Davis teamed up with Cruise in 'Top Gun: Maverick' and 'Mission: Impossible.'
Greg Tarzan Davis has learned a thing or two from working with Tom Cruise on not just one blockbuster film -- Top Gun: Maverick -- but on another one as well: Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One. And, above all else, accountability's what immediately comes to mind when it comes to lessons learned from the veteran action star.
ET interviewed Davis at the Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas, from where Entertainment Tonight is broadcasting from this week, and he spoke to Nischelle Turner about what he's learned from Cruise and how he applies it to his own life.
Fans will recall the Grey's Anatomy alum played Lt. Javy "Coyote" Machado alongside Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. Yes, he's part of that football scene on the beach, which is the main reason why he says Maverick's the film that got him in the best shape.
But he knows just as well as anyone that preparing the mind is just as essential, if not more so, and that's the main takeaway from working with the likes of Cruise.
"Accepting that anything that happens to me is the result of what I have done," Davis says. "Whether it's good or bad, I need to accept responsibility for it. If it's good, learn how to keep going. If it's bad, learn from it and do better."
In Dead Reckoning Part One, Cruise returns to his iconic role as Ethan Hunt, the senior field agent for the elite covert operations agency, Impossible Mission Force (IMF). Davis plays Degas, partner to Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham) as they team up to track down Hunt's whereabouts.
Davis will also appear in Dead Reckoning Part Two, which is on a break from filming to promote Part One. Crazy stunts aside (more on that in a bit), Davis says Top Gun: Maverick is the film that forced him to be in tip-top shape.
"I would have to say Top Gun: Maverick," Davis says. "I'm in better shape because of the beach volleyball scene."
He said he had to make sure that when that shirt came off, his bulging muscles popped on the big screen.
"They still talking about that today," he quips. "They're like, 'Man, you need some baby oil!' And I'm like, 'No, no. I'm in a different movie now but thank you.'"
It's no secret that Cruise performs many of his own stunts and rarely uses stunt doubles. That, apparently, was news to Davis, who previously told Collider he texted his mom in a panic after realizing Whigham -- and not a stunt double -- was going to drive their car chase scene in Rome. He opened up about that scene to ET, confirming he did, in fact, text his mom but she didn't text back because she thought he was joking!
"So, I'm in the car with Shea Whigham. I'm in the passenger [seat]. I thought there was going to be a stunt driver, but Tom does not hire stunt people for some reason. I don't know. So we do everything ourselves," Davis tells ET. "So, Shea is driving and there's like these two cameras mounted on the front of the hood and then there's a camera mounted on the side of the window. I'm sitting there and I'm like, 'OK, we're about to drive,' you know, waiting for the stunt man. He's like, 'All right, we're about to start driving.' And I'm like, 'Why are you? Why are you? Why are you? No. No. No. No. You're Shea. No. You're not good at ... No, I wouldn't drive with you on a regular day, so why we doing it in the streets of Rome with people and cars and everything?!'"
Davis continues, "I told my mama, 'I love you. I hope you know that and I'm sorry for all the bad stuff that I did. Forgive me.'"
The scene, of course, turned out just fine. But in that moment, Davis was terrified and sincere about his text. But his mom wasn't buying it.
"No, she ain't text me back," Davis says. "She thought I was playing. I was like, 'If something were to happen you would've been sad!'"
Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters July 12.
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