Tom Cruise

10:03Zach Baron:it into the wild the Cartier Panther encounters a shimmering crocodile a lonely lovebird a breathless zebra and a restless tiger propel fitness water with Gatorade electrolytes zero

10:22Tom Cruise:sugar and vitamins. Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you? Propel with Gatorade electrolytes. Fall has never looked or tasted this good. Sweet Greens Fall Harvest Menu is back with seasonal favorites dressed to impress and made to be devoured. Warm roasted sweet potatoes, crisp apples, maple glazed Brussels, and crave worthy flavors in the autumn harvest bowl, maple glazed salmon plate, and roasted bacon Brussels side. The season's most desirable menu has returned to Sweetgreen, featuring fall's best dressed.

11:01Tom Cruise:Make your move. Order on the Sweetgreen app.

11:09Tom Cruise:I was reflecting on the kind of first thing that you guys put out about Digger was a kind of a two and a half minute feature ad about your sort of life on screen. Like it's just a cut of many of your film performances and then like a little bit of Digger. I wonder when you look at two and a half minutes of, you know, a life on screen, what do you feel? Like what's going through your head when you're watching that?

11:37Zach Baron:You know, I think about the joy of being able to create the people that I have created with, the amazing times I've had, the wonderful challenges that we've overcome. To be able to make films and to have dreams as a kid to be able to do this, that's what I look at. I see everyone involved in making it. I feel grateful about that. You know, I remember every moment, you know, when we're going through making these things and the evolution of those projects. Those are things I think about.

12:13Tom Cruise:You've mentioned a couple of times already this being your childhood dream. And you used to actually write these dreams down, right?

12:20Zach Baron:Am I correct about this? What I did was I write goals. I still, it's like you're looking at something, you write a goal, and then you write underneath what are those things you need to learn to be able to accomplish those goals. So as I'm doing it, so I'm constantly learning new things. So I will learn a skill and then I'll apply it to movies, or I'll look at movies and understand what does it take to get a camera here like this? And what lens is that? And what lighting creates this within this space? Or what architecture? How do they build something? Those things, how they come together and why something makes us feel a particular way.

12:58Tom Cruise:But that's a very adult point of view. You know, when you're a kid writing things down, I mean, I've heard you say that like the dreams were so big that the adults in your life like reacted poorly to them, right?

13:08Zach Baron:Not all of them. That's a generality. I mean, but my family, there's certain people that were, you know, I didn't say it. I stopped saying it because some of them did. And some, most were like, they were like, yeah, you're a little kid. But I think also children have a lot more going on than if parents or adults are listening, you know, they have their dreams. and I've seen it, you know, where they have those dreams. And many times I've spoken to many different people where they saw it and they had this passion and that's what they were driving towards. That's what I did.

13:41Tom Cruise:I know. There's something sad though about people being like, this is too big and too scary for me. And then you not, and then you stopping sharing it.

13:47Zach Baron:Yeah, but I never let go of it. Yeah. I never let go of it. And I understood very early on, this is for me. And there's things that even when I started out and I told you, Zach, Like I didn't talk about it. You know, I'm 18 years old. I've already had jobs and I've had to manage business. You know, I would like, I'm a CEO of my life, but I'm, I know the dreams that I want. I want to see what those people are like in those different countries. What is it like that language? What are they saying? What's it like hearing that? And movies for me were an in. Now you have the internet and you can see things and it's all like that.

14:19Zach Baron:But it's also going to these places. That was just me. And I, and it is me. And it's, I want to know about that stuff.

14:31Tom Cruise:You have what I think of as like the very classical actor childhood, right? What is it, like 15 schools in 16 years, something like that?

14:38Zach Baron:I was writing characters and creating like, you know, creating characters very early on to make my family laugh, you know. I just wanted to make them laugh. And I love telling stories, you know. And for me, traveling in that way was, and it is an adventure. people go where do you live it's like i i live around the world and that that's a source of happiness for you not like a source of like i have no home i have a home i everywhere i go and i i feel very much at home in places and i it's where i what i like there's a thing that you like to say

15:20Tom Cruise:correct me if I get this wrong it's about movies you say it's not what I do it's who I am is that right yes I actually wonder what you mean by that that for me it's making movies is we're learning skills we're communicating to the world we're embracive of life you know making a movie it doesn't it's not one person it's everyone making that film I think when you say movies are not what i do it's who i am it makes me wonder like when you're not on a movie

15:52Zach Baron:set who are you i'm me i i am me throughout i'm always me yeah you know i am always me i am someone who is very interested in people interested in life i think people wonder like what you're doing on a random tuesday when you're not on a movie set you know what i'm preparing for the next i'm always studying something i'm always learning something always you've said to me already a

16:16Tom Cruise:a couple of times, you're like, I don't talk about this before you talked about something. And I was reflecting like, you haven't really sat down in a context like this one. Like, yeah, see, yeah, for a long time, why not?

