Tom Cruise shirtless and rocking fake tattoos in W magazine

Here's a little fodder for your nightmares or sweet dreams, depending on what you're into: a shirtless Tom Cruise with long hair, nail polish and a bunch of fake tattoos in the June issue of W magazine.

In the pics above and below, Cruise is doing his best to embody the rock star he plays in the upcoming movie musical, "Rock of Ages." His character, Stacee Jaxx, is a bad-boy, '80s-era rocker who's forced to flee to South America following criminal charges. The role required Cruise to learn how to play guitar and sing -- he even trained with Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose's vocal coach.

But anyone who's seen Cruise bust a move in his tighty-whiteys in 1983's "Risky Business" knows he didn't need any dance training to play Stacee.

"[As a kid,] I did the scene from 'Risky Business' around the house. I would sing Bob Seger -- my mother worked, my sisters were out, and I'd turn the music up," he says. "I learned how to dance watching 'Soul Train.' I noticed that if a guy could dance, he'd get a lot of attention and girls would want to dance with him. I worked very hard at imitating those moves."

Check out the rest of his W spread below.
 
What do you think of the W pictures? Will you go see "Rock of Ages"?