Jerry Maguire is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding, Jr and Renée Zellweger. It was written, co-produced, and directed by Cameron Crowe. The film released in North American theaters on December 13, 1996, distributed by Gracie Films and TriStar Pictures.

The film received mostly positive reviews and, on a $50 million budget, was a financial success, bringing in more than $270 million worldwide.

Plot[link]

Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) is a glossy 35-year-old sports agent working for Sports Management International (SMI). After suffering a nervous breakdown as a result of stress and a guilty conscience, he writes a mission statement about perceived dishonesty in the sports management business and how he believes that it should be operated. He distributes copies of it, entitled "The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business". His co-workers are touched by his honesty and greet him with applause, but the management sends Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr), Maguire's protégé, to fire him. Jerry and Sugar call all of Jerry's clients to try to convince them not to hire the services of the other. Jerry speaks to Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), one of his clients who is disgruntled with his contract. Rod tests Jerry's resolve through a very long telephone conversation, which culminates in the famed "Show Me the Money!" scene. Meanwhile, Sugar secures most of Jerry's previous clients. Frank "Cush" Cushman (Jerry O'Connell), a superstar football prospect from Southern Methodist University expected to be #1 in the NFL Draft, also stays with Jerry after he makes a visit to the Cushman home. Leaving the office, Jerry announces he will start his own agency and asks if anyone is willing to join him, to which only 26-year-old single mother Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger) agrees. The two had previously bumped into each other in the airport and Boyd had told Maguire personally how inspiring she found his "memo".

Jerry travels to the NFL Draft with Cush and convinces Rod to come too, to meet representatives of other NFL teams. Though Rod at first feels neglected compared to the superstar Cush, Sugar contacts Matt Cushman (Beau Bridges), Cush's dad, while Jerry is in the lobby with Rod and re-signs Cush to SMI. Jerry is devastated and turns to his fiancée Avery (Kelly Preston) for support, but she rebukes him and he breaks up with her. He then turns to Dorothy, becoming closer to her young son, Ray, and eventually starts a relationship with her. However, Dorothy contemplates moving to San Diego as she has a secure job offer there. Jerry concentrates all his efforts on Rod, now his only client, who turns out to be very difficult to satisfy. Over the next several months, the two direct harsh criticism towards each other with Rod claiming that Jerry is not trying hard enough to get him a contract while Jerry claims that Rod is not proving himself worthy of the money for which he asks. Jerry marries Dorothy to help them both stay afloat financially and to keep her from moving away. He is emotionally and physically distant during the marriage, but is clearly invested in becoming a father to Ray. Although Dorothy is in love, she breaks up with him because she believes he does not love her.

Before the start of a Monday Night Football game between the Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys, Sugar attempts to steal Rod, but is rebuked by Rod and Jerry. The two reconcile soon after. Rod plays well but appears to receive a serious injury when catching a touchdown. He recovers, however, and dances for the crowd, which cheers wildly. Afterwards, Jerry and Rod embrace in front of other athletes and sports agents and show how their relationship has progressed from a strictly business one to a close personal one, which was one of the points Jerry made in his mission statement. Jerry then flies back home to meet Dorothy. He walks in and, in front of her friends, says "Hello." He then speaks for several minutes, telling her that he loves her and wants her in his life, ending with the statement, "You complete me." Dorothy's reply is that Jerry, "You had me at hello". Rod later appears on Roy Firestone's sports show. Unbeknownst to him, Jerry has secured him an $11.2 million contract with the Cardinals that will allow him to finish his pro football career in Arizona. The visibly emotional Rod proceeds to thank everyone and extends warm gratitude to Jerry. Jerry speaks with several other pro athletes, some of whom have read his earlier mission statement and respect his work with Tidwell. The film ends with Jerry, Dorothy and Ray walking in the park and stumbling across a Little League baseball game. When the ball lands near them, Ray throws it back; a surprised Jerry then comments on his natural throwing ability (and possible future in sports), much to Dorothy's dismay.

