Actress Thandie Newton is confident that the right decision was made when she called out Tom Cruise for his attitude on Mission: Impossible 2, after receiving support within the industry.
“I was surprised by the appreciation I had got,” the Westworld star, 47, admitted during a conversation on Variety‘s “The Big Ticket” podcast on Wednesday, August 26. “I thought that I would be in trouble because that’s kind of what I’m used to.”
In July, Newton made headlines after claiming that Cruise acted like a “very dominant individual’ during the filming of the 2000 action movie. “I was so scared of Tom,” she told New York magazine. “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.”
Newton recounted the moment with Cruise, who was extremely frustrated with how she acted during a scene and decided to show her how he believed it should have been done. For the Emmy nominee, the experience was “the most unhelpful” event that led her “into a place of terror and insecurity” as an actress.
“He wasn’t horrible,” she explained. “It was just — he was really stressed. I had the most extraordinary time.”
She continued:
“I just happened to be an older woman who has recognized that knowing the truth and speaking the truth has benefited me a hell of a lot more than being silenced or seeing people silenced around me,” Newton said on Wednesday. “I have nothing to lose because I could just then not get hired, which is kind of normal for people in my generation anyway. So I’ve got nothing to lose, and I would rather go out using this moment. … It’s not even about my confessions. It’s about that this is the reality of what people face.”
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Although her comments caught the attention of many, including vocal Cruise critic Leah Remini who applauded her, Newton stands by her decision to speak out. “I know that it made people frightened,” she told Variety. “Individuals [in the industry] were very frightened … It’s like how far back do you go?”
