It's like Groundhog Day, but with aliens waging Armageddon on the human race. And its protagonist, instead of simply reliving the same day over and over again, must die in the most gruesome, harrowing, and comical ways possible. Welcome to the cinematic imagination of Explo Alum and Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman.

In an interview with HitFix's Daniel Fienberg, Doug Liman says, "I loved killing him and he seemed to love being killed probably even more than I loved killing him.”

He's talking about Tom Cruise, the star of Edge of Tomorrow, who worked with Liman and the stunt crew to make sure his (numerous) death scenes were, shall we say, less 'fallen hero' and more Wile E. Coyote.

"Having produced so many films and worked with so many people, I admire and appreciate that Doug is that honest," Cruise tells Chris Lee of The Los Angeles Times. "You can actually have real conversations. What I love about Doug is his relentless pursuit of making the best movie he can make."

As Emily Blunt, who plays Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski, says, "You can waste so much time with politeness and diplomacy on set. That's what's so refreshing about Doug. He's honest when he's not happy with something and very honest when he is happy with something. He's confident enough to try anything and carve out new space for every moment that is in the movie."

Edge of Tomorrow, a film adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel, All You Need is Kill, opens tonight in theaters nationwide. We, for one, can't wait to watch it.

Explo Alum Doug Liman is the director of such acclaimed, genre-defying, and intelligent (and downright fun) movies as "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Swingers," "Go," "The Bourne Identity," and "Fair Game" — which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival — and served as executive producer on "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum."