Tom Cruise explains why he doesn't do many interviews – and leaves everybody confused

Tom Cruise has undoubtedly been one of the world's biggest movie stars for the past few decades but somehow he still manages to keep an air of mystery about him. Perhaps it's because the A-lister rarely opens up and gives interviews.

Now, ahead of the release of his new film Digger, Cruise sat down with GQ, who asked the actor why we rarely see him doing long form interviews.

Rather than giving a succinct soundbite, Cruise gave a long answer where he started by saying he'd been busy then added: "When people see a movie, you want it to look easy. And there are things that I want other artists to know."

He continued by talking about seeing open doors and opportunities, adding: "When I look back at earlier things, when I look at that time, I sincerely mean I’m grateful for the amount of time that I’ve spent where people have shared their lives with me.

"And I can look at it for myself and go, 'Okay, this is what acting is or story is or the lens is or what I see.'"

The actor also described himself as both a teacher and a student, who has to "educate people on cinema and movies, and I’m hearing what they think also."

When the clip from the interview was shared by GQ on Instagram a lot of viewers were left saying "Huh?" at Cruise's long-winded answer that didn't seem to have anything to do with the question.

"What in heck is he saying??? Good grief," commented one user. While another added: "What? He didn't answer."

A third said: "He literally says nothing with a lot of words. You can see how the interviewer struggles to ask questions that give him a real answer, but Cruise just sounds like a phrase machine, like motivational AI."

While another asked: "Can someone - anyone - explain to me like I’m a five-year-old, or a relatively bright golden retriever, exactly what this guy just said? Because all I heard was a bunch of word salad…"

Related: UK film release dates

Meanwhile, Digger sees Cruise collaborate with Birdman and The Revenant director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. In the film Cruise plays oil tycoon Digger Rockwell, a role that is said to be unlike any the actor has taken on before.

Digger also stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons and Emma D'Arcy.

Digger arrives in cinemas on 2 October.

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Reporter, Digital Spy  

Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.

After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.

Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.