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Yahoo UK Movies FeaturesTom Cruise plays a ‘total coward’ in Edge of Tomorrow
We'll see a new side to Cruise in high concept sci-fi, according to director Doug Liman.
Director Doug Liman promised a totally different kind of performance from Tom Cruise in upcoming sci-fi ‘The Edge of Tomorrow’.
Speaking at a footage presentation for the film, he said that Cruise’s character would be funny and cowardly.
“This is a Tom Cruise you haven’t seen before,” he said. “He’s a coward throughout the movie – he does this amazing squeal. I didn’t know Tom would be this funny.”
[Tom Cruise shuts down Trafalgar Square]
Cruise plays Lt. Col. William "Bill" Cage, a marketing manager forced to fight a hostile alien race known as mimics.
When we first see him he has no combat experience and is killed within minutes. He then wakes up at the start of the day, realising he is caught in a time loop and forced to fight the same battle again and again. He’s helped by Emily Blunt’s veteran soldier Rita Vrataski, who has also experienced the time loop.
“If you hate Tom Cruise go and see this,” joked Liman, “because he dies 250 times during the movie”.
From the 15 minutes of footage we saw, the film was as funny as Liman suggested, with the weasel-y Cruise getting plenty of laughs. The premise feels like ‘Groundhog Day’ crossed with ‘Starship Troopers’, and has scope for plenty of time-travelling related twists.
The ‘Bourne Identity’ and ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ helmer said such high concept sci-fi fare was a rarity for a big budget studio project. ‘It’s wholly original. People expect me to break to the mould. There was no pressure to make a ‘studio' film.”
Liman said they wanted to make a film that “appeals to Tom’s mainstream audience, but means I can also hold my head up high to my artsy friends in Brooklyn”.
He added that some of his ideas for a ‘Jumper’ sequel made their way into his new film.
“I did not get [‘Jumper’] quite right, but I’m a quick learner and have lots of ideas for sequels. A lot of what I learned from ‘Jumper’ is in ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, but it’s an arena I’d like to return to."
‘Edge of Tomorrow’ is released in the UK on 30 May.
