TOM CRUISE - OUT OF CONTROL?So, Tom Cruise has been dropped by Paramount after his unusual activities in the public eye this year (such as leaping around on Oprah Winfrey's sofa). Hmmm.
I might be in the minority here, but I think Paramount have overreacted a tad. They argue that the poor performance of Mission: Impossible 3 stemmed from the fact the public have begun to perceive Cruise in a bad light. Mmmm, well okay. I can sort of see where they're coming from...
When you hear the words "Tom Cruise" you don't think "Top Gun, Nicole Kidman, nice guy" anymore... you think "Katie Holmes, Scientology, Oprah's sofa".
But M:I-3 still did very well and made money (the DVD release will only add to this!), and it's the best of the three movies. So are Paramount justified in exiling him from their movies because it didn't do as well as they expected? If so, why hasn't Peter Jackson been banished from Universal because of King Kong so-called under-performance? Madness.
Okay, I'll admit that Cruise's behaviour has been a little bizarre this year, although (in pure terms) all he's done is marry someone he loved, convert them to his religion, and fathered a child. People do that all the time!!
Scientology is certainly a weird faith, and one I'm personally very sceptical about, and 100% certain it's a load of mumbo-jumbo. But Cruise has every right to believe whatever he wants. He hasn't harmed anyone. I don't buy the idea that he's "controlling" Katie Holmes or "brainwashing" her to such a Machiavellian degree. She's probably a bit naïve and so in love she's willing to go along with the Scientology aspect of his life.
Again, these things happen all the time in millions of peoples' lives every day. One day Katie Holmes might just up sticks and leave him to it, who knows. It's their business.
The only thing I personally can't condone is Cruse extolling Scientology's views on psychology -– with particular regard to Brooke Shields' personal life. If Cruise doesn't believe in psychology because of Scientology's teachings, fine... but he was wrong to start preaching it as some sort of "evil".
But, beyond that... the Oprah incident was cringe-making but actually quite funny and showed Cruise wasn't afraid to show his feelings. Surely it made him appear more human? We all act like idiots sometimes, particular when we're head-over-heels in love.
So why Paramount have cut him off remains a mystery to me. Maybe they know more than they're letting him on, but that's just speculation. Based on the evidence, Cruise could certainly do with getting a better publicist (interestingly, he fired his long-time PR rep about the same time he started acting "strangely" in public). Coincidence? Probably not. I think Cruise has been extremely well-handled and managed for years, but now he's been exposed.
My problem is... he's been exposed as a bit of a wacky guy with strange beliefs, who loves someone intensely. We forget that those he works with always have nothing but praise for him, and he spends (famously) hours with his fans at his movie premieres. I still think he's a nice guy. I'll never know for sure, but I'd be very surprised if it was revealed he was some sinister creep deserving of such treatment from a movie studio he's made MILLIONS of dollars for over the decades.
