans, and I would just like make up names. Seriously, I never did it. I just I missed the whole boat of UCB and in the groundlings. I I don't know what I was. I was, honestly, I was just I had a great

job being a kids party entertainer. I was booking commercials. I I'm a total I'm just like my dad. All I want to do is play all the time. So I was on like literally at one point, I was on like three softball teams and I was in a basketball league and I just was like, Oh, this is the life and wait for people to give me jobs. I wasn't as ambitious as some of these other people

that are out there, just like the comedy all the time. Anyway, I U one day these great cast nearactors called me and they said, hey, man, you got an audition for the untitled Anthony Anderson project. And I was like, Oh, that's the dude from for me, myself and Irene, I know, the Kangaroo Jack guy and departed and you know, so I go in and it's crazy, Oh, I know, I mean, Anthony's his his career is amazing. And and I remember the character name said Josh, and he said it's a

it's aid Josh thirties, the white guy. And I was like, I don't know what that means. And it was not for a series regular, and I mean it really is a crazy story. We I booked the job, and I think I booked it because the casting directors still tell the story that there's a line that said, what's up, Driggity Dre? What's like like giving him this cheesy nickname driggity Dre and uh, and it said in SloMo and I guess I was the only guy that actually went

what's up? But I did it. I did I was the only one that did it in the actual SloMo and Uh. I booked it. Man. Even when we shot it, I was like, I had a bunch of lines that ended scenes. And as you learned as an actor, especially if you're a you know, at that time, I was just doing a lot of co star and guest star work.

I was like, I'm never gonna like, you know, you knew to like make sure you spoke quickly so they couldn't you're lying off right, That's how it just yeah all the tricks man, and I just you know, I shot it, did it took took two days to do it, and then when it got picked up, I was I

was I was recurring on this Nickelodeon show. Called The Thunderman's which was a blast, and I really did At the time, I just thought I just had a child, and I guess my career will be that I'll be like the dad on on kids shows, you know, because I just wanted to make money for my family. I wasn't really any I like hit this point where I was booking commercials. I was working, but I had lost that love to become Tom Cruise because I just wanted

to support my family. And then I booked Blackish and the rest of this tray When what year was that first year? Wow, man, that's a great run. And that is you know, just first our seventh season amazing for for listeners who don't really know a lot about network TV and stuff. I mean for many, for for many actors, for smart actors, that is sort of the holy grail because the hours are really good compared to a lot of acting gigs. It's uh it is. It's there are

dependable hours that you kind of know what you're gonna get. Generally, Um, it's usually on a stage, which is always a lot easier than being on location. It's a steady paycheck, it's the potential one day of of syndication and residuals, and

it is just it's a great, great gig. And you always hear actors talk about even people who like you know, went on to do big, big movies and uh, like people like George Clooney, you talk about just those e R days and like those were great days because it's it's such good money after you've starved to death doing you know, kids parties and stuff. Uh, And that's just great. Man. It's a show that I didn't watch, but I watched, like I think I watched three episodes over the past

couple of days to prepare for this. And it's really funny, Like I see why it's been around for seven years. It's it's a really good show. It's got a lot of heart. It's god, it's totally it tells stories that they they every every season, it feels like there's two or three episodes that are just like, oh, these are important, these are important episodes. And and we as the guys in the office, you know, nine times out of ten

we've got one scene. You know, if if if people out there having to watch the show and did watch thirty Rock, we were kind of similar to the three of us that uh, Peter Mackenzie and Dionne called myself are kind of like the guys from thirty Rock where the Writer's room, you know, where they Every every episode Anthony comes and chats with us, and some episodes we've just had dream stories were always the ones that he

runs his problems through. So we talk about these issues, especially in the black community, that are just sometimes huge discussions, and they take these two white guys Peter and myself and and Filter are that kind of blanket white opinion through And it's been fascinating. It's just been fascinating to learn and to talk about and to hear you know here, I'll tell if there's one thing I've learned for being on black issues, just shut up and listen. Just shut

up and listen. Man. You know we have no idea, no, clearly. So it's it's been fascinating. Congratulations. Um, And I know that the show has a has a diverse audience, but obviously does have a quite an African American following. Um, do you get recognized like in the black community now when you go out and they're like, oh my god, look who it is? You know totally. I think at first I used to think that. I used to, like, if I walked by a black guy'd be like, he

knows who I am. That's ridiculous. But I totally thought that. But then I found out that, like, I think sixty of our audience is white, so really interesting. Yeah, it's it was. Yeah, the split was something like that, like sixty forty. So I still get recognized way more by white people than than black people, which is kind of funny, you know, It's it's very interesting. That's like, oh, that's that's interesting. You know who I am? And I think a lot of people a really late to Josh's Josh

is my character's name is Josh Openhole. That's his real his real name. I love it, and uh, I don't know. Josh is just um, he's a bit of a loner. He's a bit of a guy that just can never make it work and he says stupid things by accident, but he just wants to be liked. So there's a lot of people that can relate to that that he's a sweet guy. He's a sweet guy. He just means well,

but he can never quite get it right. Well, I'm a fan now, and I hope, I hope for many many more years of that sweet, sweet network TV gig for you. God, yes, my my kids private school says, please keep it going, keep it going. Yeah exactly. All right, Well, I guess let's get into the cruise portion. Uh we uh, we do sort of have to caveat this with the Scientology thing. We don't need to get into all that.

But uh, he's a part of an organization that has done some pretty bad things, and we don't want to just sweep that under the I mean, we are going to sweep it under the rug that wanted to acknowledge that, and just we're focusing on his his performances, uh as an actor. Yeah, that No, that's fair to say. This is what I tell people. If you want to talk about Scientology, watch the documentary. Maybe if you watch Going Clear, or watch you know, one of the shows about it.

I don't know a lot about it. It seems like he has separated himself since the two thousand five you know, kind of when he when he started to speak about it a little bit more, you know, because remember you remember there was this strange period time where he remember before two thousand five, before the your glib Matt Couch jumping period of time. It was it was all the same time. It was really and I still say that to each other. You're being you're being glip, your glib.

Before that, he was the most squeaky clean actor on the planet. Remember Roseanne what was her name? Oh my god, I called her Roseanne? But Sally Jesse now who had her talk show? Uh key, she was. She was in Rosie O'Donnell, Rosie O'donn'll there it's Oprah. Oh yeah, that's it, Oprah right, Rosie o'donald. Remember she was obsessed with him, Did you remember that? Would you ever watch her downs? Until he came on, he was just he was squeaky clean.