Cast[link]

• Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire
• Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Rod Tidwell
• Renée Zellweger as Dorothy Boyd
• Kelly Preston as Avery Bishop
• Jerry O'Connell as Frank "Cush" Cushman
• Jay Mohr as Bob Sugar
• Regina King as Marcee Tidwell
• Bonnie Hunt as Laurel Boyd
• Jonathan Lipnicki as Ray Boyd
• Todd Louiso as Chad the Nanny
• Jeremy Suarez as Tyson Tidwell
• Aries Spears as Teepee Tidwell
• Mark Pellington as Bill Dooler
• Jared Jussim as Dicky Fox
• Ingrid Beer as Anne-Louise
• Glenn Frey as Dennis Wilburn
• Drake Bell as Jesse Remo
• Christina Cavanaugh as Mrs. Remo
• Toby Huss as Steve Remo
• Eric Stoltz as Ethan Valhere
• Lucy Liu and Ivana Milicevic as Former girlfriends
• Beau Bridges (uncredited) as Matt Cushman

Cameos Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr., former NFL quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe, Troy Aikman, and Warren Moon, German ice skater Katarina Witt, then-current Dallas Cowboys head coach Barry Switzer, and former Detroit Lions coach Wayne Fontes play themselves in the film.

Other NFL players that make cameos as themselves are Tim McDonald, Johnnie Morton, Rick Mirer, Rob Moore, Ki-Jana Carter, Herman Moore, Art Monk, Kerry Collins, and Dean Biasucci.

Sportscasters Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Roy Firestone, Mike Tirico, and Dan Dierdorf also make cameos.

Former NBA basketball player Brent Barry is featured in the film as an athlete who wouldn't sign an autograph for a young boy.

Actresses portraying ex-girlfriends of Maguire include Alison Armitage, Emily Procter, and Stacey Williams. Reagan Gomez-Preston also had a minor role in the film as part of the Tidwell family.

Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell makes a brief appearance in the film as a copier store clerk.

Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay makes a cameo as Jerry Maguire's boss.

Reception[link]

Critical response[link]

The film received critical acclaim, with a 85% positive reviews on the film-critics aggregate Rotten Tomatoes. Its critical consensus states: "Anchored by dazzling performances from Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Renée Zellweger, as well as Cameron Crowe's tender direction, Jerry Maguire meshes romance and sports with panache."^[2] Cuba Gooding, Jr. won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Rod Tidwell, the Arizona Cardinals football player who sticks with Maguire. Cruise was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role and the movie marked Renée Zellwegger's breakout role. The film itself was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and crew members on the film were nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Film Editing awards.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3/4 stars, writing that there "are so many subplots that Jerry Maguire seems too full" and also commented that the film "starts out looking cynical and quickly becomes a heartwarmer." He concluded that the film "is often a delight" and "is about transformation: About two men who learn how to value something more important than money, and about two women who always knew."^[3] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote "An exceptionally tasty contempo comedic romance, 'Jerry Maguire' runs an unusual pattern on its way to scoring an unexpected number of emotional, social and entertaining points. Smartly written and boasting a sensational cast, Cameron Crowe's shrewdly observed third feature also gives Tom Cruise one of his very best roles..."^[4]

Box office[link]

The film debuted at number one.^[5] It earned $17,084,296 its opening weekend, and eventually grossed $153,952,592 in North American box office and approximately $119,600,000 overseas for a $273,552,592 worldwide total, on a budget of $50 million.^[1]

Legacy[link]

Jerry Maguire spawned several popular quotations, including "Show me the money!" (shouted repeatedly in a phone exchange between Rod Tidwell and Jerry Maguire), "You complete me", "Help me help you", and "You had me at 'hello'" (said by Renée Zellweger's Dorothy Boyd after a lengthy romantic plea by Jerry Maguire), and "Kwan", a word used by Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s Tidwell meaning love, respect, community, and money, also spelled "quan" and "quawn", to illustrate the difference between himself and other football players: "Other football players may have the coin, but they won't have the 'Quan'". These lines are largely attributed to Cameron Crowe, director and screenwriter of the film. Zellweger said of filming the famous "hello" line, "Cameron had me say it a few different ways. It's so funny, because when I read it, I didn't get it—I thought it was a typo somehow. I kept looking at it. It was the one thing in the script that I was looking at going, 'Is that right? Can that be right? How is that right?' I thought, 'Is there a better way to say that? Am I not getting it? I just don't know how to do it.'"^[6] A video blog "Everything Is Terrible!" is running a campaign to salvage remaining VHS copies of the movie.

