Tom Cruise Talks Last Samurai

U Magazine spoke with Tom Cruise about training for The Last Samurai:

To play the Yankee-turned-samurai, Cruise did all the requisite training so he could perform the heavy lifting the film required. He pitched a tent on a tennis court at his house seven months before filming began, enlisted Nick Powell -- who taught Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson their savage sword moves for "Gladiator' and "Braveheart,' respectively -- and went to work. Cruise gained 20 pounds -- most of it went to building muscle in his thighs, forearms and shoulders -- to be able to comfortably wear the samurai armor and wield all the weaponry.

"I knew something was working when I tried putting on one of my suits and couldn't get my arm in the sleeve,' Cruise says, laughing. "Carrying those swords just builds up your forearms beyond belief.'

But he's quick to add that samurai aren't all about fighting, and again goes back to the code -- the loyalty, honor and compassion that the ancient warriors possessed. And as much as people focus on Cruise's physical transformation -- he grew out his hair and did his best to patch together a beard (he jokes those two things alone accounted for five pounds of his weight gain) -- Cruise says the emotional work he devoted to his character was far more strenuous and time-consuming.

Marshall Herskovitz, Zwick's long-time writing and producing partner, backs him up. Herskovitz was a producer on "The Last Samurai' and took a pass at the screenplay last spring after Zwick basically told him to put up or shut up.

Herskovitz believed the movie needed to deepen the relationships between Cruise's soldier and the film's other characters. He wanted more emotional involvement all the way around. His question: Would Cruise want those same things?

"There's always a certain amount of trepidation when you're dealing with someone of Tom's power,' Herskovitz says. "They want what they want, and if they want something that you don't want, it's going to be a difficult situation. And usually what they want comes from some combination of vanity and fear. They want to protect themselves.

"But what I got with Tom is: 'I want to be challenged. I want to do something I've never done before and I think this is the way to do it.' And then he offers these remarkable insights about what makes a character work, things we had never thought of, things that were no less bold from an acting standpoint.

"I think what has happened,' Herskovitz continues, "is that, over the years, Tom has put himself in the hands of people he considers to be masters of the form, whether it's Scorsese or Kubrick, and has quite openly wanted to learn from them. And what's interesting is to see him now coming into his own as a man -- he's 40 years old (actually 41) -- having internalized a lot of this stuff, having a vision that's informed by a lot of what these guys taught him. And it's very sophisticated.'

Cruise won't cop to that, although, like the samurai, actions speak louder than words. He's moving from "The Last Samurai' to playing a contract killer in Michael Mann's new movie, "Collateral,' another left turn for another great director.

"You want to do something that's exciting, and excitement usually comes with risk,' Cruise says. "But that's half the fun of it, I think.'

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