Eileen Berlin, the first manager of Tom Cruise has revealed details about the Mission: Impossible star’s “terrible temper”, claims of which have followed Cruise from his early days in Hollywood.
Cruise has become one of the biggest film stars in the world through mainly action movies, gaining fame and praise for doing most of his own stunts, no matter how dangerous. The characters he portrays are generally happy-go-lucky, but the world was in for a rude shock when his expletive-laced rant on the sets of Mission: Impossible 7, which was addressed to the crew over a breach in Covid-19 protocol, leaked in the press.
Now, Berlin has said that he was bullied as a child by his father and the rage inside him is a result of a difficult childhood. She also revealed that she gifted him a photo album with articles on him in teen magazines for his 19th birthday. But his response was to scream at her and throw the album on her face, hitting her cheek.
“Tommy had a terrible temper. He harbored a lot of anger at his natural father. He was moody and would get angry in a snap of your fingers. It was like something was smoldering and it would boil up and explode. I put it down to his insecurity. I presented him with an album with all his publicity articles from teen magazines for his 19th birthday. He screamed, ‘I don’t want to be in the teen mags’. He had told me he considered himself an adult, not a teen idol. He threw the album hard at me and it hit me on the cheek,” said Berlin.
In the leaked tape obtained by UK tabloid The Sun, Cruise had yelled at the crew of Mission: Impossible 7 for being lax with Covid-19 restrictions and not maintaining social distancing. He also underlined how important it is to prove to Hollywood and world governments that films can be shot in an environment safe from the virus.
He reportedly said, “I’m on the phone with every f***ing studio at night, insurance companies, producers, and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies,” Cruise told the crew on the set. Do you understand the responsibility that you have? Because I will deal with your reason. And if you can’t be reasonable and I can’t deal with your logic, you’re fired,” he added, according to the tape.
Mission: Impossible 7, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, has Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his allies facing a new global threat. The film brings back Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Angela Bassett, and Frederick Schmidt as well. Haley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, and Cary Elwes, debut in the franchise with this film.