Everybody loved him. He just had the great smile and he was kind. And then he what what The story goes that he changed publicists. He had this famous, famous publicist, and then he hired his sister to be his publicist, who was in scientology as well, and that's when things kind of got a little wonky. And then quickly soon after you never hear about it anymore. You never hear

him say anything about it. So it is interesting to know what's something happened in that period of time and now you just never hear about it anymore, and now you just hear about now is this this second half of his career. There's last fifteen years has been this where a lot of these stories come from the legendary you know, Cruise being acting in a certain way that's

just wild and amazing. It's like, yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, and I will say this, you know, from hearing stories about people that have worked with him in his career, like I've heard nothing but him being one of the most dedicated, Like he takes his job very, very seriously, and there is nothing that the guy won't do to get the performance that he needs to get. And and

you've got to respect that. Absolutely. He never focused in um and not even just talking about sort of these days when he does his unstunts and all that, like that's all super cool. But you know, I remember hearing a lot of stories with Cameron crowback in the day and and all these great stories of how Tom Cruise is just so focused on doing a great job. Yeah.

I mean, we just had Sarah right Olson on the show who played his wife and American maid, and she said that during the process of that movie that he the director with Doug Lyman, Tom Cruise and the writer lived in the same house together. I mean, these are forty fift year old men just during the shooting of the movie lived in the same house together, so they could do no thing but the focused on that movie and write it and dedicate themselves to it and and listen.

I whenever I hear bad stories or the people that question it, it's always the people that just listened to the news that I know him personally. But at the moment, the people that we have spoken to that know him personally or have worked with him just have nothing but the greatest things to say about it. And that's what makes him fascinating that, as I say in the party, shrouded with mystery, but yet to everybody he's the hardest working, the nicest guy. So I'm interested. I'm a manic dud uh.

And since you know you have a podcast about meeting Tom Cruise, I'll tell you my quick to Tom Cruise stories. Yes, when I lived in l A and I worked in TV commercial production, I worked as a p A and

then an art department. I was in the production office in Santa Monica one day for the company I worked for a lot Tom Cruise was rumored to be in the building, and uh, it was you know, you know how things are in l A like an office like that will really be a buzz if you know, like Cruiz is going to be here, by the way, because they were doing casting upstairs or something and he, Uh, they were like, he's here. He's walking down the hall.

He's walking down the hall. And I ran out and I looked, and I saw the I can't even say I saw the back of his head. He was surrounded by like six or eight people walking down the hall. But he's not a tall guy. No, that's what everybody. He was obscured by everybody that he was surrounded by. And I knew Tom Cruise was fifteen feet away from me in a circle of people, but I couldn't even see him. Yeah, and what makes him what? What? What

makes this? Why I think he's the greatest movie star of all time is because of that, is because just you being fifteen feet away from him is a story

for the rest of your life. And there's so many people, there's not too many people that happened to We all love Ethan Hawk, but I don't think you're sitting here going to tell me one day, right, man, I was fifteen feet away from Ethan Hawk and then then you didn't see him and he was walking away from me with a group of people like story, we love him. But uh. And then my wife, she worked in the film industry at the time. She was a um ended

up producing music videos and commercials and stuff. But at the time was I think maybe just a production coordinator on the mission. Impossible just the um rock face climbing shoot from m I Too, from m I Too. So you know, and in movies sometimes like if you go on just a location to do one thing, sometimes you have like sort of a different crew. Uh. And she

just helped helped coordinate that shoot and uh. She it's still to this day, doesn't like Tom Cruise because he like made everyone wait for too long in his trailer and wouldn't come out, and it was it was one of those things, you know, the sort of nuts and bolts of filmmakings where she's like, how this big movies sorry, wouldn't come out of his trailer and we were all

three hours later and I wanted to go home. And so that's that's why she doesn't like Tom Cruise, isn't it can you imagine having the pressure of that for the rest of your life? So you have one bad day, assuming he could have had others. I'm not doubting that it wasn't lame what he did, but yeah, you know that one day that you know, in a bad mood passed by you and you're like hey, hey, Bruce Willis and he's like whatever, and forever I'm like that guy said, Dick, Yeah,

his COVID meltdown. You know, that was broadcast far and wide. It's you know, that was a tricky one because I got it and like, I do think you should talk to people in a kinder way, but I also get how much money is at stake and how he was like, listen, man, we are taking this seriously, and like, there is so much pressure on me as a human, like you can't you can't funk this up. And I get it. I get it, he snapped, Man, He's a human being. So I wasn't one of the jobs that heard that and

was like, oh what, it's total asshole. I was like, man, I kind of see where he's coming from. I don't think too many people did either. I mean maybe it was split, but that was interesting to see that even on the you know, on the Twitter pages and on the Instagram there's the split people being like no, man, I get it. And I think people brought their own ship into it though, Like if you didn't like Tom Cruise before, you probably just use that to reinforce sure

for sure. Absolutely. So wait did your wife get to meet him? Uh? Yeah, I mean you know, in that the coordinator gets to meet the lead actor, like he probably came through, but she wasn't like accepting his petty

cash or anything like that. You know, that goes totally. So. My first experience with Tom Cruise was one of those HBO movies as a kid that I saw probably two dozen times, a movie called Taps about the military Academy, and Tom Cruise had a very small part, but a very kind of key part at the end of that film, and then The Outsider shortly after that, another small role. But that was my introduction to him as an actor and when he was just sort of a Doughey kid.

And uh, I think it's interesting how he's changed. You know, there are a lot of Tom Cruises from those days too, like real series acting to action hero. Uh. I think it's a pretty interesting career. It is. And you gotta remember those first two movies you named especially for your generation, and that when how old you were when you saw those movies. He was he was pigeonholed as a psychopath at that point because he had done his first little

role on Endless Love and then Outside some Taps. He's a crazy man in those movies and so and he was kind of he was a wrestler, so he was shredded and kind of like he was a little scrapper. And it acts it's funny because Tom Cruise is is you know, what made him famous as risky business, but he actually had to work hard to get risky business because that was so different than what he was playing

at that point. So it's it is fascinating to think that he could have easily not gotten risky Business and then just gone down the path of being the outsider scrapper, tough guy, maybe doing horror films and you know, but he didn't. He there's this, like now legendary story that he um he ran off all this like he didn't work out. He just ran and did cardio and then gorged himself on like sugar. So he kind of made it himself look a little like sweet, like like gave

himself like a thin layer of fat. So when he did Joe Goodson and uh in that movie, he he just looked like a normal boy instead of this like a psychopath. Yeah, yeah, totally. And that's what we know. Risky business is like what launched him to be this megastar. So yeah, so what how we decided to do this. It was to come up with three top five categories, um, top five guilty pleasure movies, Tom Cruise, Top five legit acting movies is what I called it, and just top

five overall films that he's been in. And I figured we just trade off and chit chat about him. All let's do it, alright. So Tom, I couldn't be more excited, Like I literally, man couldn't be more excited in my closet in my house. This is so cool. Top five guilty pleasure movies. I'm gonna go ahead and start off with. And I hesitate to put it under guilty pleasures because

