Tom Cruise may be the last remaining genuine movie star, but he may also be the most divisive. The man is a lightning rod for entertainment discourse: he’s been hailed as the savior of cinema for championing the theatrical experience and scorned as a prominent longtime cultist with a history of odd behavior. Cruise has only become more inscrutable in recent years, doing less press and bigger stunts. His one, true public passion is protecting the cinema, and that puts him in a precarious position amid the current Hollywood strikes.
With SAG-AFTRA in the first week of what will likely be a prolonged battle with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), Cruise finds himself trapped between a rock and a hard place, wherein both the rock and the hard place are existential threats to the entertainment industry as we know it. On the one hand, movies as a business are in critical danger, particularly after the pandemic did serious financial damage to theaters everywhere. On the other hand, acting as a profession is at risk, with the majority of working actors struggling to make a living, their jobs jeopardized by the looming specter of artificial intelligence.
So how does the Savior of Cinema—so deemed by one of its patron saints, Steven Spielberg—deal with a crisis from all corners? As we’ve seen so far, there’s been an attempt to play both sides. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cruise participated in a negotiating session between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP in June, the highest-profile member of the union to do so. Cruise reportedly joined to throw his support behind SAG-AFTRA’s concerns regarding A.I. as well as to advocate on behalf of stunt performers (a segment of the guild famously near and dear to his heart).
However, he also apparently advocated for the guild to allow performers to promote their movies, a task which qualifies as struck work amid a work stoppage. The conversation was “uncomfortable,” according to a THR source, but Cruise (whose film Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One premiered just before the strike was called) had his own concerns about the “fragile state of movie theaters.” Per a recent Variety report, guild leadership “countered by asking Cruise to join the picket lines, noting that having one of the world’s biggest movie stars visibly in its corner would send a strong message to the studios.” Cruise allegedly wouldn’t commit to walking the line, “but offered to assist in other ways.” No promotional waiver has been granted.
Source: People
In other news – Travis Barker Reveals Potential Baby Name for Son With Pregnant Kourtney Kardashian
Travis Barker is feeling this very unique name for his and Kourtney Kardashian‘s baby boy on the way. The Blink-182 drummer had a brainstorming session about potential monikers during a sit-down with his 17-year-old daughter Alabama Barker, who he shares with ex Shanna Moakler.
While discussing the greatest baby names on the latest episode of Complex’s “GOAT Talk” video series, Travis declared, “I like Rocky Thirteen. Learn more
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