16:29Zach Baron:Been busy, one, been very busy. And there's things that I want others artists to know. They see it in the same way that it's like, I want them to know when people see a movie, you want it to look easy. I don't sit here. and understanding the joy of that it's okay if it hurts, that it's hard, that it can be confusing and you don't know. If you look at my career, it's not like happenstance that I ended up in Prague at the time that I ended up in Prague, or China when I was there, or Dubai or wherever I am, England, going there in 1982 to make Legend with Ridley Scott. I would see those doors that open.

17:11Zach Baron:I'm going, here's an opportunity. when I look at that time, I sincerely mean like, I'm grateful for the amount of time that I've spent where people have shared their lives with me.

17:20Tom Cruise:I have a question about that, but just to square the circle. So you're saying basically you have not sat down in context like this one because you don't want to reveal the magic trick.

17:29Zach Baron:I haven't just had the time where I'm like, and I'm looking at it, it's like the journey is, you know, and where we're going and the amount of things that I set in motion and decided I was going to do and looking back on those things that I felt worked. Do you know what I mean? Like, I went for competence. I went for skill. For whatever level that was, being able to then go, oh, this is what I need to focus on because I'm also, I'm a teacher and I'm a student. So I'm having to educate people on cinema and movies and I'm being, hearing what they think also.

18:05Tom Cruise:So I have a question. Well, one, what do we owe the honor then for you to slow down and talk to me? I swear I'm not fishing for a compliment.

18:13Zach Baron:No, it's just, no, it's, listen, it's very nice. It's like, this is, here we are, you know, first of all, I have to say the amount of time that COVID took when we're going through it. It was, we were in a dead sprint at a very long pace, up against a lot of things to be able to, we wanted to keep everyone going and going through it and operating at a very, very high level. And just this, this is, this is the time to be able to talk about it.

18:39Tom Cruise:There's some lore. Again, Glenn Powell indiscreet, though he may be, talks about, I think there's a six-hour video.

18:47Zach Baron:Oh, he's acting.

18:48Tom Cruise:I don't know, video, film, what would you call it? Six-hour instructional. He was like, I sat in the theater and watched something that Tom put together about screen acting, I believe.

18:57Zach Baron:It's just very basic. It was something where I'm going to have people understand just to have a different concept of lenses and what the lens is and what the frame is. just the same way as an actor on stage or the development of cinema where it started and what that frame means and how to understand that frame. There's just different layers of storytelling, of structure, but also to understand certain things so that you can forget about it, but that you get it.

19:23Tom Cruise:And this is information that you share with people. I sometimes hear people, and sometimes that person is myself, kind of refer to you as like the last movie star, but it sounds like you don't agree, that you're kind of mentoring a new generation? I look, first of all, you know, I have to say,

19:39Zach Baron:there's really talented actors. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, Pitt is a great actor, great star, great charisma, and there's many, many, many. And I think that I want this art form. Look, the... I'm on the set with great craftsmen as a young kid, and it's not just 1981 where they're there. It's their knowledge comes from... It's generational. So as you're making movies, you're learning from other people and then you're making it your own. But you're learning it is a skill making films. Acting is, you know, it's language, you know, and it's also that trailer is like showing this, it's language, it's visual language, it's verbal language, it's understanding, you know, comedy in its various forms and rhythms from risky business to edge of tomorrow to Les Grossman, to this kind of comedy drama, or in drama in different ways, from an eyes wide shut to a color of money, you know, just as, you know, Magnolia, whatever you want to say.

20:42Zach Baron:It's each one is, it takes preparation, it takes understanding to, and where you want to get to it, it's like, it just looks like you're not thinking about it. I want audiences to think about it. I don't want them to see it. I want them to just experience it.

21:08Zach Baron:Into the wild. The Cartier Panther encounters a shimmering crocodile, a lonely lovebird, a breathless zebra, and a restless tiger.

21:22Tom Cruise:Propel Fitness Water. With Gatorade electrolytes, zero sugar, and vitamins, Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you? Propel with Gatorade Electrolytes. Fall has never looked or tasted this good. Sweet Green's fall harvest menu is back with seasonal favorites dressed to impress and made to be devoured. Warm roasted sweet potatoes, crisp apples, maple glazed Brussels, and crave worthy flavors in the autumn harvest bowl, maple glazed salmon plate, and roasted bacon Brussels side. The season's most desirable menu has returned to Sweetgreen, featuring Fall's best dressed.