it is a good movie, but it's risky business. And it was a movie that I think was unfairly included in that sort of teen sort of ten a teen film thing and that that era. But it is a good movie. But I'm still putting it in guilty pleasures. I get that, I've I think that's a right call to it. It's still fulfill it does. It is a teenage movie no matter what, even though it's it's very well written in different and interesting. But yeah, it's a guilty pleasure. I I give you that one great great

movie though, such a good movie. Yeah, just watching it again recently and him into morn. Now, you don't get better chemistry than that, those two, know, I mean that was hot stuff for a kid. Uh, it's stuff for an adult. But I still want a this day. Like when I see an old portion for sale, I'm like, oh man, the fucking risky business car. There is no substitute, that's right, remember that. Uh so we'll go back and forth. Yes, what do you? Okay? Alright, So my first guilty pleasure

then is cocktail? All right, well that's on my list, so we can go ahead and just talk cocktail. Okay, good? How can I not be on your guilty pleasure list? It was that was so fun. It was mad. The move the music that just the complete ridiculous soundtrack, and the the idea of watching it again, you know I did. I watched it all these was last year. At the idea that he just walks into a bar and there's Brian Brown smoking a cigarette and it's just a dive bar and he's like, oh, by the way, I'm also

a circus entertainer, right with liquor bottles. Well, that kicked off a genuine, uh movement in bartending to do ship like that. And I know it already was a thing. It's not like they invented it, but they really popularized that whole bat bar show, bartender bar show thing. Absolutely. Man, she that movie is just a movie is ridiculous and

I love it so much. And and again, I mean it's it's dated on some of its subject line, especially if you just go back and look at the idea that he just he falls in love with this girl, has the most loving relationship with her, and then Brian Brown is just like, hey, I bet you can't go bang this other girl, and he's like that I could

bet I could, and then he does. And then when he makes the argument to her later when she's like I'm pregnant and he's like, look you, you came on too strong and She's like, my I thought we were just in love. Like it's it's a little dated, but it's still a fun movie. Remember remember the ridiculous poems, you know, up in front of the audience. So, yeah, who's the other I mean, I know Elizabeth Shoo obviously was the lead, But who was the one? Who was the other one? What was the dude from f Oh?

Who was the woman that played the quote unlow holder woman? I don't remember her name, but she was showing Kelly Lynch and Gina gershun Was it one of those two? Know, Gina Gershwan worked in the ridiculous bar that they became famous saying, oh, and that's another one too, is that he was dating Gina Gershwan. And then Brian Brown, being the shallowest character ever, was like he made a bet.

Everything in that movie is about bets, and so he's like, bet, I bet she'll leave you, and he's like, she's not going to leave me. So he has sex with her. Like it's so shallow and so mean. He was such a jerk. He was such a jerk, and then he killed himself. That's fine. He gets spall Cocktail a hundred and seventy million dollar. Gross, what a smash it. So see what you want about that movie. But I mean that that's what helped propel him to being one of

the biggest stars in the world. Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. My buddy makes the argument that he thinks the reason why he didn't get nominated for rain Man, which you should have, is because that was the same year Cocktail had come out in the summer and Raymond came out in the winter, so people like had that stain that? Yeah, that that oh boy vodka stain. Alright, alright, so my next guilty pleasure. And I hope I'm not insulting you because for all

I know, this is on your top five best movies. No, it's fine, is Top Gun? No, that's right, that's okay, that's totally understandable. Great movie. I mean I was one of these kids who saw that movie a ton of time, and I wasn't I don't think I remember being like, oh man, Top Guns the best thing I've ever seen. But when I, as in a full grown adult last year, saw that first teaser for Maverick, I was like, I was so in man. I was like, man, this is getting all my buttons and I didn't even know I

had those buttons. That is spot on. That first bong sound, that famous sound from that you hear that in that new teaser and you're like, what's happening? Yeah it maybe I think it might be the ultimate guilty pleasure, you know, And I'm admitting that even more now because I used to say, and I do. I mean, it is my favorite movie of all time, like it is really it is, like it is the Desert Island movie. You know. I could say it's Cuckoo's Nest or Chinatown. Are these great movies.

But I'm not if someone says to me, like, hey, let's watch a movie, I'm not gonna be like, let's watch Chinatown and I'm gonna watch I'm gonna watch Top Gun and it's gonna be a blast, and you're gonna love every second of it. It's the best. Yeah, I mean some genuinely great, great action of course for uh and you can't help but sort of laugh at and love all of that mckismo and the it's just it's Val Kilm or just choose every scene in that movie

up and he's we all have to. They all have the ridiculous you know, code names of Iceman and Wolfman and the completely ridiculous volleyball scene that has no place whatsoever, but it's in there because I mean the director even admits, don't he Scott said, like, let's put another scene in where they're playing volleyball and we oiled them up. It had got to oil them up, got o him up, had no uh, had no rhyme or reason to be in the movie. But I I live for that movie.

And and and just like you said with Cocktail, it's like I guess it. It changed the generation of young men that all wanted to go into the Air Force and the Navy. Yeah, and it did a lot for recruitment. And I have to say, my brother in law is a he's in the Marine Corps and he's very high ranking officer now but he still has his wings. But he was a pilot. That's how he came up as a helicopter pilot. And uh he they always just laughed at these Maverick and Iceman and he was like, that's

not how it works, man. He's like, you don't pick your own name, and it certainly isn't some cool name. And he said, you get a name tagged on you that is usually a joke. That's some something to make fun of you. And like his name was always Hazel because he was always cleaning up after everyone. He's a clean freak. And so like you didn't say, all right, my name is gonna be Iceman. He's like that ain't how it works, hazel Man. That scared me. I was like,

was he a stripper? Because hazels a stripper's name. All right, So that was my next one. That's your next one. Mine is similar and in the sense that it's Days of Thunder. Okay, good Yeah. Days of Thunder is the next Tony Scott film he did. They said it was basically, you know, a top gun in race cars. I freaking love this movie. I could watch it anytime. It's the best.

