In the leadup to “Digger,” Tom Cruise finally agreed to sit a long-form profile interview after years shirking the opportunity. But one thing was noticeably not touched on by GQ Senior Special Projects Editor Zach Baron in the sit-down last week: the Church of Scientology.
On the most recent episode of Matt Belloni’s Puck podcast “The Town,” Baron broke down his approach to interviewing Cruise — how it came together, what took for the movie star to say yes, and what was on and off the table. When pressed as to why he never asked the Oscar nominee about his connections to Scientology (one of the more incendiary components of Cruise’s personal life), the journalist was quick with an answer.
“When I prepare for these things, I go back, and I look at everything that’s ever been written about a subject,” Baron said. “And he hasn’t done magazines or journals in a long time, but the last time he did it, he did a lot of it. And it turns out he’s talked about that subject, the subject of Scientology, quite a bit. And the answer was sort of always very similar.”
He continued: “We talk about a lot more than ‘Digger,’ but yeah, I think I was interested in the sort of reclusive movie star. I was interested in the guy who’s kind of like, ‘I’ve sacrificed everything at the altar of movies, and this industry is me.’ I was interested – this isn’t like, you know, brain surgery – but I was interested in his relationship with his phone. I just think there’s actually a lot of curiosity about Tom Cruise that is not about this subject, and that’s genuine.”
Belloni was visibly shocked that when given the opportunity Baron didn’t jump at the chance to grill Cruise on the controversial religion, arguing it’s “the most interesting thing about him.”
Watch the full “The Town” interview below:
While the GQ article didn’t touch on Cruise’s connection to the Church of Scientology, he did talk about his work ethic on films. He also made sure others working on his movies knew that the rumors of his intensity were true.
“Look, I work hard, and people that work with me, they know,” Cruise said. “I expect a lot and I’m up-front about it. It’s like: ‘The rumors are true. And do you want this?’”
He added: “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. But I also feel that level of responsibility for – I guess, for everyone.”
Cruise’s latest press tour is for his starring role in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “Digger.” The film comes out on Oct. 2.
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