Tom Cruise discusses filming Cruise and Nicholson’s big A Few Good Men showdown moment was as palpable as anything in the Mission: Impossible movies, the scene going down in history as an acting masterclass.

Cruise recently recalled shooting that 1992 hit film alongside Nicholson, discussing the veteran actor’s process, and praising the Oscar-winner’s thorough understanding of how to use his voice and body (via Deadline):

“He was finding his character. And you could see every movement slowed. He became more and more centered as we were going through it. You could tell from the way he’s sitting. He’s actually holding his hat quite tautly to generate power. He understands that lens.

Cruise then talked about Nicholson’s way with words:

He’s a wordsmith. He’s like a crooner that knows how to carve up a monologue and knows how to carve up a scene. He can turn a phrase in such a unique way. And it’s not by chance. He knows what he’s doing. He has command over his body and his voice and he knows the camera.

Cruise then compared shooting A Few Good Men’s climactic courtroom scene to making music, and discussed how in acting, every moment is new:

You work towards lightning in a bottle. Doing that scene was very much like that. It was music. Jack was there to play. I was there to play. … Acting is every moment new. Every take new. Even though you’ve got all these notes and you want to hit these certain beats. But it’s in a new unit of time and you have to let it fly. And when you’re working with such a great actor like that, you’re just bouncing back and forth and just really discovering it together. You see it, it’s on screen, it’s just there.

What This Means For Cruise, Nicholson And A Few Good Men

The Movie Received Four Oscar Nominations

Nicholson’s commanding presence made him the perfect actor to play A Few Good Men’s Colonel Jessep, a Marine Corps lifer posted to Guantánamo Bay, who is called to testify during the court-martial of a pair of Marines accused of murdering a comrade. Jessep’s testimony turns into a fiery speech, in which he famously lectures Cruise’s Lt. Kaffee about the truth he can’t handle.

Nicholson received a Best ing Actor Oscar nomination for his performance as Jessep.

Cruise was undoubtedly impressed by Nicholson’s approach to their big scene, in which the two actors go relentlessly back-and-forth, the drama escalating as Kaffee pushes Jessep’s buttons, and Jessep, consumed with resentment for the young, college-educated lawyer, finally boils over with self-righteous fury. Cruise’s praise for Nicholson is unsurprising, but still fascinating to hear all these decades after their sole on-screen pairing, which resulted in one of moviedom's most iconic courtroom face-offs.

Our Take On Cruise And Nicholson’s Memorable Pairing

A Few Good Men Boosted Cruise’s Acting Resume

Cruise had already starred in the blockbuster Top Gun and the Oscar-darling dramas Born on the Fourth of July and Rain Man when A Few Good Men came along. In addition to adding another $100 million grosser to the star’s box office resume, the film boosted his acting cred, thanks in no small part to his big scene with Nicholson, in which he did more than just hold his own opposite one of the most intimidating performers in Hollywood.

Nicholson may have gotten to utter the immortal line "You can't handle the truth!" but the whole moment depends on Cruise's own reading of "I want the truth," the set-up to Nicholson's explosive payoff. Nicholson received the Oscar nomination for A Few Good Men, but Cruise’s contribution to their courtroom fireworks can’t be overlooked. As Cruise said, it is like music when the two stars begin trading lines, the tension slowly building between the characters, as Kaffee needles the arrogant Jessep, pushing him to an eruption that reveals his culpability in the death of the Marine.

Source: Deadline