The music at the beginning, what's Mike Michael Workers? At his name Worker, the bad guy, So yeah, he's you know the scene when they the scene when they both get differ and rental cars and just you know, just just casually race on a beach at ninety miles per hour and in oldsmobile Alero is totally not gonna get you arrested. I freaking love that movie. Oh when his name is Cold Trickle, Yeah, one of the great movie names. You know, also had Robert Duval in it. Uh some

you know, Randy Quaid, great great part, young John c Riley. Uh. It was you know, it's almost like peak Cruise of that era of like let's you know, let's put him in a race car. I mean that was probably the pitch is let's put Tom Cruise in a race car. And you'd just come off of a very successful dramatic run of like three you know, I think that's born on the fourth and right man, and uh, I'm missing something else right in between that. But he had done

very dramatic movies, maybe those two. So then he was like, oh, just let's not forget I'm also the biggest star in the world. Yeah, and imagine there might be some agent at work saying we need to give him one. You know, you've been doing this this artsy fartzy stuff. Yeah, two for them, Yeah, yeah, yeah one or you know, yeah, I know two for us, one for them kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. Worked with Tony Scott on a on a TV commercial. He directed an army commercial one time, and one of

the most fun jobs I was ever on. One of the greatest, most fun directors I ever worked with that must I mean, he is my favorite director. I think he was a great man. He was high energy, super crew friendly, always just wanted to shoot, shoot, shoot, move on, move on, move on, don't overthink it, and just he just had the best energy around him. Always just like, let's go, what's the next thing, Let's do it, Let's do it. You can't help but have that little like

what happened? What happened at the end. I know, man, very very sad. It is sad, it's weird, it's it's I mean, again, I didn't know him. Maybe you're here you are saying you worked with him, but yeah, I mean, just one job. I got a great picture with him. I gonna you know how you see polaroids before the smartphone, and I got a polaroid of him. Always would set up kind of funny pictures with whoever I was working with. It was a big star. And I was like, can

you fake like your arm wrestling me? And he's like, as long as I can be beating you, And so he really, you know, hammed it up like he was slamming my arm down on the table. That's awesome. Probably my probably one of my top five guilty pleasures of all time. I don't think it's a guilty pleasure. It's a phenomenal movie. But Man on Fire, oh sure, because Man on Fire not just the best Denzel movie. It's got everything cry every time totally. Uh, I think you're

I can't remember. Go ahead, okay, well ahead, yeah, I'm down to one on my list. Then, and that movie. There's a little movie called The Interview with the Vampire. Okay, okay, I couldn't put it on. I couldn't do it. It didn't make any of my list. God tell me why. Well, I mean, I read that book back then, and I and I'm not one to read books like that. I don't know why I did, But for some reason, I read that damn book and saw the movie and was

excited about it. And it's just it was everything wrong about adapting books, you know, but in all the right ways. At the same time. It's like the casting wasn't great. Everyone was up in arm at the time about him being cast in that role and it but it's a movie like that. When it comes on today, I find myself watching it for almost badness. Absolutely I there. So

I have to do these two things. With myself when when it comes to Tom Cruise movies, especially during the pod I have to remember, I'm a forty one year old man right now and we're talking about the movie, and I have to remember how I felt at sixteen when Interview came out, and I couldn't have been more excited, Like I couldn't I was. I was beyond myself. I mean that cast was you know, it was the coolest

dudes in Hollywood at the time. You know, Christian Slater and remember there was the there was that famous lure around it because it was supposed to be a river Phoenix was supposed to play the Christians later part, but he had just died. I forgot about all this, like mystery and this new Brad Pitt. By the way, Tom Cruise was such a big star that his face is plastered on the front of Interview with the Vampire. It says Tom Cruise, his face, the name of the movie,

and then just little font of everybody else. Pitt is in every scene in that movie. Tom Cruise is a code like the side character. He's not in half the movie. And I think that's just great. You know, it's like all Tom Cruise and Meanwhile, Brad pitts totally the start he was. Yeah, Brad Pitt was a very beautiful woman in that movie. Yes, he was a super model air. Uh. Okay, so is that your five? Did you do? That's my five because we had some overlap. But okay, finish out

your list. I've got two. I've got Okay. For some strange reason, I still okay, this was a hard list for me. I'm freaking out. Okay, My I've got three left. I believe I have three left. But just follow me on this. So I've got Oblivion, which I think some people kind of I didn't see it. You didn't see okay, so jumped on it. That's the Joseph Kaczynski, who I think that's how you say his name. He directed Tron Legacy, which I also kind of loved. The music was awesome,

and now he's also directing the newest Top Gun Maverick. Oh, so I I freaking loved to Oblivion. And uh and then Night and Day is if you haven't seen Night and Day, it is Tom Cruise at his peak, cruiz nous. He is ridiculous, and it's him Cameron Diaz. It's this movie that came out that kind of didn't. I don't think it made a lot of money. And he is just he's awesome in it. And then then I'm skipping over those two quickly because the number one guiltiest pleasure

of guilty pleasures is far and away. Yes, all right, so just let me say quickly looking back, now, I actually did see Oblivion. I totally saw Oblivion. You did, Yes, I did, And you know what, it was okay, but obviously enough for me to remember it. Critics did not like. I had a good It had a good uh had a good twist at the end. I think it looked great visually. It was a very cool looking movie. Um, and I did not see Night and Day for reasons that are. Yes, I think it was supposed to be

a pretty bad movie from the beginning. It Yeah, it's but his performance in it is so ridiculously like he's so likable in it, and he's so you know, when the these big stars just find that dropped in place, they become stars because it's some amazing performance that they this this most of them have this movie that just changed them. But then they start to drop in you know, and and that's when you know, Clooney wins an Academy

Award for how good He didn't you know? We love him and no brother like he just these all these big, huge mega stars eventually just become so good that the cameras not even there anymore. And I feel like when you watch Night and Day, he's so he's so ridiculous in it. He's likable. But listen, Far and Away to me is the it's that's the one he is, that's

that high. I call it the hybrid movie because he's a he's a scrapper and a boxer and you pull for that guy and he's got this ridiculous Irish accent but he's but it's a total love story and it and it's a sweet member. Remember all the sweeping, you know epics that we would watch back then, and I dare you know, people will be mad at me for calling Far and Away an epic, but you know, he goes from was it was Ireland to Boston to you know,

the the Oklahoma territory. I just freaking love that movie. Yeah, I liked Far and Away, and I think he took a lot of grief for that accent um. But what are you gonna do? It? Was a fun enough movie. That was Ron Howard, right, that is Ron and Ron Howard's at his height at that point too, you know, just having the big the music, the Irish music, and

and Nicole Kidman was wonderful in that movie. She was She was abusive in the relationship in Days of Thunder, if you remember, she was always like really because she pushed him around a lot. Strange fillion Days of Thunder, but she and him together, I thought, and Far and Away was the best totally. And I think they were fully in love by that point, right, Oh yeah, oh yeah, Like they met on Days of Thunder. I think that's right. I think they met at days I can't I believe

they met at Days of Thunder. Yeah, And so I think they're totally in love at that point. And you know, later on they do their crazy performance and eyes wide shut. All right, So now we are going to move on to our next category, Top five legit acting movies. Uh, and I'm gonna start off with rain Man. Uh was he not even nominated for that? You said he was not nominated? It's crazy. He was crazy, truly truly great in that movie. And that was I think a truly

great movie. I really really loved rain Man. Yeah, rain Man will never get made today if you watch it again. Yeah, you can't say. Well, he's abusive to his brother. He he says terrible words to him. But the but just if you take the idea as an actor that you're going through, you you you learned something. You have this arc character. Nobody has a greater arc than his character in that movie. You know, he just a terrible piece of ship human being. At the beginning, he's self real

