Diego Boneta says Tom Cruise was like his mentor; does hilarious impression

Diego Boneta will always be thankful for Tom Cruise. The Mexican actor recently stopped by the Jennifer Hudson Show, where he opened up about his time on set with Cruise for his breakout film Rock of Ages, calling him a mentor.

Boneta plays the lead in Rock of Ages (2012) which stars a-listers Cruise, Mary J Blige, Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin and Catherine Zeta-Jones. He told Hudson it was a learning experience, who quickly asked to see his impression of Cruise. “With all the love and admiration to Tom,” he said before intensely channeling Cruise in “Jerry Maguire.”

Hudson looked visibly taken aback by the hilarious impression. “It’s just super super intense. He’s got like a super intense stare that you feel he’s like looking through you,” he explained. “Working with him was amazing.”

It was Boneta’s first movie, and they both had to learn to play guitar. The  Father of the Bride   star said Cruise suggested they jam one day. Boneta had doubts it would ever happen, but Cruise called him one night at 8 pm, inviting him to his penthouse to jam. During the session, the father of Suri Cruise started asking him questions about his life.

“He starts asking me all these questions like ‘where are you from, your parents from? How long have they been married? Where did they go to school? How many siblings?’” Which is when Cruise offered him advice.

“Then he was like, ‘listen, man, you’re the leader of this movie, you’re 20 years old, let me tell you everything I wish I knew when I was 20 years old.” The notoriously private actor shared stories about working with Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, and Steven Spielberg, and Boneta said he even had him shadow him on set. “He was like a mentor, and you know I’ll be eternally grateful to him.”

Boneta’s recent release, At Midnight, is available on Paramount +. He plays an ambitious junior hotel manager named Alejandro opposite Monica Barbara, who plays a movie star named Sophie. When fate brings them together at Alejandro’s hotel, they begin to meet secretly at midnight.

Boneta told Hudson he pitched the story on a whim to Paramount, writing the script with his production company Three Amigos in a week.