Jessica Chastain On How to Be an Action Star: Run Like Tom Cruise
Aug. 26 2011, Published 11:22 a.m. ET
When Jessica Chastain went to film an action scene in The Debt with co-star Sam Worthington, who already had Clash of the Titans and Avatar under his belt, she needed some help. Instead of telling Jessica to run like him, Sam told her to run like another A-list star known for his action scene abilities: Tom Cruise.
“He’s like, ‘No man, you’ve got to pump those arms like Tommy Cruise! Like Tom Cruise!’” explained Jessica at The Debt premiere. “So now I realize when you run, you do the action run where you pump your arms.”
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Tom Cruise isn’t a bad person to emulate when it comes to action scenes. After all, he’s 49 year old and is still a leading action star, with the fourth installment of the Mission: Impossible film franchise, Ghost Protocol, coming out in December.
So what was it about Jessica’s run that required the special coaching?
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“I was a ballerina, I was not a jock,” Jessica tells OK!. “Apparently when I first was doing a running scene I ran like Gumby, where you don’t really move your arms.”
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But don’t expect to see Gumby on the big screen in The Debt.
“Sam’s in fact named me Tommy Cruise,” Jessica tells OK! of her current running abilities. “I think Tom Cruise and I have to be in a movie where we have a run-off, because I think my run might be better now.”
Now that’s a race we’d like to see!