Ana de Armas Says She's ‘Obviously' Working With Tom Cruise Amid Dating Rumors
Ana de Armas recently spoke about her equation with Tom Cruise. The pair is working on a new project that includes Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie. Both Liman and McQuarrie have frequently collaborated with Cruise in several action films. McQuarrie is also the writer of Cruise's current film in theaters, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Ana de Armas has been often spotted with Tom Cruise in the past few months, but the actress says it is because the duo is working together. In a recent interview with Women's Wear Daily, Armas gushed about the extensive 'training' that she is currently participating in, thanks to the Mission Impossible thespian.
The 37-year-old Oscar-nominated actress revealed, 'Obviously, everyone knows I'm working with Tom Cruise. We're working on something with Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie, and those guys are unbelievable at everything they do.'
Armas teased, 'I'm doing crazy training, as you do when you're working with Tom. It's another level that just keeps setting the bar higher and higher.' She further shared, 'But it's so much fun. And we're not only working on that thing that we're training for, but also a couple other things too.'
Additionally, sources close to the celebrities have reportedly said the duo 'appeared to have no romantic connection.' The duo were photographed together in February in London. At the time, a source told PEOPLE they grabbed dinner together along with their agents. The pair spent time 'discussing potential collaborations down the line.'
Meanwhile, Armas is also starring in a John Wick franchise film, Ballerina, which will hit the theaters on June 6, 2025. Aramas plays the role of Eve Macarro, a ballerina who has started an unconventional training following the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.
As much as Ballerina is an action film, Armas says it is also about the character's emotional journey. The Blonde star explained in her WWD interview, 'As much action as there was on the page, I could see the heart too. The character has such a beautiful journey. The emotionality of the character is so important in the film, I was just like, 'oh, I have to do this.''
The post Ana de Armas Says She's 'Obviously' Working With Tom Cruise Amid Dating Rumors appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
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So with this, the good thing is, you're not recreating something iconic. These songs were never recorded. You have to put your own stamp on them. But at the same time, you get to play in the Nelson Riddle/Billy May sandbox, and hear their signature voices as arrangers. It's like, if you're a Beatles fan and you find a lost Lennon/McCartney song — something unfinished but clearly theirs — and now you get to be the first to interpret it. That's the feeling. McIntyre: What is it about this era, the Great American Songbook, that fascinates you? MacFarlane: There's so much of it, and it's so enduring. It's the purest form of songwriting. Most decades have their musical signatures: 'Oh, that's disco,' 'That's rock,' 'That's hip-hop.' But with these songs, you can't do that. Take 'Blue Moon' or 'The Sound of Music' — what are they? Jazz? Classical? Pop? No. They're just melody. Pure, simple, beautiful melody that can be recorded in any style. They were written to be taken home and played by anyone with a piano. Structurally and melodically, it's songwriting in its purest form. And it's hard. You don't see people doing that now. Try to find someone who's written 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in the past 30 years. We've tried. It was an era of such high musicality, and we didn't realize how rare it was. None of it is kitsch. You look back at old TV shows you thought were great and now see they were... not. But you watch The Sopranos today? Still high art. There was just something deeper behind this music. Irving Berlin writing a song felt like more than just product. That's my theory — and it might be naive — but that's how I see it. McIntyre: But we also have hindsight. We can look back 70 years and say, 'Oh, those songs stood the test of time.' Give it 20 or 30 more and let's see how some of the garbage from the '80s holds up. MacFarlane: But I think we're already there. The '80s was 40 years ago. McIntyre: Right — 40 years! 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Most of Sinatra's albums were somewhere in that range in terms of the orchestra size. So to us, it's unusual because today, things are more economical. You've got your guitarist, your keyboardist, your bassist, your percussionist — maybe a couple more — and that's your band. Then it's all post-work. You just don't see these large ensembles anymore. I love it. It's special. And there's nothing like that sound, especially when it's in the hands of arrangers who really know how to write for those ensembles like these guys did. Nelson Riddle was a master. Don Costa was a master. These guys just really knew how to bring the most out of an ensemble. And comparatively, these aren't symphony-sized ensembles. We're not talking about 100 players. Sometimes it's 50 or 55, and even back then it might've