Tom Cruise Calls Nicole Kidman 'A Great Actress'
The Top Gun: Maverick actor – who has been making headlines for his rumored romance with Ana de Armas over the past few months – made rare comments about his ex-wife while talking with British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine.
In the interview, Cruise called the Balenciaga ambassador a "great actress" when he recalled how he suggested that Kidman could star alongside him in the 1999 movie Eyes Wide Shut, during an alleged conversation with Stanley Kubrick at the director's home.
"It was basically he and I getting to know each other," Cruise said, in reference to the meeting between him and Kubrick. "And when we were doing that, I suggested Nicole play the role [of Alice]. Because obviously she's a great actress," he added.
Both Cruise and Kidman were excellent in the movie, where they played the roles of Dr. William Hartford and his wife Alice Hartford respectively. Cruise opened up about his experience of the movie, saying: "It was a very unique experience – not a large crew. We arrived in the summer and basically we just started testing… the script was just an idea."
"We [were] constantly rewriting the scenes and shooting the scenes and then reshooting the scenes to really find the tone of the film," he confessed.
Fan Comments
Cruise's interview got mixed reactions from the internet, with some people applauding him for being kind and complimentary, and others slamming him and his own acting ability.
"He's a classy guy and she's a classy lady and they've always either not talked about each other or talked about each other in a nice way – it's nice to see! Love them both," wrote one fan in the comment section of a People article. "It's nice to hear him speak of her at all, much less positively. She has often spoken well of him professionally and personally for the most part," added a second.
"Maybe he'll get an Oscar for pretending he had a part in Nicole's casting in Eyes Wide Shut," quipped another fan, as someone else concurred: "Kidman did not need Cruise to help her get a movie deal. She is an incredible actress. He is so egotistical. Ugh." "Nicole is so much more talented than Tom!" exclaimed another fan in agreement.