George Clooney says Tom Cruise's rant was understandable but he wouldn't have done the same: 'Just not my style’
George Clooney has expressed his views over Tom Cruise’s viral Covid-19 rant on the sets of the 'Mission Impossible' franchise. The ‘Knight and Day’ star had yelled at a pair of crew members after they reportedly did not maintain social distance during the shooting of the seventh part of the Mission: Impossible franchise in the UK. Cruise is playing the lead role in the upcoming movie while also being one of the main producers.
Clooney who was virtually promoting his movie, ‘The Midnight Sky’, on ‘The Howard Stern Show’ on Wednesday, December 16, appeared to agree with Cruise’s reaction when he was asked to give his perspective on the whole scenario. "He didn’t overreact because it is a problem. I have a friend who’s an AD on another TV show who just had the almost exact same thing happen with not quite as far out a response,” the 59-year-old said, before continuing, “You’re in a position of power and it’s tricky, right? You do have a responsibility for everybody else and he’s absolutely right about that."
‘The Descendants’ actor also gave reasons why Cruise reacted so furiously. “If the production goes down, a lot of people lose their jobs. People have to understand that and have to be responsible,” Clooney said, but also added: “It’s just not my style to take everybody to task that way. I think it doesn’t help necessarily to point to specific people in that way and do it but everybody has their own style. The people who were on that shoot will tell us more about it. I don’t know that I would have done it quite that personally, but I don’t know all the circumstances so maybe he had it 10 or 15 times before.”
The audiotape of Cruise’s rant was obtained by The Sun in which the ‘Top Gun’ star was heard saying, “We want the gold standard. They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us! Because they believe in us and what we’re doing! I’m on the phone with every f**king studio at night, insurance companies, producers, and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs you motherf**kers. I don’t ever want to see it again, ever! And if you don’t do it you’re fired, if I see you do it again you’re f**king gone. And if anyone in this crew does it - that’s it, and you too and you too. And you, don’t you ever f**king do it again."
“That’s it! No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their f**king homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That’s what I sleep with every night. The future of this f**king industry! So I’m sorry I am beyond your apologies. I have told you and now I want it and if you don’t do it you’re out. We are not shutting this f**king movie down! Is it understood?” he added.
When Cruise’s rant went viral, a source at the time said, “Tom has taken it upon himself, along with the health and safety department, to try to force the safety precautions, with a view to keeping the film running. He does daily rounds to make sure that everything is set up appropriately, that people are behaving and working as safely as they can. He is very proactive when it comes to safety. Everyone was wearing masks. It was purely that these people were standing under a meter away from each other. It isn’t known whether he saw those guys breaking the rules before or whether this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. People make mistakes and they slip up, but Tom is just on it.”