How 'Rock of Ages' Star Tom Cruise Embraced His Inner Rock God (Video)
“Singing a song is very much like acting,” the 49-year-old told reporters at the red carpet premiere of his new film.
Already a movie star, Tom Cruise is adding rock star to his growing repertoire with his role in Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages.
The three-time Academy Award-nominee successfully found his voice, having no musical background to his credit, with help from the film’s music executive producer, Glee’s Adam Anders.
“The first thing we had to find and discover is what is my voice and what is the voice of the character,” Cruise told reporters on the red carpet at his film’s Hollywood premiere. “It’s not just learning how to sing, I trained for five hours a day for many months, but it was also -- in singing you have opera, you have pop, you’ve got Broadway, and then you’ve got rock. So it was finding out what is that rock voice and then kind of work on the behavior and the wardrobe from that.”
“Scary as hell,” is how Anders described the daunting task of teaching the A-lister how to sing.
“I went over to his house to hear him sing and I didn’t know what to expect at all,” he said. “He started singing and he didn’t know what he was doing, but his voice was unbelievably powerful and he could sing as high as he wanted to. I was like ‘We’re good! Now we just gotta work.’”
Even the actor was pleasantly surprised with his musical abilities.
“Singing a song is very much like acting, you’re there to tell a story,” he explained. “And once I kind of figured that it out it was easier.”
"To be able to work with Tom Cruise is incredible,” said co-star Malin Ackerman, who plays a Rolling Stone reporter in the film. “If you look back at his body of work, he's such an incredible actor so I always feel like whenever you get to work with someone who's been in the business for a while whose really good at their job, they always make you a better actor."
Fans can see Cruise as they’ve never seen him before when Rock of Ages opens on Friday, June 15. For more coverage of the film, click here.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Ford.
Email: Sophie.Schillaci@thr.com; Twitter: @SophieSchillaci
THR's Daily Must Feeds
-
Billboard Music Awards Winners List
-
Bradley Cooper On Why He Left 'Jane Got A Gun'
-
Zoe Saldana & Marion Cotillard: 'Blood Ties' Cannes Premiere
-
Justin Bieber Booed While Accepting Award
-
Jay-Z Says Beyonce is Not Pregnant
-
The Final Word On Daft Punk's Album
-
Oh, Drake Is Also in 'Anchorman 2'
-
Robin Wright’s Film Takes ‘Craziest Movie at Cannes’ Honors
In This Week's Magazine
- MOST SHARED
- MOST POPULAR
- 1
'Grey's Anatomy' Boss Shonda Rhimes: Callie 'Isn't a Victim'
- 2
Cannes Crime Spree Continues With More Burglaries, Physical Attacks
- 3
Cannes: India's New Wave Producer Guneet Monga (Q&A)
- 4
Cannes: Philippines Cinema Comes to the Fore
- 5
Sony Board to Discuss Spin-off of Stake in Entertainment Business
- 6
Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories': What the Critics Are Saying
- 7
'Pretty Little Liars' Recruits Rumer Willis for Season 4 (Exclusive)
- 8
TV Notes Decoder: What Those Baffling Executives Really Mean
- 9
Cannes: 'Nymphomaniac' Producer Reveals Graphics Are Used in 'Groundbreaking' Sex Scenes
- 10
'How I Met Your Mother' Reveals the Mother (Video)


