Unfortunately, there are times in which we read headlines regarding a well-known actor acting like a snob or being selfish on set. Thankfully, this is not one of those stories, because apparently Tom Cruise can be a real joy to work with - at least if you’re Michelle Monaghan. The Mission: Impossible III actress has now expressed just why she loved working with Cruise on the set of the storied action franchise.
Although she will not be reprising her role in the newest Mission: Impossible film, Michelle Monaghan played Julia Meade in three of the franchise’s films. That’s three times she has been opposite Tom Cruise on a set, so it’s safe to say that she's gotten a feel for working with the famous actor. In an interview with Looper, Monaghan praised Cruise’s ability to connect as an actor and says he really is “the best of the best”. Here it is in her own adoring words:
There's no one like him. He really is amongst the best of the best. And speaking of learning on the job, I feel like that's been my career with every role. It's like Acting 101, Acting 202. I've been so blessed to work with so many talented people, and he's definitely someone who I look up to and I enjoy getting to work with every time we hit the screen together. He is someone who truly, truly connects with you as an actor, as a person, and really draws out an incredible performance.
That’s quite the compliment coming from Michelle Monaghan, because, like she says, she has worked with a ton of talented actors in the 20+ years she has been in Hollywood. The majority of titles on her resume have her playing opposite some huge names, like Robert Downey Jr., Casey Affleck, Gerard Butler, and Jaime Foxx, just to name a few. While that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of actors she's worked with, apparently Tom Cruise makes it to the top of her own list.
In the same interview, Michelle Monaghan says that what she really enjoys about working with Tom Cruise is that she feels very focused every time she is in a scene with him, which she finds to be quite helpful in regard to her other projects. This is how Monaghan puts it:
I don't know if I've ever worked with an actor that I've been more connected to in the moment, and when I work with him where you're really, really in the zone, I think that's something that you take into the jobs that come next. With every scene you see what that kind of connection elicits, which is a great performance between the two of you.
While we may not be able to count on more on-screen chemistry between Michelle Monaghan and Tom Cruise in the next Mission: Impossible films, we will have plenty of Cruise’s skilled acting in our future. Cruise and his castmates have reportedly finished shooting the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, which is set to release in summer 2022. A much closer Cruise mission, though, will have him taking up his equally iconic role of Maverick in the steadily approaching Top Gun: Maverick, which you’ll be able to check out when it arrives on November 19.