22:05Tom Cruise:Make your move. Order on the Sweetgreen app.

22:13Tom Cruise:You turned 64 last week. Yeah. Did that mean anything to you? It means I'm 64. Does it change the way you think about anything? I remember I once heard...

22:24Zach Baron:It's just like, no. Does it change anything? When you're looking at this, does it like, it's like, man, I'm just saying, it doesn't at all.

22:36Tom Cruise:First of all, devastating impression of me. I'm going to be haunted by that. Why? By what? By the interviewing impression. I'm going to hear your voice in my head. How do you feel about that for the rest of my life? It's going to haunt me.

22:49Zach Baron:No, no, no, no. I think the reason I was asking was...

22:52Tom Cruise:Here's the thing.

22:53Zach Baron:I don't look at, I don't, if I could, it's like, I'm just, I'm living my life and I have always dreams, but I also know to accomplish those dreams, it takes effort and you need to understand life and skills. And it's a constant learning experience.

23:10Tom Cruise:The reason I was asking, like I once heard George Clooney say, like he had a point where he had to think basically like age wise, where he thought about screen acting differently. It was like a different part he was looking for. It was a different role on screen. And I was wondering if he had had some more thoughts.

23:28Zach Baron:I don't see, what I see is, is I see life in a different way of stories. I see it in a way of stories and it, I don't, I don't see life in that way. I see life with this. It's like, you're looking at, you know, there's so many things that I enjoy and like doing. That's how I see life. I want to ask a question about, this is going to sound simplistic, but

23:52Tom Cruise:what it takes to be Tom Cruise? Because I feel like I've heard you talk before about, this isn't a natural thing. This isn't like you rolled out of bed and did it.

24:01Zach Baron:No, I didn't roll out of bed. And I, as I said, you know, it was, oh, you know, you're a kid and you have a dream. I was always, I guess you call me precocious, where I'd look at people and I'd look at their lives in movies. That's what I had. I had my secret plan that I had, because I knew very early on, don't tell people you have dreams, you know?

24:24Tom Cruise:It's still a heartbreaking thing to say.

24:25Zach Baron:Yeah, but it's really, it's, and I've talked to many people that are like, sometimes you got to keep, you know, keep things to yourself. Those dreams and, you know, I'd have it, I'd write them on a board and I had them on my wall, you know, it wasn't I want to be famous. You know, I definitely wanted to make movies, but I wanted to travel the world and I wanted to know people and know life. And I always knew I can work. like I'm a hard worker always. And I always thought inside myself, what did I know? I know I can, what I felt was I could outwork anyone. I didn't know there were barriers, meaning you're not supposed to on movie sets.

25:03Zach Baron:You know, when I did Taps, I went and I shaved my head, you know, without telling the director. And I showed up on set and I took my hat off and went into town and, you know, cause he said, create the character. So I was creating the character and he looked at me. He's like, what'd you do? Everything was yes sir, no sir, yes ma 'am, no ma 'am. You know, I was born, my mother was from - That's your background. My mother's from Kentucky, very respectful of people. And I was, the things that I was raised is just really respecting people. I always had a natural curiosity, always very interested. And I had a secret thing always I had for myself, which was always leave something better.

25:40Zach Baron:You know, we lived in rented houses. So it was always like, make sure that the room is nicer. I was always looking, I guess, for what is the greatest amount of creation, the least amount of destruction. So if you look at my movies, even it's like, I'm always there off camera. I'm always there. When you take, cause you are known for this,

25:58Tom Cruise:taking younger actors aside, directors, producers, and kind of just being like, this is how it's done. This is what you need to know. What are you telling them?

26:08Zach Baron:Well, I'm also listening. I listen first. What do they want? Here's my first question. It's not me. I'm more interested in what are their goals? What do they want? And it's not just younger people. This is me when I was a kid. I know. It's like I'm going, what are you interested in? Really? Yes. What is this movie about? You know, what is this? When you're a kid, how do people react? Yeah, they'd be like, what? Actually.

26:37Zach Baron:But I'm curious. You know, I'm a new kid and I'm like, I guess I was just, it's like, what do you do? Where are you from? Where'd you get those shoes? And what are you studying? And what's happening? And I was a kid looking out the windows. Teachers are like, what's happening? I first want to know what things, what do they want to know about? What are they interested in? And then I get kind of interested in what they're interested in. When I'm making a movie with different people, it's like, what do they think of life? And I'm interested in what do they think. I'll discuss with them what it means for me to make movies.

