Studio people shut things down pretty good at Tom Cruise's press conference Friday if anyone tried to get in a question regarding something other than the film he'd produced (Without Limits).

In particular, the clamp came down on questions about Eyes Wide Shut, the loooong, extremely problematic Stanley Kubrick film that effectively took three years out of Cruise's life.

But things being what they are at the Toronto fest, it figures that Cruise went straight from the press conference to a hotel room where he sang like a canary to The New York Times.

In yesterday's Times, he remained upbeat about Kubrick, but admitted he took a hit financially. "People say: 'You've lost 40, 60, 80 million dollars. You've lost all this money. You've lost all this time.' I don't understand that kind of thinking," Cruise said. "Yeah, I make money. I make a lot of money. And money's wonderful and nice. But that's not why I make movies. There are some things you don't do for money. I know that's hard to believe.

"This man (Kubrick) is profound. And it seems without effort. And you come out of this experience and realize the possibilities of film, the possibilities of how to communicate ideas and concepts in a way that you never thought."


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