been 35. But that still meant you had a full string section, a brass section, a woodwind section. You could paint with all those different colors and bring a lot of variety to even a single song. There's just nothing like being in the room with an orchestra. It really is the best thing in the world. McIntyre: You are famously very busy, you've got a lot going on. But do you ever wish you could take these songs out on the road? And would that even be feasible with that large of an orchestra? MacFarlane: What you do is you work with local ensembles. I've performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Philadelphia Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Cincinnati Symphony. Every one of those is a phenomenal ensemble, ready to play this stuff. You bring your rhythm section with you — maybe seven people. Your pianist, drummer, bassist, guitarist, maybe a lead trombone, lead woodwind, lead trumpet. That's really it. Everything else is filled in by the orchestra you work with locally. It would definitely be fun to do that at some point, but truthfully, it wasn't something that was very common back then. When someone like Nat King Cole or Sinatra or Dean Martin released an album, they weren't out on tour supporting it the way a pop star is now. It was about the recording. They might do some live shows — there are great recordings of the Rat Pack at the Sands, for instance — but it wasn't like they were touring heavily. That was more of an afterthought, like, "Hey, we're filming a movie in Vegas, might as well do a show." They were already onto the next album. In some ways, I kind of like that model. You're investing in what you're making in the studio, and then once it's out there, it's for people to discover, and you move on. McIntyre: People know you from a lot of different things, obviously — TV, film, comedy – but you put so much time and care into these albums, and it's clear how much you love and understand this music. Do you feel like you're still introducing this side of yourself to the public? And is that kind of strange, given how established you are in other areas? MacFarlane: Look, it's just a fact of entertainment – if you establish yourself as a musician first, like Will Smith or someone like that, and then move into acting or directing, you're usually granted a kind of freedom. People accept that transition. But it doesn't work the other way around. For some reason, if you're a writer or an actor who then decides, "Hey, I'd like to try making music," there's a lot more skepticism. I don't know why that is, but it's real. That said, I'm incredibly gratified by the reception we've gotten. I think we've had four or five Grammy nominations for these records, which tells me that, yeah, we're still introducing people to this side of what I do — but we've managed to make more headway than a lot of folks do when crossing over. Overall, it's definitely a lot harder to go from something like acting or animation into music than the reverse, and I see that all the time across the history of entertainment. McIntyre: You're a five-time Grammy nominee at this point, so you feel like you've gotten farther, but you're right. In my lifetime, Lady Gaga is an Oscar-nominated actress, Ariana Grande is an Oscar-nominated actress... but how many people were listening to an actor's albums? MacFarlane: Those are both great examples. There's an allowance for it from one side but not the other, with exceptions. I think people like Jared Leto have earned some genuine respect from parts of the music business. There are exceptions, but there's just no comparison. Quantitatively, if you're a musician getting into the world of acting, there's a lot more allowance — from both the press and the public — than there is the other way around. If you're Tom Hanks and you want to get into music, it's going to be a much more uphill climb than if you're Lady Gaga trying to become a great actor. McIntyre: Yeah, but you've gotta love Tom's son's rap career. MacFarlane: Oh, really? McIntyre: Oh, yeah. You're missing out on that one. Have you heard Jeff Goldblum's music? MacFarlane: I haven't. But first of all, he's a genuinely talented musician. And I think what he's doing is... in some ways it's like, you look at someone like Steve Martin, who is genuinely talented with the banjo. These guys aren't trying to become pop stars. They're just trying to make music. And if you respond to it, great. If you don't, fine. I think people can recognize in both of those individuals that there's an artist there. Someone who's just doing it because they love it, not because they're trying to become something else. McIntyre: Do you have a favorite Sinatra album? MacFarlane: Say it one more time? Yeah, it's breaking up a little—sorry. You want to try FaceTime? It's going to work a lot better. MacFarlane: Favorite Sinatra album? Only the Lonely. His ballad albums are my favorites because I feel like that's where he was really doing 150%. I mean, he was always giving 150%, but you can tell that's where his heart really was. His arrangers, too. As great as something like Songs for Swingin' Lovers is, there's no question when you listen to In the Wee Small Hours or Only the Lonely or any of those ballad albums, Nelson Riddle is giving you all of his art in a different way.