Tom Cruise feared COVID-19 could "wipe cinema off the face of this earth".
Simon Pegg defended Tom Cruise's outburst
The 61-year-old actor was heard in audio footage leaked in December 2020 yelling at a crew member who was breaking social distancing rules on the set of 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' and his co-star Simon Pegg can understand why his pal lost his cool.
He told Sunday Times Culture magazine: “Everything that Tom cares about, in terms of his job, was at stake due to the pandemic.
“For him there was a danger this virus could wipe cinema off the face of this earth.
“People can argue that cinema is frivolous. But it’s not. Cinema brings people together at a time we’re pulling apart, and that just added to Tom’s determination to put people in a room together. The power of cinema is, for him, precious and it’s vital we sustain it.”
Although Tom has made challenging movies like 'Eyes Wide Shut' and 'Minority Report' in the past, his main goal now is to make films that entertain.
His 'Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' co-star Hayley Atwell said: “He doesn’t want to make movies now to punish an audience. He doesn’t want films with the message that if you do not understand this you’re not smart.
" I can tell when I watch some movies that the director has made it for themselves. I don’t feel involved or I think, ‘Am I stupid?’ Tom’s not a snob.”
Director Christopher McQuarrie added: “In our first meeting, Tom said, unashamedly, ‘I make mass entertainment.’
“There is an outsized importance placedon Oscars. Films that not many people are going to see. A wedge has been driven into the industry. Are you an artist or an entertainer? Tom doesn’t see them as mutually exclusive.”
Tagged in Tom Cruise Hayley Atwell Simon Pegg