US actor Tom Cruise poses
at the world premiere of Lions for Lambs in Leicester
Square during the London film festival October 22, 2007.
Movie?star Tom Cruise spent more than two hours signing
autographs and greeting fans in London on Monday at the world
premiere of his new movie Lions for Lambs, Hollywood's
latest examination of US foreign policy.
Lions for Lambs, which follows a slew of films related
to the war in Iraq and the US military response to the September
11, 2001 attacks, is about two soldiers serving in Afghanistan and
political intrigue back in the United States.
Directed by Robert Redford and also starring Meryl Streep, the
film has been branded "anti-war" by some media, and its backers are
hoping its controversial subject matter will boost it at the box
office and going into the awards season.
"I think that films like this are interesting and important and
I think it's anyone's place if they want to do it," Cruise told
Reuters on the red carpet ahead of the premiere at the London Film
Festival.
"We are free to communicate about anything we want and any
subject we want, so I think it's absolutely correct."
Asked if he studied any politician in particular for his role as
an ambitious senator, 45-year-old Cruise said:
"I studied many. I'll never tell exactly who, but there's many
months of research that went into this character to not make him
into a caricature but into a human being with real problems and to
reflect that idea."
Streep, who plays a journalist in Lions for Lambs, was
not at the premiere, while Redford avoided the media glare and
slipped into the cinema via the back entrance.
The film is due to open in US cinemas on November 9.
(China Daily/Agencies October 23, 2007)
