Tom Cruise

opens up about latest film...surprise, surprise, it's about aliens

Tom Cruise isn't afraid of failure

The actor has appeared in a variety of successful movies, including the Mission: Impossible franchise, Vanilla Sky and War of the Worlds.

While he's often told to stick to safe action films such as Top Gun, the star likes to take himself out of his comfort zone.

"I'm trying to understand my craft," he explained to Empire magazine. "It's about pushing myself and making all different kinds of films: comedy, drama, different genres. At the time I did Born on the Fourth of July [1989 war drama], people were saying, 'It's going to ruin your career.' But I would rather go hard and fail than not do it."

Tom, 51, has been nominated for three Oscars throughout his career.

His latest was in 2000, for his role in drama Magnolia, about a group of people searching for love and forgiveness.

He's not upset that he is yet to take home a golden statuette.

"It would be fun," he admitted. "But it has never been a driving factor for me. For me it is always about the fact that I get to make the next movie."

Tom's latest venture is Edge of Tomorrow, which is based on sci-fi novel All You Need Is Kill.

In it he plays a soldier fighting against aliens, who finds himself waking up again at the same point, 24 hours before he was killed, every time he dies.

The Groundhog Day spirit of the action film intrigued Tom.

"You've got to tell the audience the rules," he said.

"Like, how do we take them on this journey? The emotion of the film, the comedy of the film...

"The alien invasion is simmering in the background. It's kind of Back to the Future. I love movies that ask, 'If you did have to live your life over again, what would happen?'"