At nearly 50, Tom Cruise proves he can still rock.
The actor channels his rock ’n’ roll alter ego, Stacee Jaxx, for the June issue of W magazine, in which he sheds his clean-cut look for photographer Mario Sorrenti to transform into the outlandish musician he portrays in this summer’s “Rock of Ages.”
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Posing for the photo spread while filming the Adam Shankman musical in Miami last summer, Cruise shows off his six-pack abs and (fake) tattooed body as he’s being sandwiched between two blond groupies.
While he has the guyliner look down, preparing for the role didn’t come so naturally for Cruise.
“I needed to find out if I could really sing!” he tells the magazine. “Ron (Anderson, formerly a vocal coach for Axl Rose) came in and worked with me. And then I had to learn how to play guitar. I’m very good at air guitar — and air drums — but I had never played an actual guitar.”
Cruise says he also spent a great deal of time developing his bad
-boy persona, fearing he would look like a joke if he didn’t approach the role with sincerity and intensity.
Cruise plays rocker Stacee Jaxx in Adam Shankman's upcoming 'Rock of Ages.' (Mario Sorrenti/W magazine) Cruise eventually mastered a pitch-perfect scream for his performances in the film, but the actor says he’s been working on his dance moves since childhood.
“(As a kid), I did the scene from ‘Risky Business’ around the house. I would sing Bob Seger— my mother worked, my sisters were out, and I’d turn the music up,” he says. “I learned how to dance watching ‘Soul Train.’ I noticed that if a guy could dance, he’d get a lot of attention and girls would want to dance with him. I worked very hard at imitating those moves.”
Cruise says he also spent a great deal of time developing his bad boy persona, fearing he would look like a joke if he didn’t approach the role with sincerity and intensity.
“Stacee Jaxx had to be real,” the actor says. “I didn’t want to imitate all these other rock stars. He had to be unique. If the audience doesn’t immediately buy into his absolute greatness, there’s no movie journey.
“Without that, you have nothing.”