you know, you can't do those things now. But it's, uh, I don't want to say it's a shame because you know there there should be movies about awful people, you know, yeah, right, and no, it makes total sense. It's it's it's because we're trying to get rid in this culture of getting rid of the inappropriate way of speaking about uh, someone with you know, whatever disabilities and that in this case. But he he he is a real human being. People are like that and for him to learn that, to

to to get rid of the selfishness. And you know, he's a car salesman and by the end he wants to take care of this handicapped man for the rest of his life. Is it's ridiculous that he didn't get nominated. Um, it's funny people now think that maybe Dustin Hoffman's performance was a little too much, and looking back, Yeah, when you watch the movie, it's actually Cruz who comes out as just an incredible performance. And I have it on my list as well for legit acting. Legit acting, definitely,

that's my that's my number one. Actually, all right, well what's your what's your next? Alright, it's my next one is h Collateral. I think his acting in Collateral is that if you look at it as that's the kind of the end of the run before he has this again what we talked about earlier, the scientology, couch jumping, you know, divorce, getting remarried, weird time. He does Collateral just before all that, and it's it is just a

dropped in. He's scary, he's intimidating, he's a murderer. His performance with Jamie Fox them together, it's just it's a it's it's a Michael Mann film. I I get all the fields for that movie. And then the fight, the gun sequence in the nightclub is like too real, it feels too real. But I put Collateral as one of my top five performances of his gau Well, I'm not

gonna say anything. No, I want to hear. I would you want to hear when you get back to it, because I could I can already tell that you were a little like no, no, no, not true. Actually you'll be surprised, my friend. Alright, alright, So that one, uh, and this is a pretty obvious one if you talk about legit acting. The movie that I think really put him on the map as a as someone who did things that they didn't think he could do as an actor. And that has born on the fourth of July, right

on the heels of rain Man. Obviously, like we said, rain Man was a was a great performance. Um, but Born on the fourth of July was that sort of Oscar bait thing. For sure. He went places that you didn't think someone like him could go. No, no, he that was the beginning of kind of making himself ugly, uh, letting him be dirty and grimy and work with just the gray Willem Dafoe and and and get getting nasty. He just got nasty in that movie. And it's it's

not one you want to watch. It's not like we're let's that's the problem with that movie. You don't want to pop it on and be like, let's watch Born on the Fourth. Yeah, I saw that movie, I think once. Yeah, exactly exactly that that scene when he discovers in the spital that he is definitely paralyzed and there's this like weird like something's dripping and I think, I can't remember even what it is, and he just realized and he

lets out this guttural scream. That's a messed up movie, but it is, and it's a It was a movie that was very uncomfortable to watch for he embodied the physicality. I mean, the emotional aspect of it was enough, but he embodied this physicality where it was tough. He always seemed dirty, and he always seemed yeah, just like, oh,

such a gritty, grimy, sad character. Yeah. And unfortunately he uh, he was up against Daniel bay Lewis and my left foot and that's why what are you gonna do when the greatest actor of all time, you know, comes up against you? Yeah, that is really tough. Yeah, all right, I didn't realize that is it my turn? Your turn, my turn? Okay, this one's going to be different. This

one's a little different. But I think one of his greatest acting performances is in Mission Impossible three, the JJ Abrams one three am I three, which is, by the way, the beginning of the real M I series, like the Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible, Ethan Hunt that we know now started with the j J Abrams Mission Impossible three movie. So talk to me about that. I've seen all of them, and I enjoy all of them, but I don't have this en psychopedic knowledge where I can sort of I

know one of them wasn't great. Was that m I two that was at my two s m I two is is a bag of a bag of flaming poop. It is that it is just ridiculous. Has the characters are. He basically turned to Ethan Hunt into a superhero. And it's just the thing about Ethan Hunt that we know now is that it's this man that at any moment could and should be dead, and and he will do anything at any costs to save the moment, the planet, whatever you want. And that's what makes the you know

three through six so far fascinating. The first one is a like a weird film New Air. It's a lot of love for that movie. I know it gets bagged on by a lot of fans, But I actually really enjoyed that first mission impostum. I mean, when we all saw it in the theater, we were you know, we thought it was the coolest thing. And the Langley scene is still one of the coolest moments ever. But am I three opens with him his arms tied behind his back, he's bleeding, and and uh Philip Simore Hoffman as one

of the just the best bad guys. I think his name was Owen Davies is you know, ripped a ripped a thing off. He's got his wife, uh, Tom Cruise, his wife played by Michelle Monahan, you know, strapped up over there, and he's gonna shoot her until he tells him where the rabbits foot down. He counts down from ten and it's the first moment of the movie. And Tom Cruise's performance in that scene, I don't care who you are. You can make fun of me right now for saying that, I put it on one of my best.

You watched that moment. He is unbelievable as an actor. In that scene, he goes through more emotions and thoughts and choices and in all the while, you know, the stakes couldn't be higher wife who has no idea who you are is. It's an incredible movie. It's my I'm gonna stay it out loud right now. It's my favorite mission Impossible. It is JJ Abrams, his first direct, his first major motion picture as well. Yeah, I think at that point you'd only done TV. Uh huh. Don't pre

quote me on that, but but I think you're right. Actually, yeah, first movie. Yeah, am I three? That was a good one. That's great, alright, So I'm gonna go with Jerry McGuire from my next pick. Uh. For many many years until I feel like he'd made a couple of not great movies. I was very much Cameron Crowe's biggest fan. I always wanted to be a screenwriter and still dabbling that stuff

even though I never sold anything. But I always kind of put him on on the pedestal of like greatest screenwriters up to a certain point with all of his early movies and say anything in singles and almost famous, and I think Jerry McGuire was one of the high points for him in writing a movie that was just uh, and he called it Jerry McGuire for that reason. It was just a Portrait of a guy, and uh, it was. It shouldn't have been called The Agent or or anything

like that, like the fact that he titled that. Jerry McGuire says it all because it's about this man and this journey that this this guy undergoes, this humbling journey. And I still love this movie. I just I think it, adore it. I think it's wonderful. I'm gonna I'm gonna jump around with you because you know, we're let's just talk about McGuire for a second. I have it as his best of all time. Okay, so your top five overall? My top five overall puts Jerry McGuire at number one.

I think it sums everything up for you know, if you take the Tom Cruise formula, which is, you know, the cocky guy who gets broken down and built back up again. Nobody played cocky better than Tom Cruise, and no one played broken better than him. And and you know the loves Ory We just all the Dorothy Boyd stuff. We all loved man and and this is the height.

