Super U Podcast | 7 Super Tips with Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world’s highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d’Or and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. His films have grossed over $4 billion in North America and over $10.1 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing box office stars of all time.

5x #1 Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people this past decade. He was voted the 2nd Most Likable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling. Qualman is also the inventor of the bestselling board game Kittycorn. 

Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from the episode.

Super U Podcast | 7 Super Tips with Tom Cruise

[6:14] Tip #1

“You have a voice as an artist, it’s just getting your own confidence. And you find it just by doing it and when you’re playing that character that is your character and your instincts on the character or your instincts on that character. And we constantly looking at life what is it? What is it where I’m going Okay, interesting. Look at different cultures, different beliefs, you know, how do they come to that? How do I feel about that? How do you know what I think it is a daily adventure. You have your voice it’s there. Just do it. Do it do it. Do it create you know don’t let anyone stop you from being creative. You do it and that confidence will come that’s why I say you know people there’s no right way to do it there’s no right way you do have your voice it’s there and it’s a matter of you just finding that confidence.”

[7:44] Tip #2

“Sometimes I look back, I look back and where did I get off going to New York to say that I’m going to be an actor? No, I mean, we’re. But I think the thing that’s really helped me is to, you know, a lot of people when they treat failure as personal kind of horrendous defeat, and really let life kick them pretty hard. And I like to look at things and say, God, you know, I mean, if it didn’t work, I want to know why it didn’t work. You know, why? Why didn’t you know, why didn’t it work? And really, you know, trying to lift myself I’m gonna have the courage to really evaluate it and learn from it and say, You know what happened? Okay, let’s go.”

[10:03] Tip #3

“It’s still they’re still writing it gigantor Stan, all that stuff, we’ve stayed still write it, they still talk about it. And the thing is, is that I still feel that I always feel I will talk about what I feel when I want to talk about and I won’t talk about what I don’t want to talk about. And it just doesn’t matter. It comes down to the movie, you know, and I also feel I’m living my life. And I feel and I feel fortunate, you know, I feel really fortunate, and I’m excited. But here’s the point. It’s, I don’t even get into that game. I’m just living my life. It’s not. It’s something that I’m just living my life, and I’m doing the best that I can and doing it in a way that I feel is right. And I think that when I like hearing good news, you know, I like hearing you know if something good happens to you. It’s nice. I like sitting here talking to you. I mean before and we’re you know, you’re you know, it’s, it’s I like hearing good news from people and it’s something that I’m happy about. And you know what, and I think it’s I you know what, there’s always cynics. There’s always has been there always will be I have never worried about what other people think and what other people say.

[12:13] Tip #4

“I remember as a kid, I remember I was four years old. And I wanted to make movies. And I wanted to fly airplanes. And I thought about my life. And I wanted to have an adventure in my life. And I was always a kid that was doing Wild Things climbing the tallest trees, and I was very much a dreamer. And constantly writing stories. And as a kid, I would write characters. And I had, you know, when I grew up, I had jobs, not in the movie business, but I had to have jobs as a kid not had to, but I also we contribute the family, but I cut grass. You know, shoveled snow. And I would sell. You know, I don’t know if you have that here. But I’d sell cards door to door, you know at that time, like Christmas cards or seasonal cards. And I’d save my money and I go to the movies, give a little money to family and I go to the movies, give a little money, go to the movies. And suddenly, I’m 18 years old. And we traveled around a little bit when I was growing up. And suddenly I’m making taps. And I realized like this is happening. I’m on a movie set for the first time. I’m 18 years old. And it was really my second film audition and I got the role, a very small role. And I just thought I I never went to film school, but I knew movies as a kid. So I knew who my own Reisman was, I knew who Stanley Jaffe was Harold Becker, obviously, we’re working with Timothy Hutton, and that incredible performance, ordinary people at the time.

And what I did was I went to every single department and I studied every single department because I thought if I never get to make another movie, again, I want to understand what it is. And I was a kind of kid I always kind of wrote goals on the wall of like, what kind of movies I liked, or what I wanted my life to be, and I would work towards those goals. So I knew that I went to every department and I just started studying everything the cinematography I was there in the trailer and bugging people and I was there in every aspect of the film I would just go and study and study and study and really that’s that has been my education throughout in terms of educating myself and I’ve been fortunate to have worked with some very generous people from all walks of life who have shared their work with me their craft with me so that I could learn and kind of understand what it is for myself because I’m someone if it’s not like if I don’t get it I kind of I’m not afraid to say I don’t know something and I’ve always been not afraid to not know something and but really work hard to try to understand it.”

