“It’s my passion to entertain you,” the actor said during a speech from Rome’s Spanish Steps at the “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” premiere
Tom Cruise counts his job as “a privilege that I have never taken for granted.”
On the red carpet in Rome for the world premiere of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Monday, Cruise, 60, praised how people of different cultures “all join together to enjoy cinema” as he gave a speech from the city’s famous Spanish Steps, according to Variety.
“It’s something that I grew up with, that made me and inspired me to dream and want to travel the world,” Cruise said of his passion for films. “My goal since I was little was to make movies and travel. And not just be a tourist, but work in that world and understand their culture.”
“Through my movies, I’ve been able to have that because everyone here has allowed me to entertain them. It’s a privilege that I have never taken for granted,” he continued in his speech, emphasizing the importance of seeing movies in theaters: “It’s my passion to entertain you, and I will always fight for big theaters and that kind of experience for everyone.”
Cruise appeared on the red carpet with his Mission: Impossible director and frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie on Monday, as well as members of the cast including Esai Morales, Simon Pegg, Frederick Schmidt, Shea Whigham, Mariela Garriga, Rebecca Ferguson, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Vanessa Kirby.
The actor praised his work with McQuarrie, who directed the previous two Mission: Impossible films and also wrote Top Gun: Maverick, during his speech, saying the director has “had a hand in every single film I’ve made over the past 16 years.”
Cruise said, “He is my creative brother and an exceptional human being.”
McQuarrie’s collaborations with Cruise date back to at least 2008, when he wrote the screenplay for Valkyrie, which Cruised starred in for director Bryan Singer.
Though he only wrote that movie, he first worked with Cruise as a director on 2012’s Jack Reacher, which then led to his installment as the Mission: Impossible franchise’s director beginning with 2015’s Rogue Nation.
The series’ latest entry is its first since 2018. Dead Reckoning Part One finds Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as he and his team are tasked with tracking down “a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands,” according to an official synopsis.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is in theaters July 12.