This is is the height of height. You know, he's it's he's come off of this crazy hundred million dollar run of films like a bunch that we've already named. And it's my favorite Tom Cruise movie, which is ridiculous because I'm an action film junkie, and yet Jerry McGuire is my favorite. Nothing is better than Cuba Gooding Junior in that movie, you know, and just it's just it's just a hell of a movie, Gina King. I mean, oh my god, it's a character piece and like the

the purest sense of the word. Yeah uh, and I loved everything about it. The kid was great, her Nicky Reneger's sister like Hunt. Yes, Lynn Fry had a good cameo. Yes, yes,

you know. It's got to be pique. Jay Moore, you know, with that great right, Remember the remember the phone call sequence once he knows he's fired, and then he says, I'm gonna get all of them back, and he it goes between him and Jay Moore calling all the different clients, and Jay Moore is just he's got that line in there where he says uping where he's like, remember that time we were at that strip club and there was the dead hooker you don't remember, I do because I'm

your agent, you know, or like something like that, and he's just it's just an amazing movie. So that's yeah, in a movie that like um, sort of capra esque and that it that it gives you. It was a movie that and then this is so corny to say, but it truly like made you feel better about people and give you hope that you can try and do the right thing and go off on your own and chart your own path and that will pay off and give you a reward. I just loved it. I that's

there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with having a movie that can bring happiness to you. You know, there's there's a lot going on in the world. I don't want to get too deep about it, but yeah, it's it's just a it's just a lovely movie that teaches a lesson and at the end is a love story that has maybe the arguably the greatest back to back you know to romantic lines of you complete me and you had me at Hello. Like it's just the best.

I mean, that movie had the three or four lines that are part of pop culture history forever. Oh yeah, and people said show me the money for fifteen years, I mean forever. We we quote that movie all the time. It was just you know, it's too good. It's too good. I can't tell, I can't do it. Also, did you say the guy that played the another great guest star, and I think you said his name, the dude who plays the mammy, the male nanny. He was great from

high fidelity. He's awesome. He was the best jazz man and he handsome like the tape to play jazz. Well there, that's the best. I think like Jerry was he was always trying to do the right thing. He had that crisis of confidence or conscience at the beginning of the movie, and from that point forward, he just always always always tried to do the right thing. And that's why there was that meant so much when when Cuba getting Junior stuck with him man as his one guy, like it

was just great. And they gave him. I love that they gave him, not this like bombastic contract. They gave him just like a decent amount of money. So it's not like Jerry is now like a billionaire agant. For some reason, that always hits me, especially in this day and age of of just obscene money in sports. Uh. And then another one we forgot to mention is Kelly Preston, how good she wasn't that you know she was? And all the scenes with the elder agent. Uh, does that

supposed to be Billy Wilder? Yes, there's that great story where he couldn't get Billy Wilder to be in the movie. And he took Tom Cruise with him and and Cameron Crow said it was interesting, he said, because Tom Cruise asked him and he said, I could tell that it was not someone who was used to hearing the word no. He's like it was almost like he didn't know how to react when Billy Wilder told Tom Cruise no, he wouldn't do it. Does not compute. What do you mean,

I'm Tom Cruise asking you to do this? You're not gonna do it? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh man, that's grad. I didn't know that. That's my wife does that all time. She does the Uh sometimes I wake up in the morning and it's or whatever that line is, it's gonna be a great day. Yeah. Um, where are we are here? I don't know. I'll just go next. I have one. I have one here. Well, I'll actually have two left, so it's not sure we have the same same one. Um,

Magnolia Next on my list. Frank T. J. McKee. I'm doing a series with a friend, uh, Paul Thomas Anderson series, and we covered Magnolia was one of my favorite movies at the time, and I've seen that many times since. Just a powerhouse performance. It's you know, I mean, he should listen. I'm a die hard fan. I for some reason thought side our House Rules the year it came out was I'm gonna make a little jump. Here was an amazing movie and I cried my face off. Michael.

It's great and Michael Caine is an incredible actor. Tom Crue should have won the Academy Award for Magnolia. He was It is that he was the epitome of what a supporting act or was in the movie, and it was in a performance like no other, and the crying sequence and the just the I'm silently judging you as one of my favorite lines of the movie. He's incredible.

I mean, there were so many pieces to that. You know, He's first, you have the piece where he's on on the stage doing all his uh, you know, how to how to woo women stuff, not wu women, how to how to dominate in control women, right, and um, all that stuff is amazing. And then like he said, the interview sequence and then all the stuff with Robarts. It's just like, what like he just got to chew his way through that whole thing. My only, my only issue

with that movie forever. And how dare me say this for one of the greatest directors we've ever had his when Cruise is, they should have just left the camera on him and not switched over to Robarts dead face or even they even put it if you go back and watch it again. I just watched all these again, so you think of things that you don't and they cut over to uh, philipiomore Hoffman's face at times too, and I was like, no, please, Cruises crushing the scene?

Is it is in mind you? This is the This is the culmination of a twenty year career at this point, our almost twenty year career of a man who's had a lot of daddy issues, you know, which which is just if I don't know how much you know about that with Cruiz, but that his father left as a young man, and you know, most of his movies that he had control over in some way always had something

to do with his father. And either a dead father or an absent father or a father who she was living in a shadow of and this was the culmination and for him to sit over Robarts and and and let those emotions out, those were real. That was his reel as a gets so an amazing performance. Love it. Uh. And then my last one or actually you say your last one was my last one? That one, My last one was Magnolia. So I'm excited to hear what your other one is. Well, my last one is Eyes Wide Shut.

It's yes. And I'll go ahead and say we can mark Eyes Wide Shut and Jerry McGuire off of the top five overall movies for me. But um as wat Shut to me just a legendary movie. All the stories that surrounded it and the number of takes and the length of the shoot in the It's just it's one of those movies where the legend that a companies that kind of enriches the movie itself. It's a movie I know a lot of people don't like, but I love it, and um well, I just I think his work in

it was second to none. So my I have the reverse feeling on that movie, which on like both you know, I did not love it when I first saw it. I think I might have even even though it came out when I was twenty, I think I was just too young to appreciate it. I still was just learning about good cinema while I was in college at that point. Because again, as as you and the listeners can hear, I mostly watched jeezy action films and and you know, budding comedies most of my childhood, and so I didn't

really get the chance to appreciate it. I went back later on in life, in my late twenties and watched you know, bar linkedon and you know, and I obviously I love the Shining, but got to understand Kubrick a little bit more. And then I watched it again, and then I thought to myself, how was Nicole Kidman not winning every award for what she did in that movie?

