Lessons learned from a living legend. On set with Tom Cruise and BTV.

So the cat is out of the bag. Another big time collaboration with BTV and Fox Sports. This time, the opening film for Super Bowl LIX — Philadelphia Eagles versus Kansas City Chiefs. One of the most iconic events in sport. It aired right before kick off, which is about as prime time as you can get. Setting the atmosphere at fever pitch for the millions viewing around the world. 

Working with A-listers is starting to become a regular thing at BTV. With Sir Gareth Southgate and Sir Ridley Scott already in the bag. But this time, Tom Cruise came to play. And if there’s a AAA-list, he’s near the top of that too.

There wasn’t much for me to do on this project with the creative coming directly from Fox. But I tagged along on shoot day though as I was curious to see how this particular megastar would acquit himself. He didn’t disappoint.

He could quite easily have been a prickly diva. After all, he was in the UK working on a new feature film. Which is why we shot the Fox piece at Pinewood. Tom could just pop over in his lunch hour. Or something like that. Y’know. He had bigger fish to fry.

But, none of it. He arrived on set promptly with a modest entourage. His biggest indulgence being a four-person hair and make-up team. One security guy — who I imagine would make nails seem a little soft-bellied. A couple of people glued to their iPhones. And that was it.

He started by saying hello to everyone on set and shaking them by the hand. With a big smile on his face. “Let’s go-go-go!” was the mantra. 

On with the job, and plenty of reads through the script. Editing the teleprompter. More reads. More edits. Commas. Line breaks. Making sure the dialogue was precisely delivered for maximum impact. Impressive attention-to-detail.

Then to the action on set. He did six or seven different reads at different angles. Goosebumps time as you saw the guy at work. Pathos in spades. Never rushed. Always engaged and interested. I never saw him check his watch once. 

When we wrapped, he stayed for photos and chatted with a few people with questions to ask and stories to tell. All-in-all, we had this global cinema icon for two hours or so and in that time, after the initial realisation, he really just felt like one of the team. 

And, for what it’s worth, I can pay him no bigger compliment.