Tom Cruise and Sam Raimi awake ‘Sleeper’
August 19, 2008
As Tom Cruise goes about writing the next chapter in his career, he’s developing an interest in comic book movies. Together with Sam Raimi, he is setting up “Sleeper” at Warner Bros. Cruise is loosely attached to star in the adaptation of the DC Comics/Wildstorm comic that Raimi would produce with his Star Road Entertainment partner Josh Donen. Read more
Statement From Harry E. Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
August 14, 2008
“After reading erroneous reports about Tom Cruise and United Artists, I would like to clarify that we are honored that he will continue as our full partner in control of UA. He is in the middle of one of the greatest careers our industry has ever seen and one that will continue at the top of United Artists Entertainment.”
Paula Wagner leaves Tom Cruise’s United Artists
August 14, 2008
Is it all about the money?
Paula Wagner on Wednesday announced that she will be exiting as chief executive officer of United Artists.
She will retain an ownership interest in UA.
Wagner’s departure raises questions about the future of United Artists — and what will happen to the $500 million Merrill Lynch revolving fund that was allotted for UA films but that has barely been tapped.
Since Wagner and Tom Cruise became co-owners of the company with MGM, Wagner tried to greenlight movies but frequently butted heads with MGM. Harry Sloan was concentrating on his own slate, which he was developing with head of production Mary Parent, and trying to raise financing for MGM pics.
MGM execs insist that Wagner could have greenlit anything she wanted but wasn’t developing aggressively enough.
It’s possible the studio will once again go into hibernation and that the UA coin will go to MGM. However, one studio source insisted UA isn’t going to fold, adding that MGM couldn’t disband the division and tap its Merrill Lynch financing even if wanted to because the funds were raised specifically for UA-generated projects.
- from Variety
Flop or Oscar contender? ‘Valkyrie’ cruises back to ‘08 slate
August 13, 2008
As if Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner weren’t making enough news today, their “Valkyrie” is back on the 2008 slate. MGM has moved the film to open Dec. 26, instead of the Feb. 13 date that was previously announced. - from Variety
Tom Cruise is a ‘Tourist’
August 13, 2008
Tom Cruise and Spyglass Entertainment are circling each other on “The Tourist,” the Bharat Nalluri-directed remake of the 2005 French thriller “Anthony Zimmer.”
The film has emerged as the strongest contender for Cruise’s next film, and his first star vehicle since the Bryan Singer-directed “Valkyrie” at United Artists.
- from Variety
Tom Cruise ‘Food Fight’?
August 11, 2008
With buzz surrounding his comedic turn in “Tropic Thunder,” Tom Cruise is eyeing an even bigger humorous role.
The A-lister is loosely attached to “Food Fight,” a warmhearted comedy about a snooty New York chef who is forced to cook meals at a school cafeteria, with Cruise playing the role of the chef. The project is set up at Universal-based Working Title.
Veteran scribe Adam Brooks, who most recently wrote and directed the divorce dramedy “Definitely, Maybe,” is attached to write the screenplay. “Drillbit Taylor” helmer Steven Brill had been in talks to direct “Food Fight,” but they came to naught; a search for a new director is under way.
- from THR
Wha? Bryan Singer and Tom Cruise’s flop Valkyre is actually good?!
August 8, 2008
It’s a pretty incredible story, and even though the concentration camps aren’t a part of the movie, you think about it in almost every scene- the knowledge of what these monsters did.
That’s Valkyrie. Everyone clapped, and we were all pretty floored. I think Bryan Singer did a bang-up job making an intense, well-written and acted flick. One other thing I wanted to mention was the accurate use of German Luftwaffe aircraft of the period, which was very cool. I’ll probably see it again once it comes out, and hopefully it will be trimmed down a little, but it’s worth seeing.
- from AICN
Tom Cruise’s Much-Delayed ‘Valkyrie’ Doesn’t Suck, Co-Star Bill Nighy Insists
August 3, 2008
MTVWhen a movie gets shifted as much as this one, it’s not unreasonable to assume it’s a stinker. But rumors of the film’s poor quality are patently untrue, co-star Bill Nighy insisted, telling MTV News that the film was pushed back for the very simple reason that it is still in production.
