A closer encounter with Tom – and Penelope

SINGAPORE – This time around, Tom Cruise, probably (as in without any doubt) Hollywood’s "most private public property," is more engaging, less uptight (I guess), more accommodating, less defensive, more friendly, less distant – and definitely more open, although not quite so, especially as far as his private life is concerned.

Middle of last year, I was with two other Philippine journalists in Hong Kong for the presscon and premiere of Tom’s movie Mission Impossible: 2 which he and the director, the John Woo, were promoting all over Asia. No, there wasn’t any one-on-one, neither for print nor for TV journalists. There was only one big presscon at the grand ballroom of The Peninsula where Tom and his entourage were billetted.

At the premiere, Tom entertained no questions (not even, perhaps, "Hey, Mr. Tom, what time is it, please?"). Before the screening at the SRO theater, he and John Woo mounted the stage, said their pieces and invited everybody "to enjoy the movie." After that, Tom was never seen again, having flown on his private plane to Sydney where he was going to meet up with Nicole Kidman. That was when things were honky-dory between them. Sigh, how time flies, ‘no! Nicole is now Tom’s ex-wife.

Here in the Lion City, our second encounter with Tom is closer in more senses than one. At one point during the "one-on-one" (take note: in quotation marks, and you’ll know why by and by), Tom’s face and mine are just one foot away from each other, so close are we that I can smell his perfumed sweat in this humid late afternoon before the movie’s premiere.

Tom flew in very early Monday (Dec. 17) morning, at around 2:45, together with his ladylove Penelope Cruz, on screen and off, to promote their movie, Vanilla Sky, which is a remake of the Spanish movie Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes, directed by Alejandro Amenabar), the rights to which Tom bought sometime in 1998, two years before he crossed paths with Penelope, touted as The New Audrey Hepburn, and fell in love with her.

Here’s an account on the lovers’ arrival by The Straits Times:

Cruising into town on a private jet, Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz arrived in the wee hours yesterday morning as part of the two-week publicity blitz of their movie, Vanilla Sky.

Wearing megawatt smiles and holding hands lovingly, the star couple – who fell in love on the set of the movie earlier this year – touched down at Seletar Airport at 2:45 a.m.

With the American actor and Spanish actress were American director Cameron Crowe and more than 10 make-up, hair and security people.

While most of the entourage whizzed through Customs, Cruise, 39, and Cruz, 27, were delayed for more than 15 minutes within the terminal, apparently because the wrong immigration forms had been filled.

One of their minders resolved the matter quickly by re-doing the paperwork.

At 3 a.m., the lovebirds finally appeared in the arrival hall, looking visibly tired from the Taipei premiere on Sunday night, where they were overwhelmed by attention from Taiwanese fans and media.

The actor, sporting a five o’clock shadow, immediately whipped out a pair of shades despite the glaring lack of sunlight.

A couple of quick waves and wide smiles to the eagerly-waiting cameramen later, they were whisked off in one of eight waiting Mercedes-Benzes to the Four Seasons Hotel where they will be staying for one night only.

In the US where it’s getting mixed reviews, Vanilla Sky raked in $25 million on its opening weekend, putting it at No. 1 spot (followed by Ocean’s Eleven and Not Another Teen Movie). Before we (Bulletin’s Cris Belen and GMA’s Paolo Bediones) came here Monday afternoon, we previewed the movie in Manila – a requirement in any Hollywood press junket, "must" na "must" – and, true enough, just like what those who have seen it are saying, the romantic psychological thriller will make you think – hard – as you try to figure out which is dream and which is reality, the demarkation line of which Tom’s character, David Aames, cannot distinguish.

Penelope reprises the role of Sofia which she played in the Spanish version, as maybe the only woman in the world not impressed by David Aames, a big-shot publisher gifted with drop-dead good looks (or, as they put it in the vernacular, makalaglag-panty). Not in the Singapore junket is Cameron Diaz who plays Julie Gianni, the sex partner fatally attracted to David Aames who doesn’t agree with Julie that just because a woman has gone to bed with him four times he’s already "committed" to her.

That’s about all I’m saying about the movie for the time being. I’ll leave it up to you to enjoy the "thrill ride" sometime in February next year when Vanilla Sky is released in Manila.

Here in Singapore, it’s opening on Christmas Day, thus the promo blitz Tom and Penelope and Cameron are doing in this region, having just flown in from South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. From here, Tom is flying to Sydney where he’s spending Christmas with ex-wife Nicole and their two adopted children.

As in the Hong Kong Mission Impossible press junket, the media is reminded not to ask Tom (especially) any personal questions, so during the grand ballroom presscon at the Four Seasons Hotel, adjacent to the Hilton Hotel where Cris, Paolo and I were billetted, the open forum is confined to the movie – you know, what the two stars’ most memorable scenes are, how is it working together and some such "innocent" questions.

But Tom (especially) is more friendly this time and, as I was saying, more open, really reaching out to the one asking a question and looking at him/her straight in the eye while answering.

When Cris identifies herself as representing The Bulletin from the Philippines before Cris asks Tom about "dreams" (which is what Vanilla Sky is also all about), Tom’s eyes lights up. He asks Cris, "Where in the Philippines are you from?" Cris says, "From Manila" and Tom flashes his killer smile, "I’ve been to Laoag to shoot Born on the Fourth of July and I love(d) that place. I enjoy my stay in the Philippines."

Tom repeats the same compliments when it’s my turn on the microphone, saying, "I’d like to go back to the Philippines, if not to do another movie, maybe to have a vacation."

Later in the afternoon, TV interviewers are asked to stand 10 feet apart at strategic spots along the red carpet leading to the theater where the premiere is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Tom, Penelope and Cameron stop to answer two to three questions each from the TV interviewer (from Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc., aside from the Philippines). Tom and Penelope are "game," signing autographs (for fans and the media alike) along the way and posing for souvenir photos. I see Penelope smilingly take the camera of a groups of fans behind the steel fence and volunteer to click it herself, with her in the picture of course.

It takes the two stars and their director more than one hour to walk, making stops along the way, from the sidewalk to the theater lobby where Singapore’s own celebrities are waiting for their turn for the obligatory hand-shaking and smiling – with Tom and Penelope – under the kleig lights for TV cameras.

As soon as the screening starts, Tom and Penelope and company disappear as if into a vanilla sky.

Tonight, they’re off on Tom’s private plane again, with Hollywood’s "most private public property’s" well-guarded privacy intact – hopefully.