She was extraordinary in that movie, and so was he, but she but she was the to me, she was the actual just star those that scene when she describes the dream and what what a movie? What a movie? What an interesting different movie? And I, of course I didn't know anything at the time that I saw it about about you know, you know, someone someone deceiving you and your relationship and letting your mind go crazy. You know, I was just too young to really appreciate totally. I

get it. I love it all right. Now we're on the top five overall movies. Like I said, I'm down to three from my original five because they've been covered. So what do you have one of my one? Am I? Okay? Yeah, so I'm out. Jereedy McGuire, I am too, I'm out. Jeremy McGuire, top gun. You said you're out, eyes wide shut and Jerry McGuire. So we both have three left. Here we go, look at this all right, you start

start yeah, okay. So my first overall which I put as number five because I was such a nerd and I even categorized them or I even I even like numerically, was like, okay, this is number five. Is a different one, but I think it's got a lot of people actually think it is one of his best, which is Edge of Tomorrow. That's on my list. Ah good, good, great movie and and movie that frankly surprised me and how

good it was. Yes it was gonna be. I was like, I'm down for any of the big cruise movies like that that we'll put out in the summer of the action movies I'll go see them all. Uh, And I was really surprised on how great great that movie was. It's it just it keeps getting better every time you watch it too. It's the quintessential Tom Cruise movie where he is again he's the likable douche bag at the beginning.

You you know, he's the he's the pr rep for the army, and he's recruited all the people, but he's actually just a week nobody. He do you even hear I just watched it again recently, so you hear him say how many times have I said that already? Oh? I just watched it again. Reasonably? What's wrong with me? I have two children and a job. He says that he like had I think he says he was like a sales repp or he had like an accounting firm or something like that. Like he's just a total nobody.

That's just a good talker. And and you take the Groundhog Day, you know theory and just an amazing director in Lineman, and yeah, what a movie. Yeah, it's a great movie. And it's um My wife actually worked on Go many years ago, dougline first movie when he was just a budding director. And I remember at the time she tells me she's like, this guy is like he's really got the goods, and um, yeah, I mean I loved it. It was It's a movie I only saw once and now like, I totally want to go back

and watch it again and have wanted to. It's when I was trying to talk to my wife into seeing She's generally not into that stuff, but I think it's I think it's so good it's hard to not like.

It has such a clever premise and it's executed just so flawlessly for sure, and you know, and again another movie where the other performances are fantastic, and you know, Bill Bill Paxton, who's got to be all one of our favorites, is so good in it, and it's just interesting and different and unique and uh and all the little they now go back and watch it because now that you know how it ends, you can see the

little like choices that they make. And uh, I mean at the time, I remember thinking like, oh, I gotta see this again soon. Is this one of those movies where a second viewing yes again is like super informative. But I just never got around to it, and it did not do well because I guess the name was threw people off a and I guess there was something else going on around there where he wasn't making a ton of money as Tom Cruig. Again maybe I don't know.

I can't really think it was like teen or something. I can't remember to the exactly, but anyway, he just they ended up changing the title to Live Die Repeat, or it's called like Edge of Tomorrow, Lived I Repeat, Like I actually did something that you never see where they had to mess with the name and now there's a chance of a sequel and it's it got a real second run, It got a second life, and everybody loves it now. Yeah, I mean I think it was

one of those movies where the word of mouth. I think everyone, especially after stuff like Oblivion, people are kind of is this just another kind of Tom Cruise exactly runaround movie and word got around and I remember friends of me saying, like, no, man, this movie is really awesome, like you see it, which is exactly what happened with American made years later, which is also another Doug Lineman film. It was so he made The Mummy and uh, oh my god, why can't I think of the other movie

that nobody. Oh, oh, Jack Reacher too, So it's Reach too and the Mummy and they're total just they're bad. They're just not good for whatever reason, they're not good. So then when American Maid came out, people again, we're like, not gonna go see this. So I don't get it. And it's great. Is Jack Reacher one good? Jack Reacher one is fine, it's fine. It's fine that Jack Reacher movies just didn't really do what they needed to do. I guess Jack Reacher the character. I get the books.

My mother in law tells me, you're fantastic, and I didn't see that. Yeah, well they weren't. They weren't good. They just didn't They just didn't do it. That's why you didn't see it, because they probably have a on rotten tomatoes. So alright, so my next one, we don't have to go over too much. I was kind of keeping this in the back pocket because I wanted to surprise you, but Collateral is on my list. Yeah, I love Collateral. I just didn't want to play my hand

to her like that. Though I was worried. I was worried you didn't like it. It was great. I mean, it's Michael Mann at his finest. It was I remember, I think the first movie shot on DV if I remember right, it was weird to look different, remember, Yeah, and it's uh. I think it just kind of snuck up on me and is uh. And I think it's truly, truly great Michael Man and Tom Cruise movie. Yeah. I thought a heart time at first, because Michael Man, to me was still last of the Mohicans, and I I

thought like, oh, I I loved his bigger movies. And I thought it was weird and uncomfortable at first, and then again I had to watch it a few more times to be like, holy shit, I think this is awesome and the it's real and this it looks like it's being shot on a handheld camera. Like it's just looks too real to me. And I couldn't deal with that, so I only said at once, I need to check that out again. Well he did a run of those, remember he did? He did? It felt like the same

way in the Insider had. The Insider had that kind of weird quality where you felt like you were just it felt like it was too close. You were like, is this really happening? Am I watching a you know? And then even the Miami Vice movie, which was a train wreck in itself, but it's still was like that, it was shot like that. Those Michael Mann went through a time where he was just doing weird you know, in your face, nighttime, gritty, dark and man Collateral did

it all? Right? What else you got too? Left? Here? Okay? How many of you have left? I have just one? Okay? Oh yeah, because that was your number two. So my here, here's mine. You have to put in m I six as a top five overall, and I the reason why

you don't have to. But the reason why is because that is the you know, we far My buddy Alec on the show makes the argument of this that that in all the Oscar nominations and everything, it's always got to be a dramatic performance, Like at the nominations that just came out this year, you've got to have somebody just weeping and crying, and it's got to be you know, Hugh Jackman Imprisoners, just like someone's got to have a

dead daughter somewhere. And what Tom Cruise has done as an actual star and these Ethan Hunts, you know, character movies is just nothing short of incredible and awesome you care about the character, you love them. It's got the drama, it's got a little bit of comedy, and the action is. Nobody will do what Tom Cruise just did in m I six. Ever again less he somehow doubles down a m I seven, which I'm not sure as possible. You know, the man taught himself how to flay fly a military

level helicopter. He jumped out of a Halo jump a hundred and six times. You know, he just did. It's incredible, and it's an incredible movie with with just great storyline and the bad guy coming back from the fifth one and Superman is the arch nemesis. Now it's just it's too good man. That fight scene between those two is just amazing. Some of the I mean, there's there's great, big action sequences, but the m I series had some of the best outside of the Born series, some of

the best just fights. I agree. I agree the history, I think, yeah and I was, I am, I am all for the second and third Born movies. I think the two and three Supremacy and then Ultimatum are maybe two of the best I've ever seen. But yeah, m I six is up there, and it just I just if if, if I could have found one, m I to embody them all, even oh I said, am I three is my favorite? It is am I six though

