The co-star who couldn’t stand Tom Cruise’s method acting: “Are you dead serious?”

Posted On January 4, 2026January 4, 2026

Tom Cruise’s willingness to risk life and limb for the sake of an action scene has received praise and generated concern from his co-stars, but his acting choices have never been entirely orthodox.

There isn’t another movie star quite like Tom Cruise, who has dominated the industry for well over 40 years. While it’s not exactly an anomaly for an actor to find consistent work for nearly half a century, Cruise has continued to be a box office draw throughout the entire time and has inspired many young stars to take their careers more seriously.

Top Gun: Maverick, Born on the Fourth of July, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, and A Few Good Men are often brought up when discussing Cruise’s best film, but his career would not have reached the heights that it did without Risky Business, the 1983 teen comedy that announced his talents to the world. Although the ‘80s saw an uptick in high school dramedies like The Breakfast Club and The Sure Thing, Risky Business was unapologetically raunchy, mature, and genuinely thought-provoking in a way that made it feel ahead of its time.

Cruise’s star power in Risky Business may have seemed inherent, but it was the result of a finely-calibrated performance as the teenager slacker Joel Goodsen that took considerable concentration on his part. According to Bronson Pinchot, who co-starred as Joel’s friend Barry, Cruise committed to method acting by being in character during the entire shoot.

“Tom called me Barry,” Pinchot said in an interview with Chicago Mag. “You think, ‘are you dead serious?’ Just turn it on when it’s time to turn it on! I had never been exposed to a method actor before. I think it was something he picked up from Sean Penn, whom he idolized.”

Method acting has been a controversial practice in Hollywood and involves getting so into character that the reality of a scene cannot be broken. While it’s a technique that’s been heralded when utilised by acting geniuses like Daniel Day-Lewis, whose immersive performances have been brilliant, the practice has earned blowback in the case of stars like Jared Leto, who seem to irritate anyone unfortunate enough to be on the same set.

Cruise had worked with Sean Penn, an adoptee of the method approach, on the military drama Taps, which gave him one of his first roles. Considering that Penn was considered at the time to be one of the most exciting young actors of his generation, it’s not entirely surprising that Cruise looked to him for inspiration.

Regardless of what Pinchot’s experience may have been, Cruise’s performance in Risky Business became iconic for a reason; although he mastered the art of being a snarky, effortlessly cool teenager, he was also able to show the vulnerability that came at such a young age. The fact that Joel, despite his flaws, was a character that audiences continued to root for is something that Cruise would use to his advantage throughout his career.

Funny how things turn out. It looks like Cruise might be taking a leaf out of Penn’s book as he heads into this next phase of his career. Penn has spoken highly of working with Alejandro González Iñárritu, the Oscar-winning Mexican director behind 21 Grams. Now Cruise has teamed up with Iñárritu for Digger, a dark comedy already shaping up to be one of the most talked-about films of 2026.

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