Tom Cruise Teleconference - War of the Worlds Operator: May I have everyone's attention please? I would like to thank you all for waiting and welcome you to the conference call today with Michael Agulnek. Your lines will be in listen-only until the question and answer session. Mr. Agulnek, I will turn the call over to you and thank you for using Sprint conferencing services. Michael Agulnek: Thank you. Thanks everybody for joining us. We have Tom Cruise on the line, who is the star of… Female Speaker: Wait, wait, Michael. Here he is.   Michael Agulnek: We are going to get Tom Cruise on the line. He is the star of “War of the Worlds.” It opens June 29. We are going to open the floor to questions. If you have a question, please press star/one on your phone and you will be called upon one by one. So as soon as we get the question, operator, let us start asking. Mr. Cruise? Tom Cruise: Hey. How are you? Michael Agulnek: Hey. Welcome.   Tom Cruise: Thank you. Michael Agulnek: So give us one second and the operator will call on someone. Tom Cruise: Good. Operator: The first question is from John… Tom Cruise: Hi, operator. Operator: Hi.   Tom Cruise: Hold it. Is that the operator? Operator: Yes, it is.   Tom Cruise: Hi, how are you? Operator: I am fine. How are you? Tom Cruise: Okay. Operator: Good. The first question is from John Sotes. Go ahead, please. John Sotes: Hey, Tom. What's up? Tom Cruise: Hey, John. How are you doing? John Sotes: Pretty good. I had a quick question. Why did you feel you wanted to do another project with Spielberg? Especially another sci-fi project? Tom Cruise: It just happened to be a sci-fi project. But who doesn't want to work with Steven Spielberg? He's not only a great friend of mine but he is a filmmaker that I tremendously admire. I think he is without a doubt our greatest storyteller in cinema, certainly if you look at how prolific he is. The two of us together, it is a creative combustion. As soon as we finished “Minority Report” we said, “Okay, what movie are we going to make next?” There were three projects that he listed out and the third one was “War of the Worlds” and we kind of looked at each other and that was it. That is the movie we should make together. That is what I said. He is just an extraordinary filmmaker. When we started working on this picture together, we always thought of is as the smallest, biggest film. He wanted to make it a very intimate picture and told from a subjective point of view. How can we make this movie so that it means something to us? That is what I was looking at. There was that quiet agreement between us as to dedicating it to our children; how much we love our children.   John Sotes: One quick question. How did you use Orson Welles' original recording to shape your character and overall approach to the film, if you used it at all? Tom Cruise: We did not use it at all. There were three “War of the Worlds.” It was when the book was released, obviously, that everything is based on that. It was released really as how he felt about British colonialism. It was also dealing with Industrial Revolution.  The second version was in 1938 when Welles did his radio piece, at that time in 1938 when America was nervous about being drawn into the European Theater in World War II with Hitler. The third version, which is the film version of that, was done during the Cold War. None of those really…we went to the original book and it is based on the book. It is not a remake at all on the Orson Welles' radio play or certainly the film. It is very different. But we did pay tribute to the original book. The character itself…I don't know how many schools, over a dozen schools. And I have lived in Jersey twice. Steve and I know really had…you look at “Close Encounters” and “E.T.” was dealing with suburbia. This is more of a blue-collar experience and basically we came up with this idea. I wanted to make it about the family and a man where…you know Steven and I just kind of spit-balled. We sit around and say okay, what interests us? What is this journey going to be like? So we came up with the idea of this deadbeat dad who is irresponsible and actually a bigger kid than his kids. What happens is these children are foisted upon him on this weekend where the world is now invaded. There is a scene in the movie with Dakota Fanning where the lights goes out and the electricity is cut off and she says, “Are we going to be okay?” My character turns to her and says, “I don't know.” She says, “You don't know?!” That is who Ray is at the beginning and how is that going to develop is the question. Where are we going to go from there? Operator: All right. The next question is from Kylee Dawson.   Kylee Dawson: Hello, Mr. Cruise. How are you? Tom Cruise: Very well, Kiley. How are you? Kylee Dawson: I am great. Thanks. Tom Cruise: Good. Kylee Dawson: Honestly, I cannot show my face in my class. I am taking a Stanley Kubrick class right now.   Tom Cruise: Good! Kylee Dawson: My professor told me when she found out, she said you have to ask him something about Kubrick's (inaudible). Tom Cruise: Absolutely. Next		Home Interviews Antoine Fuqua Interview King Arthur Interview Arv Grewal Interview Asia Argento Interview Behind the Scenes of "War of the Worlds" Bernie Goldmann Interview Clive Owen Interview Dakota Fanning Interview Dennis Hopper Interview George A Romero Interview Greg Nicotero Interview The Hulk Press Conference Ang Lee Press Conference Ioan Gruffudd Interview John Leguizamo Interview Kathleen Kennedy Interview Keira Knightley Interview