27:09Zach Baron:and you know sometimes i'm always like listen try to know before you go like don't just work with people you gotta who are they what are they what are you trying to do early yeah i had to learn early you know i was living in many different schools and it taught me about human behavior about life but it's a it's a journey so people that work with me they know they've they i expect a lot and it's and i'm up front about it it's like the rumors are true and do you want this you know? Yes. If we're there, I'm like, trust me, the rumors are true. I'll be here before you. I'll be like, what experience do you want?

27:48Zach Baron:And I'm very open. And it's not like we don't have a plan. We have scripts, we have plans, we're going through it. But I also feel the level of responsibility for, I don't know, I guess for everyone. Do you feel like you're like understood when you say this stuff that people, people get it? You know, there's things that I didn't say for many years. Like I had these things and why didn't I say it? Because I'm on the road and I wanted to understand this art form in its various forms. And I, I don't know how much sometimes they do. I, I know the people I work with, we all kind of feel the same thing.

28:21Zach Baron:We want to do well. You know what I mean? We want to, we want to understand why do things work? Why don't they work? You know, when you start doing something, it's I'm, I'm, I'm an all in kind of guy, Zach. I don't know what to say. I'm life. I'm coming right at it. You know what I mean? It's coming at me and I'm coming right at it. I'm a hundred percent. I am not a halfway kind of person. You know, people say, it's like, look, man, it's okay. Don't be afraid to fail. You know? And I never want to be like, you hit that peak. And it's like, there's always a new dream. You know, you're asking me about being 64.

28:52Zach Baron:I'm going, there's, there's so much life and there's always another dream. And there's times in my life where someone was like, you know, you've done so well. Like, what else are you going to do? When I was a kid, I think we put our own barriers there. I think that a person without a dream is, is they've decided not to live. I've tested it for myself. It's true for me. I've just had such big dreams. Maybe I, you know, and it's something that it doesn't stop. It's, you know, and it doesn't stop. And it's, as I said, I'm more interested in you than me talking about this. Like, I'm not, again, I have bad news for you about this.

29:27Zach Baron:I'm literally, I'm not like Like this person, it's like there, I'm more interested, I don't tell people things. I'm more interested when I sit down with them, I'm going, what do you wanna know? What do you want from your life? What I did is what I did.

29:40Tom Cruise:When you hear other people's dreams, do they make sense to you? I don't know if I walk around and ask people that.

29:46Zach Baron:I like to know what their dreams are. And do they make sense when you hear them? Oh yeah, they're beautiful. And you see how they're creating it. Those things you're going, wow. For better or worse, you're there. You decided to get in the car, man. You know, I mean, I hate to say it, but it's, you know, ask now for whom the bell tolls, you know? And when you say creating it, what do you mean? Meaning like you decided what shoes to wear today. You decided the shirt. I did. There's an actual, like, the way I look at life is that has an effect. Those decisions are you chose those things for whatever reason.

30:20Zach Baron:And it's an emotional thing. You're not thinking about it. And it has a certain effect on the environment. I'm saying it as simplicity. It's like, what environment does it, what effect does it have? Look at the effects of choices and what are the results of that, you know? And we all know it. It's like you put a drop of pebble in a pond, you kind of see it ripple out. It does ripple out. Butterfly effect. We all have an effect. You know, some people say, look, I just want to say hello, I'm a nobody. I say, please don't ever say that to me. I've never met a nobody in my entire life. Everyone has a story.

30:55Zach Baron:Everybody's life has a journey and a story. And if you take a moment and you're learning, it's fascinating and it's interesting and I'm interested. Look at the light in here. Look at the architecture. And seeing things where I'm looking at civilization and the designs and why the designs and how that affects and what happens. But it's all those things in terms of tone. I hear you say that and my head just spins.

31:19Tom Cruise:I'm like, is that really the level that we're processing every day?

31:23Zach Baron:Yes. But it's not that complicated. it's more emotional you know it's more experiential than than than i'm just kind of analytically but right but i can but you're very outwardly directed i am i see you know i am yeah you ask why now it's uh you know you kind of wake up and you realize well there's a few things i know and if people want to know it in the same way that things were imparted to me and i want other artists, like they're there, they're like, I'm nervous of this. It's like, that's okay. It's okay. Like, do I feel scared? Yeah, but I don't mind it. And I'm, what I mean by that, it's not some brave thing where I'm doing.

32:02Zach Baron:It's like, it's okay. That's, that's life. You know, there's uncertainties.

32:07Tom Cruise:And your willingness to tolerate those uncertainties is taking you to the places that it has.

