Tom Cruise has some key advice for the next wave of actors.
As one of the biggest movie stars in the world, he didn’t attend film school or have a technically trained background. Instead, Cruise told the audience on Monday while receiving the British Film Institute Fellowship honor that he learned his skills by watching movies.
And Cruise encourages the next generation of talent to focus on what goes into making a movie. “It is important to understand the tools around you. There is tech,” he said. “It is like understanding the stage as an actor but for a lot of artists it is not taught in film school: how to understand the lens and what it can do, and why there is eye movement and recognize the effect it has.”
The Risky Business star continued, “I always tell actors, ‘Spend time in the editing room, produce a movie, study old movies, recognize what the composition is giving you, know what those lenses are, understand the lighting and how to use it for your benefit. Understand the art form to that degree.’ Brando absolutely understood lighting — all the greats did.”
“Understanding the tools, the camera, the story structure … the conveying of emotions,” is essential for Cruise. He also noted how one of the people he studied was studied was Jack Nicholson. He said, “Nicholson and those guys who came up with him understand that lens.”
When Cruise was working on Top Gun in the ’80s, he wanted to get more involved behind the camera. “I negotiated a deal where they had to allow me into every production meeting and to see every aspect behind the scenes,” he said. “This is when I started to get more creative controls.”
Now, Cruise is promoting Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, the final film in the action franchise. He also serves as a producer.
Read the original article here