Tom Cruise Pokes Fun At His Self-Serious Persona In Rare Feature Interview: “I Don’t Know What To Say. I Am Intense”

“I don’t know what to say. I am intense,” Tom Cruise concluded in a rare sit-down video interview published today by GQ Magazine.

The veteran actor was speaking with the magazine as he gears up for the release of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger next month. During the conversation, Cruise was asked about the lessons he learned early in his career as an actor.

“I had to learn early. I was living in many different schools, and it taught me about human behavior, about life, but it’s a journey. So movies are—this is about humanity,” Cruise told the magazine.

“I have nothing against cable or TV or Netflix. I think it’s great. Create jobs and everything. But what I like about cinema is it is all of us coming together in a room and sharing an experience. I say, ‘Understand the tools, then go create what you want to create.’ When I’m working with people, I’m not afraid to, as I’m acting, look foolish to do it. It’s like: That’s not what this is about. It’s finding our tone, finding these tools together and having an experience.”

Cruise added: “And look, I work hard, and people that work with me, they know. I expect a lot, and I’m up-front about it. It’s like: The rumors are true. And do you want this?’”

Cruise was asked if that is truly his pitch to potential collaborators, to which he responded: “Yes.”

“We’re there. I’m like, ‘Trust me, the rumors are true. I’ll be here before you. What experience do you want?’ And I’m very open. It’s not like we don’t have a plan. We have scripts, we have plans, we’re going through it,” he said.

“But I also feel that level of responsibility for—I guess, for everyone. Even when I was a kid, they were like, Oh, come on, Tom. You’re so intense. I’m like, I don’t know what to say. I am intense. I got a very good sense of humor about it, but it was like: When I’m interested in something, I want to learn it. I want to understand it. And you want to blast through the confusion and kind of build up that ability.”

Warner Bros. will release Digger in cinemas worldwide on October 2. The film stars Cruise as an oil baron named Digger Rockwell who is charged with saving the day to avert an environmental catastrophe that he caused in the first place. Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons also star.