But, to date, only three of the five films produced by the company have starred Cruise: the two Missions, plus Vanilla Sky - all of them Paramount pictures. On the other two - Without Limits, written and directed by Wagner’s former client, Robert Towne; and The Others - the films have been based at other studios (Warners for Without Limits; Miramax-owned Dimension Films for The Others).

What is more, the Cruise vehicles have so far alternated with the non-Cruise ones on strict rotation. Was this part of the plan, I ask, or was it just chance? “It’s chance,” she says, and then laughs at the fact that she has just pronounced the word the British way. “No, it’s not a design per se: it kind of happened that way. The design is both to do movies with Tom and to do films that don’t necessarily star him.” And what sort of films? Is there a recognisable Cruise/Wagner movie?

“I don’t like to sound too lofty,” she says, “but I think it comes down to making films while having a real commitment to each and every one – to the script, to putting all the elements together and to staying with the film as producers: being involved with it, nurturing it. You know, kind of seeing it through all the way to that moment when you finally let go of it - and that doesn’t happen until it’s out of the theatres and onto DVD. We want to involve ourselves with things that are meaningful, that we believe in, and that have very strong, compelling characters - films that are about something and have really strong stories.”

So how do they divide up the job between them?

“Well, sometimes we do the same things,” she says. “Sometimes we’ll divide it up in terms of, I will do more of the day-to-day business; but sometimes we’ll do things together. I don’t think there’s any particular kind of delineation in that sense, other than I oversee the day-to-day running of the company. As for where the films come from, we get sent scripts; writers have ideas; we have ideas: we’re always looking at material. Movies can come from anything, anywhere. Movies can come from…

“Look,” she continues, “here’s the quote I always seem to give: ‘Shakespeare took a lot of his stories from Plutarch’s Lives’. OK? Do you know what I mean? It’s wherever it comes from because, with film as a medium, you can originate something or you can illuminate it. You can adapt a book, a play, a song, another film. Wherever it comes from, it’s all about what the film is – what that particular film is at that particular moment and how you best fulfil what that film is.”

Which leads to the inevitable question: what this particular film, Vanilla Sky, is at this particular moment?

“It’s a romantic thriller with humour woven, I would say, into the fibre of it - which is distinctly Cameron Crowe and Tom,” suggests Wagner. “Tom plays a man who basically has it all. He meets the girl of his dreams and he makes a mistake, all on the same night: meets the woman of his dreams, makes a mistake and really has to suffer before he can find renewal. It’s kind of the journey into hell that he goes through before he can come back out again whole and find renewal. It’s a thriller with some interesting and unusual turns of events…”

Before she can really nail it, however, the threatened meeting intrudes and the subject is left hanging. Given the lack of specific information about what actually happens in Vanilla Sky, I have no real idea how I am going to end this piece, beyond that hoary old get-out of saying that the film will undoubtedly speak for itself.

It appears, however, that something of the same concern has occurred to Wagner in the meantime. A day later, she calls back.

“I’ve just been watching the movie,” she says, “and I realise what I needed to say was that it’s really a love story. It works on many levels - it’s a romantic thriller laced with humour - but it’s about a man’s search for eternal love and the hope that that love gives.

“It’s also very much ‘Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky’,” she adds. “He has a style, particularly in this movie, that is really, really unique. It’s a warm, emotional movie about taking responsibility for yourself and your actions. And it’s a movie about love.”