Actor says Cruise was lucky to live

The Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada said yesterday that he came within a centimetre of chopping off Tom Cruise's head while filming the Last Samurai.

Sanada said he was swinging a real sword during a scene with Cruise when the American film star's mechanical horse malfunctioned and did not fall down as planned.

"Tom's neck was right in front of me and I tried to stop swinging my sword, but it was hard to control with one hand," Sanada told reporters through a translator while promoting the film in Taipei, Taiwan.

Sanada said that when he finally stopped the sword, the blade was a mere half inch from Cruise's neck.

"The film crew watching from the side all screamed because they thought Tom's head would fly off," Sanada said, making a chopping motion to his neck.

In the movie, Cruise portrays a US Civil War veteran recruited to go to Japan to train soldiers to fight samurai warriors who were protecting their feudal lords.

Sanada has starred in more than 50 films.

He is also a stage actor who, in 1999, became the first Japanese actor to join the British Royal Shakespeare Company.