Thandie Newton is opening up about a tough experience on the set of Mission: Impossible 2.
In a candid new interview with Vulture on Tuesday, the 47-year-old actress admitted her fear of Tom Cruise while filming a particularly difficult scene for the action thriller back in 2000.
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Speaking about one moment in particular in which she and Cruise were on a balcony together in Spain during the spy sequel, Newton opened up about the pressure she felt from the star in making things perfect:
“I was so scared of Tom. He was a very dominant individual. He tries super hard to be a nice person. But the pressure. He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done.”
Whoa!
As it went, the scene was listless and underwhelming because, as Newton explained, she “had the s**ttiest lines.” Frustrated by that, she recalls how Cruise attempted to improve the scene through sheer force of will in what turned out to be “the most unhelpful” way.
The Westworld star said:
“Tom was not happy with what I was doing because I had the s**ttiest lines. And he gets so frustrated with having to try and explain that he goes, ‘Let me just — let’s just go do it. Let’s just rehearse on-camera.’ So we rehearsed and they recorded it, and then he goes, ‘I’ll be you. You be me.’ So we filmed the entire scene with me being him — because, believe me, I knew the lines by then — and him playing me. It just pushed me further into a place of terror and insecurity. It was a real shame. And bless him. And I really do mean bless him, because he was trying his damnedest.”
Yeah, that sure doesn’t seem particularly helpful, does it?
Newton goes on to reveal how later that evening, after filming had wrapped for the day, she called longtime friend Jonathan Demme — who previously directed her in several films, including Beloved — to re-live her “nightmare” day on the set.
Newton remembered:
“As I was describing it [to Demme], it was clear that I thought I was the big f**king problem. And Jonathan was like, ‘Thandie, shame on you for not backing yourself.’ He was really sweet.”
Good advice! R.I.P. to an amazing director…
“And then Tom called and I thought, ‘Oh, this is it. The apology.’ No. He was just like, ‘We’re going to reshoot this next week.’ I’m like, ‘Way brilliant.'”
By the reshoot, Newton was hip to what Cruise wanted: “this alpha b**ch,” as she recalled in the interview. Fueled with that knowledge, she successfully completed the scene… and was “never asked back” to film Mission: Impossible 3 four years later.
Womp, womp.
Speaking Of Past Problems…
Thandie isn’t exactly holding her tongue any more, also revealing dirt to Vulture about a negative past experience with Amy Pascal. You’ll recall Pascal is the disgraced former Sony Pictures exec who was fired in 2015 after the company’s infamous email hack revealed she’d sent a flurry of problematic messages about race and other issues, including some with producer Scott Rudin about whether then-President Barack Obama‘s favorite films were merely those with largely Black casts.
The Emmy winner’s memories of Pascal are unfortunately not far off from that image… She remembers a meeting with the exec where she balked at the idea of Thandie playing a “believable” college-educated woman in director McG‘s version of Charlie’s Angels. In that same meeting, then, Newton alleges Pascal suggested a new scene in the movie, for which Thandie did not accept a role, where her character “gets up on a table and starts shaking her booty.” Yikes…
Nonplussed by Pascal’s alleged behavior in that sit-down, Newton recalled:
“She’s basically reeling off these stereotypes of how to be more convincing as a Black character. Everything she said, I was like, ‘Nah, I wouldn’t do that.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, but you’re different. You’re different.’ That was Amy Pascal. That’s not really a surprise, is it? Let’s face it: I didn’t do the movie as a result.”
Yeah, no kidding… we totally get why Newton would feel that way. Yeesh!
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BTW, while Cruise’s team had no immediate comment about Newton’s words (above), Pascal herself did respond directly to Vulture about Newton’s re-telling of the alleged 2015 meeting, saying:
“While I take her words seriously, I have no recollection of the events she describes, nor do any of her representatives who were present at that casting session. I’ve long considered Thandie a friend; I’m thankful that I’ve had the chance to make movies with her; and I hope to work with her again in the future.”
Damn, that’s diplomatic! LOLz!
Sound off with YOUR take on all this inneresting behind-the-scenes behavior down in the comments (below)…
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