Tom Cruise Happy With Film Despite Lukewarm Reviews

Less than thunderous reviews for the stock car racing movie “Days of Thunder” haven’t diminished Tom Cruise’s pride in his starring vehicle.

“I don’t read reviews, even the good ones. They don’t affect me or the film,” he said Monday. “A lot of filmmakers whom I respect have called me to say how much they liked the movie. They were actually surprised.”

“You can buy yourself an opening by putting your picture in 3,500 theaters and spending a lot of money,” Cruise said. “The important thing is to have ‘legs,”’ the industry term for staying power.

“The exit polls for ‘Days of Thunder’ have been fantastic,” he said. “I’m very happy with the reaction to the film when I’ve seen it in theaters.”

Cruise, an amateur stock car racer who has a financial interest in the film, conceived the story four years ago.

“I studied all the past race movies I could find,” he said. “I found different things in each of them but none of them took the spirit of the driver and developed it. That’s what we tried to do.”