embodies like Tom grew. So I think with you saying you have one left of me saying one left, it's almost impossible for not us to have the same movie here. But I'm oh, interesting, it's it's almost impossible. Well mine is Color of Money. Whoa chock the crowd? Holy sh it, it is not the same movie. Yeah, the Color of Money, Man, I love that movie. That was an HBO movie for me that I saw a bunch. It's Scorsese, it's Paul Newman, uh cruise in it was just fantastic as the cocky

young uh pool player. Like everything about that movie works for me. Still, I love it. And and this wasn't, by the way, sub rank. So I'm not saying that that's my number one favorite, that these were all just five in random order, but Color of Money is definitely definitely on the list for me. Love it. Uh yeah,

what is what is? Paul Newman's got a line when he's sitting down with him in the back of the shop where he's wearing the famous Vent shirt and he says, like, you are a giant flake and I learned something like that and he's like, don't change that, Like that's he is. That's another one where you think Tom Cruise was just being this this over excited guy, but actually he was playing an amazing character and went through a great arc and by the end of that movie he becomes the

shark himself and he's not a good person. And wow, I can't believe we didn't have the same number one. Trying to think of what yours is now. I mean you already said top Gun, right, yeah, how could you? You haven't named this movie once? No, no, no, it was my Guilty Pleasure. No, no, the movie that I'm about to name yet, which is A Few Good Men? Ah, okay, A Few Good Men? Is sure that our our mutual friend Kevin Pollock on the show? Yeah? Oh, how do

you know Kevin? Him? He was the Stuff you Should Know listener, And uh, I actually met Kevin when we did a Stuff he Should Know live at podcast Fest and he interrupted the show by filling up our water glass on the stage and afterward we talked, and now we're we've been pals for a while now, dude, Before I talked about a few good men. I don't know how many of your guests have done this, but I'll nerd out real fast. You're I'm a huge fan of

stuff you should know. You guys, you got me and my wife through some really hard times when our first son was born. He did not sleep at all, my son Jack, and so for that first year we I I could literally get emotional thinking about how tough it was because you know, we were sleep deprived and the only way he would nap is by putting him in the stroller. And so you know these are to me.

You know, I didn't know a lot about podcasts, and someone said, hey, man, you should listen to stuff you should know, and I, I mean, you guys got me through some really tough times. Is super sweet. Thank you. That's so cool. I didn't know that. And I learned a lot, a very cool lot during that time. Um, okay, a few good men. How it's many people argue it to be his best or at least his cruizy ist. It is Aaron Sorkin's first play turned into an incredible movie.

It is the perfect storm of every great actor on the planet coming together. Um. I still put Jerry McGuire over it, which I know on my podcast my guys will argue with me about endlessly because they put this movie as there their number one. It's um again, just like with Jerry McGuire as some of the most famous lines of all time, maybe the best scene ever between Nicholson and Cruz, and Uh. Every time I watch it, you're like, oh my god, you forget You're like, oh,

this is this is awesome. This movie is great. It was also nominated that year for Best Picture. Nicholson was nominated for Best Actor, and I think that's another one that Cruz got shafted for not getting nominated for. He wasn't nominated for that. So he's been nominated three times. He was born. On the fourth he lost to, like we said, Daniel Day. You can't argue with that. He's nominated for Best Actor for Jerry McGuire. He lost to Uh, I can do this, um shine, what's a Jeffrey Roush

and shine? How can you again? You know? The Academy if you yeah, they just love if you morph yourself and turn yourself into a crazy person and play the piano, you're gonna win. And then uh, and then yeah, Michael Caine you lost to in Magnolia, UM for for Centerhouse Rules, So I think, yeah, a few good men. Uh, he should have been nominated for and same with Um, same with rain Man. Yeah, I mean I love a few good Men. It was not on any of my list, but very well could have been, as you know how

these lists go. Of course, of course, pitch me on any given day and I will. I'll throw a few good Men on my list. Really really great movie. When is he going to get that Oscar man Wenzi? Well, that's see, I have a chuck. I'm gonna say it out loud. I'm gonna say it on this podcast. I have the perfect I know what he should do. He should do Color of Money to basically meaning exactly so Newman was in the Hustler and then did you know

call our Money wins his oscars. Here you go. But the problem is is that he still looks so young. We need another like fifteen years. You need him to look old. That's the downside. Yeah, I mean they aged him up a little bit in Collateral. He had that gray hair. Yeah that's right, the still the silver fox look. Yeah, he is a bit ageless. Uh. And then you just cast whatever young asshole as as the events, you know, the uh you need the the younger you know early

that way, that's hysterical above now I know. But he was so good at it. He was. Yeah, he did come to mind for both of us. That's really sad and wonderful and please he is. I think he with all of his shortcomings, he is. He's. Yeah, it's one of the most out the actors out there. No. I saw that that when he did uh this year that he made honey Boy. Honey Boy is fantastic. My goodness, my goodness, and it did Fury. Do you remember that movie Fury with with Brad Pitt as the the tank guys.

The tank guys did go back, Go back and watch him in that movie and the four of them. Who Michael pana is easily you want to put anybody in any movie at any time. You just got this role. He's not the number one on the call sheet, but you got the number two. You're like, who do we get? Oh? I know Michael Panea. Yeah, he's he's wonderful. Oh my god, he can do anything. He has a house in Atlanta, now, oh does he really? I think he worked here enough and liked it and was just I think he and

his family bought a house here. You guys are popular now they're in Atlanta. I mean, let me know if you ever make your way down here for anything. You know, I used to before I got blackish, I had I had a second life. I was the children's party entertainer. And then people said, hey, you've got a great voice. You should do corporate work. And I was like, what's

that mean? Like, oh, yeah, when a trade show comes through you, you you can be the you can be the spokesman for the product and stand on the trade show floor. So I went to Atlanta a lot do It was soul sucking, but I made good money for you and ate a lot of food. Well, Atlanta a town that just parties all the time. You guys just party all the time. There's a lot of partying and a lot of great food. Well this was a lot of fun, Jeff. I feel like there's more to talk about.

So I would love for you to come back sometime. That would mean in the world and we'll figure out another angle. Maybe we can talk about stuff that like the last Samurai, or maybe we know I don't have to be Cruise stuff. Let's talk about Tom Cruise again. Yeah, we can do Cruise, but listen, I'm a fan of we can. We could just do the nineties, right, just the nineties and every film that meant the world to us. All right, cool man, thanks a lot, and everyone check

out Blackish. And do you have like Twitter handles and stuff you acted on social Yeah, I'm big on uh one am my on Instagram. So just at Jeff Meatchum and at Meeting Cruise, uh for our podcast, and just please check out the Meeting Tom Cruise pod because I love doing what Chuck does and it's uh, it's fun man, it's fun to talk. It is, and yeah, I love it.

Thanks man. Movie Crash is produced and written by Charles Bryant and Meel Brown, edited and engineered by Seth Nicholas Johnson, and scored by Noel Brown here in our home studio at Pontsty Market, Atlanta, Georgia. For I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.