He also explained the importance of the leitmotif (and no, that’s not a pilot’s call sign)
Tom Cruise has driven and piloted some serious machinery in his time – a stock car in Days of Thunder; an F-14 fighter jet in Top Gun – but he met his match recently when faced with the mighty Grand Organ at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Cruise was in the big round house for a special showing of his 2022 blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, during which the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra provided a live accompaniment. The performance was conducted by Lorne Balfe, a producer and composer on the original soundtrack.
At the end of the show, Cruise was filmed at the organ in the company of none other than organist Anna Lapwood, who previously made headlines at the Royal Albert Hall when she guested during a Bonobo gig in 2022.
In a clip captured by conductor Ben Palmer she can be seen explaining to Cruise how the organ works. “This is why I think it’s like flying a plane,” says Lapwood as she shows the star the numerous controls, with the awestruck star replying that, “that’s incredible… that is nuts.”
He might not be much of an organist – at one point he describes his playing as “appalling” – but Cruise does know a thing or two about the nuts and bolts of soundtracking a movie, and prior to the Top Gun: Maverick performance he made a surprise speech to the audience. What’s more, he took the opportunity to get a little bit technical, educating the crowd on some movie history and the importance of the leitmotif.
“Live music has been available for silent film accompaniment since moving pictures were first presented in vaudeville theatres over 120 years ago,” he explained. “But it wasn’t until 1914, around then, where a full symphony orchestra, precisely synchronised with the picture, played a live score that was conceived on the operatic composition of leitmotifs.”
Diving a little deeper, Cruise added that “Leitmotifs are, for those who don’t know, recurrent themes throughout a musical or literary composition associated with a particular person, idea, or situation. And the use of leitmotifs redefined cinematic storytelling, and large symphony orchestras became a necessity at fancy movie palaces.”
The score for Top Gun: Maverick, of course, has a few leitmotifs of its own, none more recognisable than the iconic melody from Top Gun Anthem. And who should pop up to guest on this during the Royal Albert Hall showing than Anna Lapwood, who added some “turbo organ charge.” Eat your heart out, Steve Stevens – she is good, Rooster, she’s very good.
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