“We just shot some extra scenes for it,” said Nighy, who plays German General Friedrich Olbricht. “One of the reasons that the date was changed was in order to do the extra scenes, which they were always going to do if they felt [the film] warranted it. They’ve added some new stuff, and people are very excited about it.”
- from MTV
Tropic Thunder Tests Crudity’s Limits
August 3, 2008
Ben Stiller slurps gore from a human head. Robert Downey Jr. wears blackface throughout. Both milk an extended gag about Hollywood’s weakness for what they impolitely call retards.
And the film was not cheap.
“Tropic Thunder,” an R-rated movie-industry spoof set to open on Aug. 13, is shaping up as an unusual parting gift to Paramount Pictures from Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Stacey Snider. The three are expected to leave Paramount shortly over dissatisfaction with its handling of their DreamWorks unit, which the studio bought in 2005.
The movie clearly has hit potential. Directed by Mr. Stiller, it has an ensemble cast also including Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, Steve Coogan and Nick Nolte, not to mention Tom Cruise, in a raucous cameo as a vulgar studio chief.
But Paramount executives also face the delicate task of selling what may be the raunchiest comedy yet in a summer that has seen more than its share. (Next is the much cheaper “Pineapple Express,” a stoner adventure Sony Pictures Entertainment is releasing on Wednesday, with Seth Rogen and James Franco in the lead roles.)
- from NYTimes
Katie Holmes caught eyes in NYC Thursday, ahead of her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
August 1, 2008
Lawsuit goes after Tom Cruise, Church of Scientology.
August 1, 2008
Tom Cruise is named in a $250 million federal lawsuit that is using the RICO statute against the Church of Scientology. Ex-Scientologist Peter Letterese, a longtime critic of the church, filed suit in Southern District Court in Florida on July 15 alleging, among other things, that members of the church harassed him after he left.
In court papers provided to The News by investigator Paul Barresi, Letterese claims a member of the church phoned his lawyer at home, and when the lawyer’s wife answered, said he was her husband’s homosexual lover.
Barresi, who has done investigative work on behalf of Cruise, tells us: “[Letterese] is just including a celebrity name to get attention.”
- from NY
Blu-Ray is Risky Business
July 30, 2008
On September 16, in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Risky Business, Tom Cruise again grabs his air guitar, cranks up Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” and dances his way back into the hearts of millions in the film that launched him into superstardom. Warner Home Video will be releasing two sexy new versions of the Risky Business 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. Packaged in a new o-sleeve, the standard definition will sell for $19.97 SRP and the Two-Disc Blu-ray™ Hi-Def for $28.99 SRP. Order due date is August 12.
Both versions of the Risky Business 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition have been restored and remastered with 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio and boast special bonus content including an all-new 25th anniversary retrospective documentary The Dream is Always the Same: The Story of Risky Business in both standard and high definition formats as well as screen tests and the director’s cut of the final scene. An in-depth audio commentary with Tom Cruise, Paul Brickman and Jon Avnet is available on the DVD only. Also available exclusive to the Blu-ray™ Hi-Def Edition is a video commentary with Tom Cruise, Paul Brickman and Jon Avnet and a digital copy of the film compatible with iTunes® and Windows Media devices™ which allows consumers a single non-transferable download of the full-length feature to their PC or iPod.
Risky Business started it all for Cruise who has since been nominated for three Academy Awards® and six Golden Globes®, winning three of the latter (Best Performance by an Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire plus Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Magnolia). His other memorable starring roles include All the Right Moves, Top Gun, Rain Man, Days of Thunder, A Few Good Men, Interview with the Vampire, the Mission Impossible series, Collateral and War of the Worlds.
Said Jeff Baker, Warner Home Video Executive Vice President and General Manager, Theatrical Catalog, “In his 25 years in the business, Tom Cruise has become the epitome of a true Hollywood star. We are very proud to be releasing this timeless classic and the film that became his breakthrough role.”
