June 2, 2005

Tom Cruise is an actor.

Why are people fretting about Tom Cruise? I've seen the clip of his expansive, physical expression on "Oprah" and the "Access Hollywood" thing, and both look entirely like his big "Help me help you" scene in "Jerry Maguire." The man is an actor who happens to be especially good with comic physical demonstrations and not so good at the realistic depiction of genuine human emotion.

7 comments:

price said...

Tom Cruise always been one of the biggest phonies in existence. It's just refreshing to see that people aren't really buying it anymore. The Scientology and contractual romances aren't helping things, and are making him seem as fame-warped as Michael Jackson. In my mind though, he's been irredeemable ever since he began suing people for implications about his sexuality, and codifying this homophobia in his various lawsuits. It's basically the kind of thing that gay teenagers really need to hear from their heroes. In conclusion, you're right... what were people expecting? I for one am glad people are finally catching on.

Bruce Hayden said...

Price points out Cruise's falsity. Last weekend, pointed out to my daughter (almost 14), that she was as tall, if not taller, than he already. Her response was that he looked taller on the screen.

I don't know if any of you caught it last week, but there was a great interview with (Not) Tom Cruise on HuffintonToast. It had to do apparently with his relationship with Mel Gibson.

The Scientology stuff was brought up (repeatedly - that is one very weird religion), his height (booster shoes and seat in Top Gun), his homophobia, etc. Great stuff.

Anne said...

I doubt Tom Cruise is competing with Mel Gibson in the sense mentioned above, but if he is, he's more myopic and self-centered than I thought. Gibson's particular brand of Catholicism isn't too beyond the pale for most Americans' comfort levels. Scientology, however, is another story. No medication for religious reasons? We have a society that hates the idea of being barred from medical procedures and medications. Throw religion into the mix and eeeewwwwww.

MT said...

The fact that Tom Cruise is an actor is merely incidental to what's concerning here, which is that he's a much adored charismatic who is promoting a religious cult.

Anne said...

I like that line of thinking better. Next Task: Convert Catholic Katie Holmes. After that: THE WORLD!!!!!

Does this mean the pharmaceutical lobby isn't as powerful as it's made out to be?

Ann Althouse said...

Brent: Interesting. Do you have direct information about this?

Brent said...

Wow, did I pick the wrong time to go on vacation: I write my first-ever blog comment, on one of my two favorite blogs, and then leave on a technology-free week - only to return and find that Ann herself has asked me a question! Just wanted to say that it is an honor to be directly addressed by you, Ann.

To the subject at hand: "Do you have direct knowledge of this?" . . . yes and no.
As regards Tom Cruise and his regular behavior, yes, I do. Without divulging much time-consuming detail, let me simply say that Tom is not acting differently now in the public eye (Oprah, Leno, the Scientology-related publicity junkets/interviews, etc.)than he has acted for many years, well hidden from the public eye. That would be the job of his publicist/agent/manager, to protect the private Tom and promote the desired public Tom image at all times. In this he is certainly no different than any other celebrity with a manger.
In regards to Pat Kingsley behind it all: no, I do not have direct knowledge I'm afraid - only the word on the street.
By the way, relating to our subject, "Cheat Seeking Missiles" today has an interesting story regarding Tom's cover on last month's Reader's Digest. http://cheatseekingmissiles.blogspot.com/
2005/06/selling-out-to-scientology.html