[15:45] Tip #5

“I always go to movies, when they come out on the screen, I’ll put my cap on, and I’ll sit in the audience with everyone. You know, I’ll come in, I want to see the trailers, I want to see where we are. I’ve spent a lot of time with theater owners, you know, with, you know, in every aspect of movies, when I started studying movies, I also went in each department, whether it was the agencies, the studio, I want to at least understand their jobs. So that I can help them with their jobs. So that I always thought if I make a movie, and I realized if the movie does, well, they’re gonna let me go do it again. You know, they’re gonna and so and every time I was like, How do I push this format? How do I also learn? Everything is like, I want to learn everything that I possibly can know. And I listen, I go to the cinema, and those people there that are serving the popcorn that are making these theaters, and I was calling them saying, Please, I know what you’re going through. Just know, we are making Mission Impossible. Top Gun is coming out. And I promise you, it’s like when I’m making a movie, I’m thinking, I’m trying to use all of the skills and everything that I know. And all of the skills of all the people that I work with are the beauty of cinema.

I mean, it’s an incredible experience because you just learned so much about humanity, about people about work about art. And every department when I started out, like how every element of a film is so important, and how you have to create an environment that is conducive to fulfilling the potential of a story. And it’s, you know, some people they think, Oh, well, you write the script and you committed to the script, you’re doing this, like, actually, there’s, I work on things for years, years, you know, Jerry Maguire, we worked on that for a full year. And even when you’re making it, you’re constantly evolving, and you’re discovering what it is, you know, and I started to produce movies really out of necessity to be able to push things that I wanted to do to be able to support in the way that I wanted to support and it’s ever-evolving. And that’s the beauty of it. You know, you’re sometimes you just you really think you know what you’re doing and you just realize I just made I just don’t know what to do. And it’s humbling and it’s magnificent in so many ways.”

[18:47] Tip #6

“It gave me into the movies that I saw. And I was like it gave me a sense of adventure. It opened my view I wanted to know about people. I was interested in people and cultures and adventure in life. And that may be it helped me to dream about things. And for me, I thought it was possible. Even if others said it’s impossible, it can’t happen. But I always held on to my dream thinking. No, I think it’s possible. Maybe you know, and I will work towards that one day. And I will try. And I think one of the most important things when I’m working with actors, is that it is better to create. And even if you’re, you fail, to some degree, I always tried to walk away with what I learned, even in something that necessarily it’s always better to go forward. It’s always better to try than to not do it. It’s always better to ask the question and don’t be afraid and if someone says you’re real or looks at you like you’re really stupid, or you’re really dumb or arrogant for asking this, you know and I have a rule with everyone. I said please, you can ask anything with on the movie please, please I expect you to contribute, you know, and I’ve never you make less of someone for that, because I’ve lived through those times where people are, roll their eyes, and I realized, is really interesting, because I was going around, I’d ask these questions, and you could always see the ones that were very competent and capable at what they did they give you an honest answer, like, I don’t know, or this or take a look at this. What do you think, and a lot of times, the ones that were arrogant about it, they really didn’t know so much. They’re the ones that a lot of times didn’t quite know as much. And so that’s what I say to people and what I do and what I know, you know, and it’s, I give my life to these and I because I feel privileged to do what I do.”

[21:22] Tip #7

“We think about that, and we talked about that. And I for me, it’s I’m thinking for future always, you know, I’m thinking what’s the next and what’s the next. And one of the things that we do is I do spend time with the crew, working with them and trying to help them in any way that I can help them so that they can, you know, carry that on so I’m always helping different filmmakers, writers, directors, and they helped me You know, I’m not sitting here saying I know everything. I know certain things that have worked and I’ve and I know, kind of where what we need to set the table to potentially create something that’s very special for all of us that an audience will connect with. But we all have to contribute to that there’s no, unfortunately, one of the things in Hollywood the people they want guarantees you know, everyone wants a guarantee. It’s like I can tell you how I can create an environment where like the soil that will that we can plant the seeds that we will hopefully create a beautiful flower that one day someone will come and appreciate the flower that we grew for them. You know, and that’s what we hope to do with and I’m available to anyone who wants it I’m like, listen or don’t listen, whatever you want. And I’m here to learn also.”

Connect with Tom Cruise:

Instagram: @TomCruise

Twitter: @TomCruise

TikTok: @tomcruise

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The Super U Podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.