Accolades[link]

In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten Top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Jerry Maguire was acknowledged as the tenth best film in the sports genre.^[7][8] It was also voted by AFI as #100 on its list of 100 Passions.^[9] The quotes "Show me the money!" and "You had me at 'hello'" were also ranked by AFI on its list of 100 Movie Quotes, ranked #25 and #52 respectively.^[10]

Academy Awards

• Best Actor (Cruise, nominated)
• Best Editing (Hutshing, nominated)
• Best Picture (nominated)
• Best Screenplay – Original (Crowe, nominated)
• Best Supporting Actor (Gooding Jr., won)

Chicago Film Critics Association

• Best Supporting Actor (Gooding Jr., won)

Directors Guild of America

• Outstanding Directing – Motion Pictures (Crowe, nominated)

Golden Globe Awards

• Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Cruise, won)
• Best Film – Musical or Comedy (nominated)
• Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (Gooding Jr., nominated)

Image Awards

• Outstanding Actor – Motion Picture (Gooding Jr., nominated)

Satellite Awards

• Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Cruise, won)
• Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Gooding Jr., won)
• Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Zellweger, nominated)

Screen Actors Guild

• Outstanding Actor – Motion Picture (Cruise, nominated)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor (Gooding Jr., won)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress (Zellweger, nominated)

Writers Guild of America

• Best Screenplay – Original (Crowe, nominated)

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #100
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • Secret Garden – Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
  • "Show me the money!" – #25
  • "You had me at "hello."" – #52
  • "You complete me." – Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
• AFI's 10 Top 10 – #10 Sports Film (also nominated Romantic Comedy)

Soundtrack[link]

The movie soundtrack includes:^[11]

• The Durutti Column – "Requiem Again"
• Rickie Lee Jones – "The Horses"
• The Replacements – "I'll Be You"
• Paul McCartney – "Momma Miss America"
• Paul McCartney – "Singalong Junk"
• Elvis Presley – "Pocket Full of Rainbows"
• Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass – "The Lonely Bull"
• Merrilee Rush – "Angel of the Morning"
• The Who – "Magic Bus" and "Getting in Tune"
• Nirvana – "Something in the Way"
• AC/DC – "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"
• Tom Petty – "Free Fallin'"
• Neil Young – "World on a String"
• Bob Dylan – "Shelter from the Storm"
• Bruce Springsteen – "Secret Garden"
• The Rolling Stones - "Bitch"
• Aimee Mann – "Wise Up"
• a clip of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Charles Mingus performing (Mingus' piece is "Haitian Fight Song")

"Secret Garden", originally a Springsteen track from 1995, was re-released in 1997 after its exposure in the film and on the soundtrack, and peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.^{[citation needed]}

The film was scored by director Crowe's (now former) wife, Nancy Wilson,^[12] who was a member of the rock band Heart.

Home video releases[link]

• Jerry Maguire (1997),
• Jerry Maguire (1997) Deluxe Widescreen Presentation,
• Jerry Maguire (2002) Special Edition,
• Jerry Maguire (2008) (+ BD Live [Blu-ray}

Based on[link]

Sports agent Leigh Steinberg was the inspiration for the movie, and acted as Technical Consultant on the crew.^{[13][14][15][16]}

See also[link]

• Cinema of the United States
• List of American films of 1996

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jerry Maguire

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rod Tidwell

• Jerry Maguire at the Internet Movie Database
• Jerry Maguire at Metacritic
• The Jerry Maguire Journal, a log kept by Crowe during the film's production and published in Rolling Stone in December 1996.
• "Things we think and do not say", the memo that led Maguire to establish his own agency
• Jerry Maguire, film script (text document)

Tom Cruise
Cruise on MTV Live in December 2008
Born	Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (1962-07-03) July 3, 1962 (age 49) Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer, writer, director
Years active	1981–present
Height	5 ft 7 in
Religion	Scientology
Spouse	Mimi Rogers (1987–1990) Nicole Kidman (1990–2001) Katie Holmes (2006–present)
Children	Isabella, Connor Cruise and Suri Cruise
Website
TomCruise.com Tom Cruise Facebook Tom Cruise Twitter

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV ( /ˈtɒməs ˈkruːz ˈmeɪpɒθər/; born July 3, 1962), widely known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and has won three Golden Globe Awards for the same movies: Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Jerry Maguire (1996), Magnolia (1999). He started his career with the movie Endless Love. Cruise's first appearance in a major film was in 1981's Taps. His first leading role was in the film Risky Business,^[1] released in August 1983. Cruise played the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and successful 1986 film Top Gun, and also secret agent Ethan Hunt in the series of Mission: Impossible action films.

