The Phoenician Scheme star Michael Cera recalled an awkward first encounter with Tom Cruise on the set of a 2010 MTV Movie Awards segment. The actor talked about Cruise’s playful jab and his “surreal” moment with the Hollywood icon at a recent podcast appearance.
Michael Cera talks about Tom Cruise scolding him on set
Life & Beth star Michael Cera has revealed how his first meeting with Tom Cruise went in a recent episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast. The 37-year-old artist met the Mission: Impossible star at the pre-taping of the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.
Cera shared that Cruise was reprising his Tropic Thunder character Les Grossman and filming a bunch of humorous scenes for the ceremony. While Cruise was filming, Cera and a writer were standing “40 feet away” and “mumbling” about something.
The actor shared the playful jab that he received from Cruise for talking while the filming was underway. He recalled, “And Tom Cruise looks at me, I’ve never met him, and they’re in the middle of a take and he looks, and he goes, ‘Is that Michael Cera talking during a f—— take?'”
Cera noted, “He was joking, but it was also like, ‘Do shut up,’ you know? But so surreal.” The actor also gushed over Cruise’s command over a set, even for such small tapings. He explained, “Tom runs the set,” adding, “I was really there for like five minutes, but what I observed was, he was like the first AD on the set…. I mean, he was such a leader.”
The moment between Cera and Cruise didn’t end just at the latter’s jab. Cera shared that later when he got to talking with Cruise, he still remembered the former as the one who was “talking during a f‑‑‑ing take.'”
The Phoenician Scheme star further noted, “I knew he was playing around, so I was like, ‘Hey man, it wasn’t me, it was the writer.’ He was like, ‘I’m kidding, I’m kidding.’ And I was like, ‘I’m kidding too.'”
