How Tom Cruise’s obsession with running foiled a 1998 mugging: “Give us your jewellery or we will kill you”
Pun absolutely intended, but it’s become a running joke that Tom Cruise can’t help himself from a lung-bursting sprint almost every time he appears in a movie, and it’s a gag that he’s fully aware of.
At this point, we get it: he can run really fast, and if anybody hadn’t gotten it by now, then all they’d have to do is spend two seconds on the internet to pull up one of the many, many montages that show the A-list superstar pounding the pavement in virtually everything he’s been in for the last three decades.
Does a production even count as a Tom Cruise film if he doesn’t run in it? Probably not, and it’s not like he’s interested in having people find out, either, since he remains as determined as ever to ensure there’s at least one scene that involves him pumping those little arms of his in the way that only he can.
Annabelle Wallis somehow convinced the actor to break his golden rule when she was afforded the rare opportunity and honour of being allowed to run right next to him onscreen, which is likely the only memorable experience she has from The Mummy, seeing as the blockbuster was a complete catastrophe in every other respect.
It isn’t just for show, though, with the action icon putting his steps to good use when he chased away a couple of muggers, leaving the victim fearing for their life. In 1998, when he’d set up shop in London for the arduous production of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, life ended up imitating art.
Rita Simmonds, who owned a multi-million-pound home near where Cruise’s base camp, close to Regent’s Park, had parked outside her property when the doors to her car were pulled open, with a pair of assailants threatening her by screaming, “Give us your jewellery, or we will kill you.”
Simmonds, who had her two-year-old daughter in the vehicle at the time, was robbed of an estimated £87,000 of rings and earrings in the assault. Little did she know, and never would have been able to guess, that Cruise had heard her screams, compelling him to spring into action.
Channelling his Mission: Impossible skills, the star appeared out of nowhere, presumably leaving the thieves to wonder why on earth Tom Cruise had suddenly manifested to chase them down, which caused them to scarper towards their getaway vehicle with one of the most famous people in Hollywood in hot pursuit.
“Tom was brilliant,” Simmonds said, after the fact. “He rushed down the road with his bodyguards and chased the attackers.” He even helped the investigation, providing the police with CCTV footage in an effort to track down and apprehend the assailants. “He does not want to talk about this,” his team shared in a statement. “He does like to help people, but he likes to keep it quiet.” Still, it’s not every day that Tom Cruise thwarts a real-life robbery.
