Q&A: Tom Cruise

Read excerpts from Lesley Stahl's interview with Hollywood star and Academy Award winning actor Tom Cruise.

Lesley Stahl: "Risky Business." You were a kid. That wasn't your first movie, but it was one we all suddenly knew. How do you think you've changed as an actor?

Tom Cruise: I've certainly gone through many different processses to find out what works for me. You know, having that opportunity. I've worked with the Scorseses, the Newmans, the Hoffmans ... you know, Hackman, Duvall, great filmmakers. Each one, I've learned something from -- their own voice that they have as an artist. And the confidence that they have in what they do.

When you're working on a character, there is that moment of "I don't know who this guy is? And where are we gonna take it? And what's gonna happen?" I've just gone through and figured out my own way to develop a character. Do research and really have an understanding and appreciation for the process. Also, I know the kind of environment that I feel I flourish in -- that I see that other artists flourish in.

Stahl: Give me an example.

Cruise: I work well when you feel protected. You feel the ability to try things with a scene. Acting isn't just "memorize the lines and hit your mark." There's a lot of layers to it.

Stahl: "Risky Business." That was the big breakthrough. Wasn't it?

Cruise: No, I felt "Taps" for me was a breaktrough. The first film. Stanley Jaffe producing the picture. And Harold Becker was directing. And I was with Tim Hutton, Sean Penn and George C. Scott ... I guess I was about 18. I think that was a very well-produced picture because we had the opportunity to work on the characters and really learn.

Stahl: There's a biography about you that says of your "Top Gun" character, Maverick, that it was kind of a prototype for roles that you would go on to play over and over ... And you seem to like that. You seem to play that guy very well. And, even in "The Last Samurai," that's the same guy, in a way.

Cruise: Well, you know, there's many different layers and colors to different characters ... I like movies and I guess I get interested in characters that go through transitions -- that confronts something within, that is, there's drama. And you see the characters travel somewhere. For me, I just don't evaluate it as a prototype in that way. ... I'm just interested in something and then I do it.

Stahl: Are you a method actor? Do you live the part, even after you're shooting?

Cruise: I have my own methodology, of how I prepare for a character. I don't, you know, you don't have to call me the character, and all that kind of stuff.

Stahl: Don't have to call you Algren from "The Last Samurai" --

Cruise: You don't have to call me Algren. But I'm interested. I find it's a real search. And part of creating a character, working on a film, are the questions that you ask. And the journey of getting those questions answered.

Well, for Algren, you kind of start out with a clean slate. I go in, saying, "How am I gonna play this role? Where do I start?' So I go, and I'll find just different things. And I'll kind of latch on.

Stahl: Did director Ed Zwick have to talk you into this? Did you have to be persuaded?

Cruise: We sat down, and we discussed it. I was interested immediately ... I've known Ed, and I've wanted to work with him.

I respect the people that I work with. And I respect his choices. But making a film is, it's a community effort. It's everybody involved. And so, you want that kind of contribution.

Stahl: You worked on the script itself?

Cruise: We all worked on the script ... You're always working on the script. It's always evolving, and you wanna challenge the script, and you wanna challenge the scenes, to see.

Sometimes we find things. You know. I would ad-lib. And Ed would find things. And also, with the camera, he's writing every day, with those shots.

It's important to find things. No matter how you sit down and write it, there's the actual doingness of it. And you have to be ready and willing to accept what's gonna happen, because at a certain point, the film is telling you what it needs.

Stahl: Ed told us that you personally were very attracted to that Code of the Samurai. What was it about the code that hooked you?

Cruise: Honesty and Justice. Be acutely honest throughout your dealings with all people. Believe in justice. Not from other people, but from yourself. To the true Samurai, there are no shades of gray in the question of honesty and justice. There's only right and wrong.

We talked about heroic courage. Honor. The true Samurai has only one judge of his honor. And that is himself. Decisions you make, and how these decisions are carried out. A reflection of who you truly are. These things hit me. These things mean something to me. These are things that I think about, in my own life.

And, when you talk about compassion -- he helps his fellow man at every opportunity. If an opportunity does not arise, he goes out of his way to find one. These things mean something to me. As a man. Duty and loyalty.

When you talk about responsibility, for the Samurai, having done something, or said some thing, he knows he owns that thing. He is responsible for it. And all the consequences that follow ...

A life of honor, a life of honesty. These are things, the way I try to live my life. Doing things right, and treating people with respect.

Stahl: Why do you do all the stunts yourself? Was there anything in this movie you didn't do?

Cruise: It's challenging; it's fun. It allows the filmmaker to be able to get the camera in there. It's things that I can do. And I won't do anything that I really feel is -- you know, one of the things I said to Ed in the beginning, I said, "Listen. If I don't think I can do it, I'm not gonna do it. If I really don't feel I can do it, I won't do it."

I did almost all of it. Some of the riding, with the explosions -- there were a couple of shots in there that I wasn't in. But all the sword work, and all those things, were me.

Stahl: How worried are you, as a producer of this movie, that people weren't gonna understand it?

Cruise: It's a Japanese movie ... As I was going through it, I saw the clarity in the narrative. I think audiences -- the kind of responses that we've had have really been wonderful. I mean, extraordinary.

Stahl: Do you have a favorite line from that movie?

Cruise: I'll tell you one of my favorite lines. You know the exchange between Katsumoto and Algren and he says, "Do you think a man can change his destiny?" I loved the line when I read, "No, I think a man can do what he can until his destiny is revealed." I think a man does what he can until his destiny is revealed.

Stahl: Did you always want to be an actor?

Cruise: I remember being about 4 years old and thinking about it. I used to put on skits for the family. I would do imitations.

Stahl: You had kind of a difficult childhood in that you kept moving all the time. And you never got to stay in a school and settle down. Do you think that has something to do with your being an actor?

Cruise: I just remember that I always loved movies. Even as a little kid, there was something about the adventure of it, the dream of it.

Stahl: Tell us about growing up.

Cruise: Growing up was exciting, actually in many ways. Challenging. I had the opportunity to -- I mean, you move from neighborhood to neighborhood. There's different cultures, different people, different rules of the street. I was lucky. I had people who were very supportive of each other.

Stahl: Is it true, is it really true, that you bake cookies for your kids?

Cruise: Oh yeah! Yeah.

Stahl: Not from scratch, no!

Cruise: Yeah, of course. Well, the favorite is of course the Tollhouse. You know, they're the classic. I love cookies. You know the thing is is that you fight over the batter, and you know, the sugar shock afterwards.

I like cooking. I'm not a great cook. You know, I actually worked with Sydney Pollock, and he taught me a lot about cooking on "Eyes Wide Shut."

Lesley Stahl: Do you love politics? Or do you stay away from them?

Tom Cruise: I'm interested in terms of looking at how it's gonna affect my kids. And it's more from a humanitarian aspect, not political. You know, the future of the country, and where we are today.