Emily Blunt clarified what she mentioned about working with Tom Cruise on the 2014 film Edge of Tomorrow, however there’s nonetheless purpose to be involved.
It all began when Emily shared on the Smartless podcast what it was like sporting an 85-pound swimsuit within the film. “The first time I put it on, I started to cry in front of Tom, and he didn’t know what to do,” she mentioned. “I was like, ‘Tom, I’m not sure how I’m going to get through this shoot.’ He just stared at me for a long time, not knowing what to do, and he goes, ‘Come on, stop being such a pussy, OK?’ I did laugh, and then we got through it.”
In writing about this trade, I referred to as it “extremely unprofessional and horrible.” I additionally mentioned that Tom “swore at her,” which he did, even when it was supposed as a joke. Not that these two occasions are linked, however Emily subsequently mentioned in a press release about how issues had been coated, “It’s ludicrous that it’s being spun as something that offended me. It didn’t. I shared the story as lightheartedly as it was meant by Tom.”
“I absolutely adore Tom, he’s a dear friend and he was a total gem to me,” she continued. “It was said as a joke to make me laugh, which it did in a big way. And it’s still something we laugh about to this day.”
But the factor is: Emily was proper to cry concerning the calls for anticipated from the shoot. She was completely injured whereas sporting the swimsuit. “I still sort of have this injury that’s sustained from it,” Emily mentioned within the interview, outlining an aerial stunt that went incorrect. “My ribs and my collarbone [are still] a bit dodge. Thanks Tom Cruise,” she added sarcastically.
Emily has informed the aerial stunt story earlier than. At the time, she mentioned that Tom’s response was to say, “‘Yeah! First stunt injury! He high-fived me as if it was my initiation. I was in the club.”
The accountability of on-set security doesn’t fall on Tom. But it is price saying that on the time, Emily was a newcomer to motion motion pictures and Tom Cruise was, effectively, Tom Cruise. Would him saying, “Hey, maybe we should reconsider this” have modified issues? Maybe not. We’ll by no means know.
Tom clearly cares about on-set security in different regards — bear in mind when he yelled at crew members on Mission: Impossible for not sticking to COVID protocol? In my thoughts, the distinction in angle boils right down to a really old-school, performance-driven, “suck up and deal with it if it gets results” methodology. We know the place this could finish: with actors getting unnecessarily injured.
I haven’t got to even give you a hypothetical right here, as Emily did get injured on set. Plus, as she herself identified within the podcast interview, the swimsuit she wore was “so heavy” {that a} man needed to be her stunt double.
“That should tell you something. That you can’t find a girl to want to do it,” Emily mentioned, noting that she would need another person to do her stunts in a possible sequel. That the fits weren’t designed in any respect for ladies is (simply to be clear) not Tom’s accountability, however let’s hearken to Emily: What does this say about how ladies’s security is handled on set?
I additionally need to contact on the “pussy” of all of it, as a result of it’s a gendered insult. I frankly don’t care about what folks excuse in their very own interpersonal relationships. If Emily thinks of this expertise fondly and it helped her, superior! But she is talking about what’s essentially a coworker interplay on a highly regarded podcast. This story did not have to be informed. It’s okay to be uncomfortable by what hyping up this sort of conduct can normalize — hell, Jason Bateman’s (one of many podcast’s hosts) response is to say, “Nice, good for Tom.”
Some may say (and did!) that my authentic complaints — and even the existence of this submit — is studying far an excessive amount of into issues. I’m okay with that. I’ve coated previous interviews of ladies speaking about adverse experiences on set to the laughter of males earlier than. I’ve seen how they’ve aged. A lady complained about unreasonable calls for on set and was later badly injured — and that is performed for laughs. Perhaps Emily might have shared this “lightheartedly,” however the actuality is much extra murky.