He has starred in a variety of other successful films, including: Rain Man (1988), Days of Thunder (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), and War of the Worlds (2005).

Since 2005, Cruise and Paula Wagner have been in charge of the United Artists film studio,^[2] with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology.^[3]

Early life[link]

Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York,^[4] the son of Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III (died 1984),^[5] an electrical engineer.^[6] Cruise's surname originates from his great-grandfather, Thomas Cruise O'Mara, who was adopted by a Welsh immigrant and renamed "Thomas Cruise Mapother".^[7][8][9] Cruise is of German, Irish, and English ancestry.^[10] He grew up in near poverty, in a Catholic family dominated by an abusive father whom Cruise has described as "a merchant of chaos".^[11] He was beaten by his father, who Cruise has said was a bully and coward.

He was the kind of person where, if something goes wrong, they kick you. It was a great lesson in my life—how he’d lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang! For me, it was like, 'There's something wrong with this guy. Don't trust him. Be careful around him.'^[11]

Cruise's family spent part of his childhood in Canada, and Cruise attended Robert Hopkins Public School in Ottawa, Ontario, for grades three, four, and five. The Mapother family then moved to the suburb of Beacon Hill, so Cruise's father could take a position as a defense consultant with the Canadian Armed Forces.^[12] There, Cruise completed grade six at Henry Munro Middle School, part of the Carleton Board of Education,^[13] where he was active in athletics, playing floor hockey almost every night, showing himself to be a ruthless player, and eventually chipping his front tooth. In the game British bulldogs, he then lost his newly capped tooth and hurt his knee.^[14] Henry Munro was also where Cruise became involved in drama, under the tutelage of George Steinburg.^[15] The first play he participated in was called IT, in which Cruise won the co-lead with Michael de Waal, one playing "Evil", the other playing "Good". The play met much acclaim, and toured with five other classmates to various schools around the Ottawa area, even being filmed at the local Ottawa TV station.^[16] Cruise was bullied regularly in the 15 different schools he attended in 12 years.^[11] When Cruise was twelve, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sister Lee Anne with her.^[11]

He briefly attended a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati (on a church scholarship) and aspired to become a Catholic priest.^[17] In his senior year, he played football for the varsity team as a linebacker, but he was cut from the squad after getting caught drinking beer before a game.^{[18] [19]}

Career[link]

Acting[link]

1980s[link]

Cruise in 1989

Cruise first appeared in supporting roles the 1981 films Endless Love and Taps, the latter in which he played a crazed military school student. His first starring role was in the 1983 comedy Losin' It. That same year he appeared in All the Right Moves and Risky Business, which has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise",^[20] and which along with 1986's Top Gun, cemented his status as a Superstar.

Cruise followed up Top Gun with The Color of Money, which came out the same year, and which paired him with Academy Award-winner Paul Newman. 1988 saw him star in Cocktail, which earned him a nomination for the Razzie Award for Worst Actor. Later that year he starred with Academy Award-winner Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, which won the Academy Award for Best Film and Cruise the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. Cruise finished the decade by portraying real-life paralyzed Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic in 1989's Born on the Fourth of July, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, the People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actor, a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Cruise's first Best Actor Academy Award nomination.

1990s[link]

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire, a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best-selling novel. The film was well received, although Rice was initially quite outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film, as Julian Sands was her first choice. Upon seeing the film however, she paid $7,740 for a two-page ad in Daily Variety praising his performance and apologizing for her previous doubts about him.^[21]

In 1996, Cruise appeared as superspy Ethan Hunt in the reboot of Mission: Impossible, which he produced. In 1996, he took on the title role in Jerry Maguire, for which he earned a Golden Globe and his second nomination for an Academy Award. In 1999, Cruise costarred with wife Nicole Kidman in the erotic Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut, and played motivational speaker Frank T.J. Mackey in the ensemble film Magnolia, for which he received another Golden Globe and nomination for an Academy Award.

