Even Oliver Stone thinks Tom Cruise is too intense.
“Tom is a worker,” the director told us during a special Film Plus screening of “Born on the Fourth of July,” the 1989 blockbuster he made starring Cruise, at MoMA on Thursday night.
“His determination is legendary,” Stone said. “People know about it now, but back then he did strike us as totally intense. I almost wished he would relax because it was so tough a role. He delivered.”
Stone — who declared last month, “I was crazy for many years” — also commented on Cruise’s shocking split from Katie Holmes, telling us simply, “We all have our ups and downs in life, and I wish him well.”
Cruise, who has been filming the movie “Oblivion” in Iceland, sent a video message for the event, describing the profound experience of making “Fourth of July,” which earned him an Oscar nomination.
“I can’t tell you how much I wish I was there watching it with you,” Cruise stated, without mentioning his divorce drama. “I remember the first time I saw it with an audience, and that experience just means a lot to me.”
Even though Cruise is out of town — not to mention dealing with an increasingly difficult divorce — he still has time to send flowers to friends. Ron Kovic, the Vietnam War veteran whom Cruise portrayed in the film, told us: “Tom turned 50, so I sent 50 red roses to his office . . . and at my hotel room we received a knock on the door this morning, and Tom had sent me nearly three dozen roses.”
Kovic added: “We’ve never missed that tradition in the past 22 years. Ever since the movie came out, we’ve shared birthdays by sending each other flowers.”
Cruise spent his July 3 birthday in LA with kids Connor and Isabella and other members of his family, while Holmes and their daughter, Suri, remained in New York. Holmes has been staying in the same luxury Chelsea building where Cruise’s ex Penelope Cruz once lived.