The rumours were true. A week after his daughter Suri was born, Tom Cruise was at the Odeon Leicester Square for the London premiere of Mission: Impossible III – with the missus’s permission, natch. The evening kicked off an hour earlier than usual, simply to give main man Tom Cruise a head start on the other guests. He spent over two hours signing autographs and chatting for the crowd, much to the teeth-grinding annoyance of the television crews, but the utter delight of the fans. Inside the cinema rumours flew around like so many of Leicester Square’s pigeons: Tom was turning up in a red sportscar, an American woman had handed Tom a baby to hold, crying “Love my baby Tom!”, he’d actually been presented with a baby to coo over until he could get back to the States. For the record, there was no red sportscar, and the baby wasn’t allowed to be handed over, but he did pick up an elderly woman clutching a handful of 80th birthday balloons (hers, not his) and hugged some children. Lord love him.
While Mr Cruise was wooing the crowd, the film’s other stars came over for a chat. A remarkably tanned and buff looking Simon Pegg had taken a day off from shooting Hot Fuzz to attend the premiere. “I can’t actually believe I made it here,” he said. “It’s hard to take it in, it’s all happened so quickly: I was out there for a few days and suddenly I’m here, it’s quite bizarre!”
Michelle Monaghan, who plays Ethan’s fiancée, Julia, in the film, charmed the socks off everyone after a hard day’s junket-ing. “I was about to fall asleep just prior to getting here but it’s amazing what a glass of champagne and a fabulous frock will do for you,” she laughed. “We came from Rome last night and it was such an amazing premiere, but these guys here, they’ve been waiting around all day and the energy is incredible. It just keeps getting better and better, I’m having the time of my life.”
Director JJ Abrams was headhunted by Tom after he’d seen a few episodes of Abrams’s spy drama Alias, and after the huge success enjoyed by Lost, it’s hard to believe that this was his first feature film. “People say ‘Oh it’s the biggest budget ever!’ for Lost, but I just said ‘Well, it’s a very small, cheap movie’!” he said of the show’s $12 million pilot episode – the most expensive ever. “This movie, I knew it was big budget but I just couldn’t think about it. I couldn’t rationalise it. It was just terrifying! With the shoot though, I had people I knew around me and it wasn’t terrifying, it was a thrill.”
Irish star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays a member of Hunt’s team, alongside series staple Ving Rhames, and Asian superstar Maggie Q – and for once he didn’t have to play English. “It’s been incredible fun,” he grinned, looking a sight more cheerful than he did at Match Point might we add. “It’s been hard work but I love doing this, and Tom’s very good at signing autographs so it gives us time to actually say hello to people.” Go on then, tell us what it’s like promoting something this big. “It’s just non-stop, you constantly have to refresh your answer and give energy to people, but it’s really easy because you get so much energy back. Working with Tom is another very easy experience – a very intense, hard experience, I mean, we’re doing 14 to 17-hour days but it’s lovely. He’s a great boss and a great actor.”
Tom was signing autographs until the last possible minute, to the effect that he was booed by the fans nearer the cinema who didn’t manage to get a word. Meanies. He introduced the film by thanking everyone for their congratulations on baby Suri’s arrival and that it was great to be in London, then gave a properly warm introduction to Abrams and each of the cast members in turn, pointing at Simon Pegg’s chiselled Hollywood looks : “You’re so fit, what is this Simon?” Cue Pegg pretending to faint in rapture. “We had a hard time getting him through immigration,” continued Cruise, deadpan, “Tell them why Simon.” “I was a former drug smuggler,” Pegg deadpans back. If only Daisy could see him now.