2000s[link]

In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in the second installment of the Mission Impossible films, releasing Mission: Impossible II. The film was directed by Hong Kong director John Woo and branded with his gun fu style, and it continued the series' blockbuster success at the box office, taking in almost $547M in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third highest grossing film of the year. Cruise received an MTV Movie Award as Best Male Performance for this film.^[22] His next five films were major critical and commercial successes.^{[23] [24]} The following year Cruise starred in the romantic thriller Vanilla Sky (2001) with Cameron Diaz and Penélope Cruz. In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopian science fiction thriller, Minority Report which was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick.

In 2003, he starred in the Edward Zwick's historical drama The Last Samurai, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination as best actor.^[22] In 2005, Cruise worked again with Steven Spielberg in War of the Worlds, which became the fourth highest grossing film of the year with US$591.4 million worldwide. Also in 2005, he won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star, and the MTV Generation Award.^[22] Cruise was nominated for seven Saturn Awards between 2002 and 2009, winning once.^[22] Nine of the ten films he starred in during the decade made over $100 million at the box office.^[23]

Cruise in 2006

In 2006, he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in the third installment of the Mission Impossible film series, Mission: Impossible III. The film was more positively received by critics than its predecessor, and grossed nearly $400 million at the box office.^[25] Cruise's 2007 film Lions for Lambs was a rare commercial disappointment. In 2008, Cruise appeared in the hit comedy Tropic Thunder with Ben Stiller and Jack Black. This performance earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. Cruise's role in the historical thriller Valkyrie released on December 25, 2008 to box office success.^[26] As of 2009, Cruise's films have grossed over $6.5 billion worldwide.^[27]

2010s[link]

In March 2010, Cruise completed filming the action-comedy Knight and Day, in which he re-teamed with former costar Cameron Diaz; the film was released on June 23, 2010.^[28] On February 9, 2010, Cruise confirmed that he would star in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the fourth Mission:Impossible film, which was released in December 2011.^[29]

On May 6, 2011, Cruise was awarded a humanitarian award from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Museum of Tolerance for his work as a dedicated philanthropist.^[30].

In mid-2011 Cruise started shooting the movie Rock of Ages, in which he plays the character Stacee Jaxx. The film is scheduled to be released in June 2012.^[31]

Producing[link]

Cruise partnered with his former talent agent Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions in 1993,^[2] and the company has since co-produced several of Cruise's films,^[32] the first being Mission: Impossible in 1996 which was also Cruise's first project as a producer.

Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative film deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as "one of the most powerful – and richest – forces in Hollywood". Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are regarded as able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar film franchise. Epstein also contends that the public obsession with Cruise's tabloid controversies obscures full appreciation of Cruise's exceptional commercial prowess.^[33]

Cruise/Wagner Productions, Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson's New York Times bestseller, The Devil in the White City about a real life serial killer, H. H. Holmes, at Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition. Kathryn Bigelow is attached to the project to produce and helm. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair, in which DiCaprio will star.^[34]

Breakup with Paramount[link]

On August 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures announced it was ending its 14-year relationship with Cruise. In the Wall Street Journal, chairman of Viacom (Paramount's parent company) Sumner Redstone cited the economic damage to Cruise's value as an actor and producer from his controversial public behavior and views.^[35][36] Cruise/Wagner Productions responded that Paramount's announcement was a face-saving move after the production company had successfully sought alternative financing from private equity firms.^[37] Industry analysts such as Edward Jay Epstein commented that the real reason for the split was most likely Paramount's discontent over Cruise/Wagner's exceptionally large share of DVD sales from the Mission: Impossible franchise.^[38][39]

Management of United Artists[link]

In November 2006, Cruise and Paula Wagner announced that they had taken over United Artists film studio.^[2] Cruise acts as a producer and star in films for United Artists, while Wagner serves as UA's chief executive. Production began in 2007 of Valkyrie, a thriller based on the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. The film was acquired in March 2007 by United Artists. On March 21, 2007 Cruise signed on to play Claus von Stauffenberg, the protagonist. This project marks the second production to be greenlighted since Cruise and Wagner took control of United Artists. The first was its inaugural film, Lions for Lambs, directed by Robert Redford and starring Redford, Meryl Streep and Cruise. Lambs was released on November 9, 2007,^[40] opening to unimpressive box office revenue and critical reception. In August 2008, Wagner stepped down from her position at United Artists; she retains her stake in UA, which combined with Cruise's share amounts to 30 percent of the studio.^[41]

