NEWS
Tom Cruise ribbed Michael Cera in 2010.
June 24 2025, Published 5:36 p.m. ET
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Tom Cruise is all business when the camera is rolling.
On the Tuesday, June 24, episode of “The Louis Theroux Podcast,” Michael Cera recalled how “surreal” it was being on the same set as the Top Gun star, even though the dad-of-three eventually called him out for talking while filming.
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Michael Cera Recalls Meeting Tom Cruise
Michael Cera admitted Tom Cruise jokingly scolded him the first time they met.
The Juno lead, 37, explained he ran into him for the first time when they were both doing “funny intro movie video things” for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.
“Tom runs the set. I was really there for like five minutes, but what I observed was, he was like the first AD [assistant director] on the set,” Cera shared. “I mean, he was such a leader.”
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The ‘Juno’ actor called it ‘surreal’ to be on set with a movie icon like Cruise.
However, Cruise wasn’t happy when Cera started “talking to the writer” as the former filmed.
“We were just kind of mumbling while they were shooting, but they could hear us,” said the Arrested Development alum. “It was just like 40 feet away. And Tom Cruise looks at me, I’ve never met him, and they’re in the middle of a take and he looks, and he goes, ‘Is that Michael Cera talking during a f‑‑‑— take?'”
“He was joking, but it was also like, ‘Do shut up,’ you know?” Cera quipped. “But so surreal.”
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Michael Cera Reveals He Turned Down a ‘Harry Potter’ Role
The ‘Superbad’ star didn’t want to be in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ film because he ‘feared’ getting ‘too famous.’
Elsewhere in the podcast, Cera admitted that while he’s grateful for the success he had in his early days of acting, he “turned down” a role in the Harry Potter spinoff flick Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them because he’s never been comfortable in the spotlight.
“I don’t even know if I was offered, I think I just declined to engage with it because — well, I think it would be like probably six years commitment or something. But also, like we were talking about earlier, I did sort of make a conscientious choice to limit my exposure a little bit, or just try and be a little more in control of it,” he spilled.
“And I felt like doing, especially little kids’ movies, I had a big fear of doing things that I would get too famous a little bit,” confessed Cera.
Cera became a star as a teen due to his comedic roles in ‘Arrested Development’ and ‘Superbad.’
“I think that’s changed a little. I think I’ve outgrown that particular feeling,” he added of trying to avoid blockbuster franchises.
“But I think that’s what that was at that time,” Cera admitted. “If a franchise came along now and seemed interesting, I don’t think on the grounds of it being a franchise I would leave the office, storm out of the office or anything.”