by The_Somnambulist » June 26th 2005 10:29 pm
Here's a theory:
Tom Cruise is playing the main character of War of the Worlds in real life.
He is intentionally rallying the forces of the media around his suddenly obnoxious, know-it-all, narcissistic persona because he knows, as does Spielberg and the creative team behind War of the Worlds, that people are heavily influenced by what they see on television.
Here's the deal. On June 29th, War of the World hits and those same people that watch the infotainment news shows and wrap their minds around this Tom Cruise deal will head to the theaters to see the film. The immature, child-like Cruise (reviews have already described his character) that has been built up on television will play identically to the main character in War of the Worlds. In this way, the audience's familiarity with this actor is linked to his character in the movie, giving the film a greater strength and self-awareness that makes it a much more interesting experience.
Heh. That would be a good move.
EDIT: It helped a little. The most interesting usage of an actor's actual personality came with the Ogilvy character. The loud rant he lets loose represents the over-zealous lefty against the million-year-old right-wing conspiracy. (see cod doc)