Though Tom Cruise has been in the spotlight and giving himself to film for well over three decades, he gives significantly less away about his personal life, particularly his role as a father.
The Mission Impossible actor, 61, first became a dad when he and ex-wife Nicole Kidman, 56, adopted daughter Isabella Jane, 31, in 1992, followed by son Connor Anthony, 29, in 1995. He later welcomed daughter Suri, 17, with ex-wife Katie Holmes, 45, both of whom he is allegedly estranged from, as from Nicole.
And while he has always had a firm boundary between his professional and personal life, there came a moment while filming The Last Samurai in 2003 when director Edward Zwick needed his lead star to bring down his walls.
In his new memoir Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood, the Blood Diamond director recalled his time filming with Tom, and how he used Connor, who at the time was eight years old, to help the star tap into his emotions for a crucial scene.
Recounting one of the final scenes, for which they only had so much time and margin of error before losing the right natural lighting, Edward noted that while Tom certainly knew how to take directions, he was worried simply asking him to act emotionally would come across as forced.
"If I hoped to get him to the right emotional place, I felt I needed to touch some vulnerable part in him that I'd yet to see him reveal in the movie," he explained.
© Getty"The result would have invariably ended up feeling forced," he continued, noting: "Precisely because he was trying to give me what I wanted. I didn't want him to try to make something happen. I wanted it to happen."
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He went on to share how because he was aware of Tom's bond with his son, as well as with one of his younger co-stars, he decided to ask him to tell him about him right before calling action.
© Getty"He looked at me, surprised," he wrote, revealing: "I knew Connor had just returned to L.A. and Tom wouldn't be seeing him for a while."
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"For a moment Tom was quiet. And then he began to talk. It doesn't matter what he said in those few short moments in the fading light. I watched as he looked inward, and a window seemed to open and his eyes softened."
© GettyEdward was then quick to get him into position and start filming, and further wrote in his book: "He nailed the scene with the depth of feeling I had loved in his best performances."
He added: "As Tom walked past me on his way down the mountain, he caught my eye and mouthed, 'Thank you.'"
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