Emanuelle Beart Battled Tom Cruise for Audience Sympathy  1/23/06

French actress Emanuelle Beart was staggered when she tried injecting more humanity into her icy Mission Impossible character, because an "angry" Tom Cruise feared the audience would prefer her to him.

Beart, who played Claired Phelps, consulted fellow Gallic screen star Juliette Binoche on the matter after Binoche turned down the role.

Binoche recalls, "She had to be the French bitch in the movie. She wanted her character to be more compassionate and have feelings.

"But, when she did this, Tom was angry because it was too much compassion for her character and not enough for his."