Lauren Bacall blasts Tom Cruise as "a maniac..."

Nicole Kidman has been very careful to not ever publicly bad mouth her ex-husband, Tom Cruise. They split in 2001 after 10 years of marriage and two adopted children. But screen legend Lauren Bacall, who co-starred with Kidman in "Dogville" and "Birth," has no such qualms.

The great Bacall, now 84 and still busy acting in movies, is interviewed for an Elle magazine cover story on Kidman.

Bacall told Elle that Kidman was "unhappy" during the filming of 2003's "Dogville," after splitting with Cruise.

"Tom had taken off for Penelope Cruz or some g***mn thing -- one of his more ridiculous moves," Bacall told the magazine. "Tom Cruise is a maniac. I can't understand the way he conducts his life."