Tom Cruise is probably the last person you’d want to draw your name in a game of Secret Santa.
If Thandie Newton’s Christmas experience is anything to go by, you might get “a book with the greatest hits of Scientology, a bit like a Bible kind of thing,” as she told New York magazine.
The “Westworld” star, 47, opened up about what it was like to work with Cruise on the set of 2000’s “Mission: Impossible 2” in the revealing interview, which also included her telling of why she left the cast of “Charlie’s Angels” and other tales of survival from her decadeslong career.
After receiving the book from Cruise, 58, Newton said she was curious as to whether there was “some glue that sticks this s - - t together,” she said, referring to the credibility of the tome.
So? “Didn’t find any,” she concluded.
Cruise, a longtime adherent of Scientology, has reportedly signed a billion-year contract of service with the Church of Scientology, The Post reported, based off the book “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief by journalist Lawrence Wright.
He’s also reportedly “considered a deity within Scientology” and lower ranking members are allegedly ordered to see Cruise’s movies multiple times.
Former Scientology member Geoff Levin told The Post about “a type of arrogance that Scientology instills in you. It gives you a kind of confidence that is helpful for people who want to be actors.” The church has not responded to The Post’s requests for comment.
That trait appeared to be on display on the set of “Mission: Impossible 2,” where Cruise “was a very dominant individual,” Newton said.
The actress — who played Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a former thief turned spy for the Impossible Missions Force — described a particularly difficult scene with Cruise, in which the actor got increasingly frustrated with Newton’s performance.
His solution? To rehearse the scene in switched roles.
“So we filmed the entire scene with me being him — because, believe me, I knew the lines by then — and him playing me,” she said. “And it was the most unhelpful . . . I can’t think of anything less revealing. It just pushed me further into a place of terror and insecurity.”
After a while on the set, she came to perceive her own acting chops as a growing problem — much like her co-star’s own complexion.
“I remember at the beginning of the night, seeing this slight red mark on his nose, and by the end of the night, I kid you not — this is how his metabolism is so fierce — he had a big whitehead where that red dot was,” she said. “And it was like the zit was me, just getting bigger and bigger.”
Evangelistic Scientology gifts aside, the experience was a “nightmare,” she said. They eventually reshot the scene to Cruise’s liking, but it wasn’t “the best way to get the best work out of someone.”
Cruise’s reps have not responded to The Post’s requests for comment.
In the end she was grateful for the role — and thanked none other than Cruise’s ex-wife Nicole Kidman, who apparently advocated for Newton in casting. The two actresses knew each other from their roles in 1991’s “Flirting.”
“I’ve never actually outright asked her, but when your husband is like, ‘Who would you mind me pretending to shag for the next six months?’ You know what I mean? It’s kind of nice if you can pick together,” Newton said. “Nicole was a huge advocate for me.”