Pictures of Tom from yesterday’s press conference of The Last Samurai in Japan can be found here

Tom Cruise goes to Japan

“CRUISE TRAINED FOR EIGHT MONTHS FOR SAMURAI ROLE

Tom Cruise says he trained for eight months before filming his role in The Last Samurai.

He was in Tokyo to promote the movie in which he plays an American hired in the late 1800s to help Japanese warriors in western war tactics.

Cruise said his role was a difficult departure from the characters he has played in the past.

“I trained for eight months prior to shooting the film. I put on 20 pounds for the character but also for the muscle to carry the swords and wear the armour.”

In the movie, Cruise plays a retired US army captain hired by Emperor Meiji to create a modern Japanese army. Up to 500 Japanese extras were flown to New Zealand, where the film was shot, for major battle scenes.

Co-star Ken Watanabe, who has played many samurai roles, said Cruise was a quick learner: “I feel like we have been through a battle together,” he said.

Cruise said of the film’s theme of bushido, the moral code of the samurai class: “This is very personal to me. I strongly believe in the values of honour, loyalty and compassion.”

The film, directed by Edward Zwick, is due out in December

TOM CRUISE DUETS WITH JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER KOIZUMI SINGING ELVIS

Today actor Tom Cruise hailed to high heaven Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi – also praising the musical skills of the politician.

“He’s truly an extraordinary man – and really a good singer. We sang Elvis together”, said Cruise, speaking to the press after having met Koizumi at his official residence. “I think he’s a very charismatic and very intelligent man”.

Cruise didn’t reveal which songs by rock’n roll legend Elvis Presley he sang with Koizumi, who’s a versatile music lover and who’s got also Wagner amongst his favorites”.

Another article as well as a video

All pictures from the Premiere will be in the galleries tonight.

Fanny rocks!! I checked TLS official website this afternoon and there were nothing….

So, anyway, I uploaded it in my server, it should load faster and you’ll be able to save to your computer by right clicking on the link and choose “Save File As…” or “Save Link Location as…”
Click Here To Load

This really is Last Samurai’s month, isn’t it? Here’s the first ever trailer from The Last Samurai (the first one was a teaser)

Trailer

Note: This link will only be active on Aug 29 at 1:00 a.m. Eastern (US) time. Also stay tuned here

First reviews are in, and it’s looking to be a winner! Click on the links to read the reviews. I won’t post them here as they are too long and do contain spoilers, so warning to the wise:

First Review
Second Review

And two brand new posters from The Last Samurai (thanks to Architect)

Poster 1
Poster 2

Arlene has sent me two pics from Tom in NZ. One totally new!
View Them. They’re the first two.

Chantal sent me this article from Sky:
CRUISE IS LAST SAMURAI

New pictures have been released showing Tom Cruise in his latest movie, The Last Samurai.
The Vanilla Sky star had to learn some sword-fighting techniques for the film, in which he wields a razor-sharp Japanese katana.

Cruise plays Woodrow Algren, a US Civil War veteran who arrives in 1870s Japan to train warriors for the emperor.

But Cruise’s character changes sides when he discovers the samurai are about to be wiped out.

When Algren is captured by the samurai, he sees the samurai way of life and starts to question his loyalties.

The 41-year-old actor is filming the drama in New Zealand with Billy Connolly and Auf Wiedersehn, Pet star Timothy Spall.

The movie, in which Cruise sports a beard, is due to hit the cinemas at Christmas.