Tom Cruise Bids Fish and Chips Goodbye

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/12/2003 at 11:00 AM EDT

Tom Cruise bid a fond farewell to New Zealand this weekend, after wrapping up four months of shooting on his latest movie, "The Last Samurai."

"I'm going to miss the fish and chips, we're going to miss our Friday night McDonald's you know, we are going to miss the beach at night," he told a local radio station Friday, shortly before boarding a private jet that would take him from the North Island town of New Plymouth.

By "we" Cruise, 40, was referring to his two children, Isabella, 10, and Connor, 8, who reportedly accompanied him on the trip home to California.

The $114 million "Last Samurai," due for release this December, was directed by Edward Zwick ("The Siege") and revolves around Civil War veteran Woodrow Algren (Cruise), who arrives in Japan in the late 1870s to train the emperor's troops in protecting their territories without the help of samurai warriors.

William Atherton, Billy Connolly and Tony Goldwyn costar.

Meanwhile, in other movie news, New York's second annual Tribeca Film Festival -- the brainchild of Robert De Niro -- wrapped up Sunday by naming first-time director Li Yang's "Blind Shaft," described as an indictment against China's mining industry, as its top narrative feature.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi was named best actress for her French-Italian "It Is Easier for a Camel," while best actor awards went to Onad Knoller for his role as a gay Israeli commander in "Yossi & Jagger" and to Igor Bares in the Czech road movie "Some Secrets."