Harrison Ford And Tom Cruise Bonded Over One Weird Hobby
Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise share a personal bond over their love for piloting planes.
Most people don’t immediately associate Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise with one another, but in a recent interview, The Hollywood Reporter compared the two because they both have extensive practice being both dramatic and physical actors. Furthermore, the interviewer pointed out that both actors enjoy flying planes and helicopters, prompting Ford to discuss how he bonded with the Top Gun: Maverick star. “I like Tom,” Ford said. “We talk about flying.”
Part of what makes the interview so significant is that Ford is willing to talk openly about his amazing career and his often-reclusive lifestyle. And the anecdote about Harrison Ford bonding with Tom Cruise over their shared love of flying gives us an interesting glimpse into how, past all the wealth and fame, celebrities bond with one another just like the rest of us do. In this case, all it took was a shared passion for an unusual hobby to bring together two actors who might otherwise have little to do with each other.
Interestingly, Harrison Ford was quick to point out that while he and Tom Cruise enjoy flying, the younger actor tends to take things a few steps further in many ways. “He’s far deeper into physical acting than I ever was,” Ford said. “I don’t mind running, jumping, falling down, rolling around on the floor with sweaty guys,” he clarified before going on to say that “Tom takes it to a whole new level that’s pretty amazing.”
Looking at the actors’ respective Hollywood histories, it’s not hard to see that Ford has a point. In his younger days, he was a very physical actor for franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, but as the famous scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark shows, he was never afraid to improvise a scene where he shoots the bad guy rather than get into an extended action scene. And while Harrison Ford has gotten a bit slower on screen in movies like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Tom Cruise is still doing death-defying stunts in his Mission: Impossible films despite being 60 years old.
While the interview didn’t explicitly draw this other connection between Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise, it did touch on the fact that Ford doesn’t simply want to be known for one thing (this is perhaps why he headlined three different legendary genre franchises in the ‘80s: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Blade Runner). Tom Cruise has had the same journey, constantly reinventing himself onscreen as a pilot, a racecar driver, a secret agent, and so much more. The fact that we never know what we’ll get from either actor onscreen is part of what makes their performances so captivating.
With that being said, both Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise seem to have certain roles they love more than others. For better or worse, we will see Ford suiting up for at least one more big-screen Indiana Jones adventure, and we will see Cruise headline at least two more Mission: Impossible films. If these upcoming movies give the actors a chance to pilot one of the vehicles they love so much, maybe the two will bond about it over a drink (and one that Indiana Jones fans can simply hope was not poisoned by Lao Che ahead of time).
