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Is Tom Cruise Even An Actor, Or Is He Only Tom Cruise?
A look at actors who lose themselves in character and those who never will
What qualifies an actor as a great actor? Is it a remarkable performance? An emotional connection made or feelings torn from your guts? Are tears a necessary qualifier?
To me, it’s forgetting who the actor is that’s playing the role.
Tom Cruise is not one of those actors. He’s good, intense, committed, and reasonably believable, but it makes no difference if you watch Ethan Hunt from the Mission Impossible movies or Jack Reacher. From Risky Business to Top Gun, Maverick is Maverick, and Tom Cruise is always Tom Cruise. Even as an onscreen vampire, TC is still the kid from Cocktail.
The same goes for Leo DiCaprio. He’s a great actor, and he’s grown on me over the decades. Leo has done well, from riveting and rambunctious to poignant and powerful, but even as Calvin Candie from Django Unchained, he’s still the happy go-not-so-lucky kid from the Titanic.
These are good actors and, most of the time, in good movies, but for me, they never escape their own identity; even beneath good make-up, they remain who they are.