Synopsis
Joel Goodsen (Cruise) is a high school senior who is tired of being Mr. All American, facing ‘traumatic’ decisions such as which Ivy League college to attend. His life takes a totally unexpected turn when he meets a sexy call girl (Rebecca De Mornay) who transforms his house into a brothel while his parents are away, and at the same time transforms his entire perspective.
RISKY BUSINESS 25th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION
• Restored and remastered feature with all new 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
• The Dream is Always the Same: The Story of Risky Business (All new 25th anniversary retrospective documentary on the making of Risky Business featuring interviews with Tom Cruise and cast)
• Audio commentary with Tom Cruise, director Paul Brickman and producer Jon Avnet
• Director’s cut of the final scene from Risky Business (with introduction by Paul Brickman)
• Original screen tests with Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay
• Theatrical trailer
RISKY BUSINESS 25TH ANNIVERSARY TWO-DISC
BLU-RAY™ HI-DEF DELUXE EDITION
• Restored and remastered feature with all new 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
• The Dream is Always the Same: The Story of Risky Business (All new 25th anniversary retrospective documentary on the making of Risky Business featuring interviews with Tom Cruise and cast (in Hi-Def format)
• Director’s cut of the final scene from Risky Business (with introduction by Paul Brickman)
• Original screen tests with Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay
• Theatrical trailer
Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def Exclusive Content
• Video commentary with Tom Cruise, director Paul Brickman, and producer Jon Avnet (in Hi-Def format)
• Digital copy of the feature film
RISKY BUSINESS 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITIONS
Street Date: September 16, 2008
Order Date: August 12, 2008
Pre-Sell Date: May 20, 2008
RISKY BUSINESS DELUXE EDITION
Catalog # 1000035705
$19.97 SRP
RISKY BUSINESS TWO-DISC BLU-RAY™ HI-DEF DELUXE EDITION
Catalog # 1000037925
$28.99 SRP
Feature Running Time: 99:06 minutes — Rated: R
16×9 Widescreen, Color
English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Tom Cruise in Top Gun 2?
July 21, 2008
From UK:
Movie bosses want to bring back cocky fighter-pilot trainee Maverick 22 years after the first film.
The move follows hit sequels to the adventures of fellow ’80s heroes Indiana Jones and Rocky.
A script outline has been written, but the sequel depends on Cruise, 46, saying yes.
An insider said: “The idea is Maverick is at the Top Gun school as an instructor — and this time it is he who has to deal with a cocky new female pilot.”
Tom Cruise is ‘Salt’ Free
July 19, 2008
From Foxnews:
It looks like there’s a snag in Tom Cruise’s big career comeback film. According to sources, Cruise is probably not going to be playing the role of Edwin A. Salt, a fictional CIA officer who is outed as a spy.
“Edwin A. Salt,” which is set at Columbia Pictures, has had a rocky road. First Terry George was set to direct. He left and was replaced by Philip Noyce.
But now Cruise is out, and I’m told it’s because of money. Apparently, Tom is unaware of the change in his status in the Hollywood community. Where once he was the top-paid star, Cruise now is in a position where a $20 million salary is not possible. I’m told an internal memo went around among the film’s producers and top creators in which the Cruise situation was discussed and names were gathered for a replacement.
The reasons for Cruise’s departure are not just his diminished popularity, negative public opinion and Scientology — although those would be good enough. It’s also just generational. Cruise is 45. His heyday as a box office star — if he ever had one — is over.
If Tom Cruise Had A Comic Book
July 18, 2008
From HolyTaco:
Steve Guttenberg VS Tom Cruise
July 17, 2008
From NY Observer:
About two years ago, Steve Guttenberg walked into the showbiz haunt Crustacean on Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills.
“I walked in and the maitre d’ made a big deal for me,” said Mr. Guttenberg. The Goot—as he’s known to his friends—appreciated the show. To hear him tell it, eating in public in Los Angeles is a dangerous business for an actor whose last box office hit was Three Men and a Baby in 1987.
