Westworld star Thandie Newton is spillin’ some Hollywood tea on her former Mission Impossible 2 co-star, Tom Cruise! Thandie, who played thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall in the film directed by John Woo, recalled a particularly difficult scene with Tom that left him feeling “frustrated” and her “scared.” Newton told Vulture that while reading her lines during a “not a very well-written scene,” Tom grew increasingly frustrated with her performance, pushing her into a “place of terror and insecurity.”
‘I was so scared of Tom,” Thandie dished to Vulture. “It was a scene with him and me on the balcony. And I don’t think it was a very well-written scene. I get angry with him. We’re frustrated with each other. And we’re looking out over Spain. It wasn’t going well.”
Out of frustration, Thandie said Tom suggested “the most unhelpful strategy” where the two switched roles and read each other’s lines. When she finally figured out what Tom wanted—which was for her to play an “alpha b****”— she delivered, but said it was “not the best way to get the best work out of someone.”
“He tries superhard to be a nice person. But the pressure. He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done, ” she said. “It was a real shame. And bless him. And I really do mean bless him, because he was trying his damnedest.”
After filming Mission Impossible 2, Thandie was not invited back for any of the sequels. What do you think of her experience with Tom Cruise?