Tom Cruise, In His Own Words

Famous magazine recently spoke with star Tom Cruise about his new World War II movie Valkyrie, which opens December 25th. You can read the exclusive two-part interview in the December and January issues of Famous. But you can also listen to audio clips from that interview right here.

• Valkyrie tells the true story of a failed plot to kill Hitler that was carried out by high-ranking German officers, including Cruise’s character, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Here's why Cruise took the role.

• Here’s how he prepared for the part.

• Cruise talks about meeting a woman whose father — a member of the German Resistance — was executed.

• In the 1990s, Cruise got his pilot’s license and he still flies whenever he can. Here he talks about the planes that were used in Valkyrie’s early North Africa scenes, and one very special aircraft in his own personal collection.

• As most Canadians know, Cruise lived in Ottawa from age nine to 11. As soon as the conversation turned to his years here, he started to gush about — you guessed it — hockey.