“All of a sudden, the maitre d’ says, ‘Get out of the way!’” said Mr. Guttenberg. “And they literally threw me to the side and Tom Cruise came in. And he sat Tom Cruise and said, ‘I’m so sorry, but you know, Tom Cruise.’ And I’m like, ‘Holy fuck.’”
So after three decades in L.A., he bought a place on the Upper West Side. “I came to New York to find a better life,” he said. Uprooting took some time. The 15-year-old golden retriever he loved dearly was old and sick; the golden died a month ago. So two weeks ago, the wavy-haired, Brooklyn-born 49-year-old actor, who describes his career as a “32-year-overnight success,” finally made it back to New York City.
“In L.A., I think about what I don’t have,” he told me. “In New York, I think about what I do have. And I’m really tired of comparing myself to Tom Cruise.”
Tom Cruise’s lawyer compares Dr. Drew to Nazi
June 15, 2008
There’s a new feud in Tinseltown, and it’s already gone too far. A war of words erupted between Dr. Drew Pinsky and reps for Tom Cruise this week after the “Celebrity Rehab” doc tried his hand at a little long-distance public “diagnosis.” That’s when Team Tom took it to the next level by comparing Drew to another famous doctor, Adolf Hitler’s Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.
“A lot of people in the public eye who behave strangely have mental illness we can learn from, and much of it is based on childhood trauma, without a doubt,” the M.D. told Playboy magazine. “Take a guy like Tom Cruise. Why would somebody be drawn into a cultish kind of environment like Scientology? To me, that’s a function of a very deep emptiness and suggests serious neglect in childhood — maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect.”
Maybe someone should have warned the good doctor the folks at Camp Cruise wouldn’t let a statement like that go by without a fast and furious response. Enter Bert Fields, Tom’s legal mouthpiece, who spoke to the New York Post’s Page Six about Dr. Drew’s opinion.
“This unqualified television performer, who is obviously just looking for notoriety, is so grotesquely unprofessional as to pretend to diagnose Tom and others without ever meeting them,” the lawyer said. “He seems to be spewing the absurdity that all Scientologists are mentally ill. The last time we heard garbage like this was from Joseph Goebbels.”
- from MSNBC
Valkyrie Trailer! Tom Cruises’s terrible German accent?! Summer 2008?! The Disaster!
June 8, 2008
MGM: A Lion or a Lamb?
June 8, 2008
N a Thursday morning last month, hundreds of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer workers filed out of the studio’s Century City office tower and into a movie theater across the street. This rare, companywide meeting was a premiere of sorts: the introduction of Mary Parent, once a top production executive at Universal Pictures, as the new chairwoman of MGM’s motion picture group.
After Ms. Parent told her troops about green-lighting enough projects for MGM to roar into theaters with as many as 12 of its own movies in 2010, and about why she’d given up a lucrative producing career to accept her new job, the man who offered it to her — Harry E. Sloan — took the podium to deliver a confidence-booster.
“We are talking right now to a number of people about getting money for Mary to make all these pictures,” Mr. Sloan said, according to several people in attendance. “There’s no doubt that we’re going to get the money. It’s just a question of what the terms are going to be.”
- From NYTimes
Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer’s Nazi Flop Begins Reshoots
June 4, 2008
Tom Cruise is going back to work. No, not on a new film: He’s going to shoot the three final scenes on “Valkyrie,” the movie that began production one year ago in Germany.
Much has been made of Cruise’s decision to make this film. Some gurus claim that film-goers don’t want to see Tom Terrific with an eye patch playing a Nazi, albeit one who tries to assassinate Hitler. No, Tom does not speak with a faux German accent in the movie, but there are random other accents around, including British.
- From Peter Bart
Tom Cruise Remembers ‘Renaissance Man’ Sydney Pollack
May 27, 2008
Tom Cruise has fond memories of his first meeting with film legend Sydney Pollack, who succumbed to cancer Monday at age 73, and admits he will “miss him dearly.”
“I first met him while he was in the midst of editing Tootsie (one of the all time classics),” Cruise, who later worked with Pollack in 1993’s The Firm, said in a statement released early Tuesday morning. “I’d seen every one of his pictures and he generously took the meeting.”