32:11Zach Baron:Yeah. And you know what, the things that I do and sometimes like, even when I was a kid, they're like, oh, come on, Tom. You know, like I'm, you're so intense. Like, I don't know what to say. I am intense. I got a very good sense of humor about it, but I was like when I'm interested in something, but it's like, 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. And the certainty you can get is learning skills and learning those skills, but also being able to evaluate, do these tools work? It's like building bridges, engineering, they're theories.

32:46Zach Baron:Does the theory work? When you build a bridge, can people drive across it? So the theory works. Flying, it's the whole thing. It's like, whatever it is, there's a theory. And it's as accurate as it's in a practical, empirical way, did it work. That's all.

33:03Tom Cruise:There's the question of like, does the parachute deploy when you ride the motorcycle off the cliff? Yes. But then there must be the feeling that when it does, and it must feel

33:12Zach Baron:incredible. That's exactly it. I want to say in its simplicity to me, and it's always been, that's life. Now I want to train so I can open the parachute. You know what I mean? When I was a kid, I was a kid, literally, I was like, I took the monkey bars, I pulled it over and my mom was in the thing. And I, I had like this GI Joe, you know, you throw it up. I've told this story before, a parachute goes down, ripped the sheets off my bed, took ropes. And I climbed the monkey bar, climb up on the roof, climb up on the high part, and I jumped off. It didn't work. So you want to go, at that moment, I remember I was about four years old, I was like, there's something more to this than this.

33:49Zach Baron:Went back, looked at my GI Joe, I was like, okay, I don't understand this. But I'm not doing that again, but I'm going to figure it out one day, you know? And you did. Yeah. But that's the stuff, man.

34:05Tom Cruise:Thanks for listening to our episode of One More Question with Tom Cruise. We will be back next week and every Tuesday after that with more of these. This episode was directed by Nick Collett and edited for video by Phil Saccone. Our producer for this episode was Sam Dennis, with additional producing from Michael Beckert and Camille Ramos. Our talent booker was Dana Matthews. Our sound mixer was Glo Hernandez. Our line producer is Jen Santos, and our production manager is Evie Root. Our senior director of content integrity is Mick Rouse. And this episode was fact-checked by Matthew Brown. Our supervising editor is Rob Lombardi.

34:42Tom Cruise:Our post-production supervisor is Jess Dunn. And our post-production coordinator is Stella Shortino. For this episode, our assistant editor is Justin Simons. Our executive director of global audio is Nico Steele. Our podcast production manager is Peyton Hayes. and our podcast mixing and mastering engineers are Mike Kutchman and Pran Bandy. Our executive producer is Cara Marciante. Our director of creative is Nick Collett and our director of programming is Jeremy Clowney. Nick Sylvester composed our theme song and our artwork was designed by Michael Hoots. The photos of me in the credits were taken by Bowen Fernie.

35:22Zach Baron:Along the lush bank of a tranquil stream, A sleek, proud panther stretches and gleams, when, from the surface, something emerges.

35:32Tom Cruise:A crocodile appears as the water surges. The feline's paw turns the ripples to gold, a shimmering sight for all to behold. She tells the beast that to dive is his fate, for deep in the depths his beauty awaits. The crocodile plunges gracefully in, transformed scale by scale his shimmering skin. Sparkling, sublime in a precious new coat, Cartier's wild fauna knows just how to float. Fall has never looked or tasted this good. Sweetgreen's fall harvest menu is back with seasonal favorites dressed to impress and made to be devoured. Warm roasted sweet potatoes, crisp apples, maple glazed Brussels, and crave-worthy flavors in the autumn harvest bowl, maple glazed salmon plate, and roasted bacon Brussels side.

36:28Tom Cruise:The season's most desirable menu has returned to Sweetgreen, featuring fall's best dressed. Make your move. Order on the Sweetgreen app. Are you ready to push your baking skills? This month at Bon Appetit Bake Club, we are making glazed apple pie fritters. I'm Shilpoz Kokovic. And I'm Jessie Sepjak. And we're senior test kitchen editors at Bon Appetit and the hosts of BA's Bake Club podcast. Bake Club is Bon Appetit's community of confident, curious bakers. Every month, we publish a recipe on bonappetit.com that introduces a baking concept we think you should know. Then you'll go bake and send us any questions you have.

37:04Tom Cruise:And we'll get together here on the podcast to talk about the recipe. And if you want to master deep frying, this is your chance. Head to ba.com or our sub stack and come and bake along with us.

37:15Zach Baron:Join us the first Tuesday of every month as we debrief about our latest bake.

37:19Tom Cruise:Find BA Bake Club or wherever you get your podcasts.

37:22Zach Baron:Happy baking!