Cruise, who was then an up-and-coming actor, recalled how the famed director – who also was involved in Eyes Wide Shut – took more than six hours to answer all of his questions.
“Throughout the years, unpretentious and never condescending, he shared with me what he loved about family, storytelling, food, flying and a great bottle of vino,” Cruise said. “He was a Renaissance man and a great friend. I will miss him dearly.”
- From People
Katie Holmes. Mega-bitch Scientologist.
May 24, 2008
Has fame and fortune gone to the head of Mrs. Tom Cruise? We hear that Katie Holmes has developed quite the attitude lately, treating her hired help like crap!
That beacon of virtue and truth The National Enquirer reports that Katie has been bullying her household help, with sources saying living with Tom has changed her personality for the worse.
“She treats the help like slaves,” says the insider. “At times, she just leaves everything she doesn’t wear on the floor where it drops for the maids to hang up.
“That’s so unlike the old Katie, who would never want to be any trouble or be at all aloof.”
And we thought she was just a Stepford robot these days!
The insider also told of an incident where Katie took a sip of Tom’s “daily smoothie” after their housekeeper prepared it for him.
“One day, the housekeep was making Tom his daily smoothie and Katie came along and sipped a couple of inches from it. Then she told the housekeeper that she’d blame her for drinking it! She was just goofing around to see the woman squirm.
“The poor woman was terrified because she didn’t know what she was going to say to Tom.”
- From MSN
How to Hypnotize Women. Just like Tom Cruise.
May 24, 2008
“You are getting sleepy, very sleepy…” How many times have you wanted to utter those words and put someone under your spell? Well, you can always try to place someone in a trance — once you have the subject, setting, and the technique down pat.
Hypnosis is a relaxed state of concentration or trance. And here’s a newsflash: you’re pretty much in a state of hypnosis during several parts of the day — when you’re daydreaming in your car while stuck in traffic, or sitting at your office desk thinking about the night before… that is until your boss snaps you back into reality.
So if you want to hypnotize someone to help them kick a nasty habit, or maybe get your new girlfriend to become more sensual, just grab a seat, dim the lights, and let’s get started.
Tom Cruise fights to silence baby boutique owners
May 23, 2008
Tom Cruise has slapped the owners of a top Los Angeles baby boutique with a cease and desist letter, accusing them of going public with purchases he and wife Katie Holmes have made without their permission.
The movie star’s legal team has fired off documents to the bosses of Petit Tresor, warning them to stop talking to the media about private Cruise family matters.
According to the documents, obtained by TMZ.com, Cruise was particularly upset when store bosses allegedly leaked false information suggesting the actors have spent more than $350,000 (€222,600) on wardrobe items for their daughter Suri in the two years since her birth.
- From Here
Tom Cruise Scientology Cruise Ship Locked Down Due to Asbestos Contamination
May 19, 2008
The Scientology cult’s 440-foot long luxury cruise ship, MV Freewinds, has been locked down by public health officials on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, after local contractors doing repair work noticed widespread blue asbestos contamination. One Curaçao paper pointed out that Scientology officials had known about the contamination since at least 2001, yet had done nothing.
Blue asbestos is the most dangerous kind of asbestos, and people exposed to it are at much higher risk of mesothelioma (an especially deadly lung cancer). According to reports from several Caribbean newspapers as well as the shipping news journal Lloyd’s List, the Freewinds was sealed on April 26. One Curaçao paper, La Prensa Cur, pointed out that Scientology officials had known about the contamination since at least 2001, yet had done nothing.
Many Scientologist celebrities have spent time aboard the Freewinds, including Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Chick Corea, Lisa Marie Presley, Catherine Bell, Kate Ceberano, and Juliette Lewis. “Now” magazine reported that Tom Cruise has been urged to seek medical attention regarding potential asbestos exposure, however a representative for Cruise stated he has “absolutely no knowledge” of the recent asbestos controversy. Cruise, Holmes, Travolta and Preston have celebrated birthdays and other events on the Freewinds.
From Here