Relationships and personal life[link]

Cruise had a relationship with his Risky Business co-star Rebecca De Mornay; they cohabited in New York from 1983–85.^{[42][43][44][45]}

With Katie Holmes in May 2009

Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987; they divorced on February 4, 1990.^[1] Rogers is generally believed to have introduced Cruise to Scientology.^[46] He met his second wife, Nicole Kidman, on the set of their film Days of Thunder. The couple married on December 24, 1990. He and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella Jane (born December 1992) and Connor Antony (born January 1995).^[1] They separated in February 2001 when Kidman was three months pregnant; she later miscarried.^[47]

Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz, his co-star in Vanilla Sky. That relationship ended in 2004.^[48] In April 2005, Cruise began dating actress Katie Holmes. On April 27 that year, Cruise and Holmes, dubbed "TomKat" by the media, made their first public appearance together in Rome.^[49] A month later, Cruise declared his love for Holmes on The Oprah Winfrey Show famously jumping up and down on Winfrey's couch during the show.^[50] On October 6, 2005, Cruise and Holmes announced they were expecting a child,^[51] and their daughter, Suri, was born in April 2006. On November 18, 2006, Holmes and Cruise were married at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy, in a Scientology ceremony attended by many Hollywood stars.^[52][53] The actors' publicist said the couple had "officialized" their marriage in Los Angeles the day before the Italian ceremony.^[54] David Miscavige served as Cruise's best man.^[55]

Popularity[link]

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes interacting with fans in 2006

In 1990, 1991 and 1997, People magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, Empire magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 film stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by Premiere among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.^[1]

In 2006, Premiere ranked Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor,^[56] as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazine's 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor.^[57] The same year, Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity.^[58]

In August 2006, "a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an 'unfavorable' opinion of the actor" was cited as a reason in addition to "unacceptable behavior"^[59] for Paramount's non-renewal of their production contract with Cruise. In addition, Marketing Evaluations reports that Cruise's Q score (which is a measure of the popularity of celebrities), had fallen 40 percent. It was also revealed that Cruise is the celebrity people would least like as their best friend.

October 10, 2006 was declared "Tom Cruise Day" in Japan; the Japan Memorial Day Association said that he was awarded with a special day because he has made more trips to Japan than any other Hollywood star.^[60]

Controversy[link]

Litigation[link]

During Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman, the couple endured public speculation about their sex life and rumors that Cruise was gay. In 1998, he successfully sued the Daily Express, a British tabloid which alleged that his marriage to Kidman was a sham designed to cover up his homosexuality.^[61] In May 2001 he filed a lawsuit against gay porn actor Chad Slater. Slater had allegedly told the celebrity magazine Actustar that he had had an affair with Cruise. Both Slater and Cruise denied this^{[clarification needed]}, and in August 2001, Slater was ordered to pay $10 million to Cruise in damages after Slater declared he could not afford to defend himself against the suit and would therefore default.^[62] Cruise also sued Michael Davis, publisher of Bold Magazine, who alleged but never confirmed that he had video that would prove Cruise was gay. The suit was dropped in exchange for a public statement by Davis that the video was not of Cruise, and that Cruise was heterosexual.^[63]

After The Beast's publication of their 50 Most Loathsome People of 2004, which included Cruise, Cruise's lawyer Bertram Fields threatened to sue. Seeing the opportunity for nationwide exposure, The Beast actively encouraged the lawsuit. No lawsuit was ever filed and Cruise was included more prominently in the 2005 list.^[64] In 2006, Cruise sued cybersquatter Jeff Burgar to obtain control of the TomCruise.com domain name. When owned by Burgar, the domain redirected to information about Cruise on Celebrity1000.com. The decision to turn TomCruise.com over to Cruise was handed down by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on July 5, 2006.^[65]

[edit] Oprah Winfrey Show

Cruise has made several expressions of his feelings for Holmes to the media, most notably the "couch incident" which took place on the popular The Oprah Winfrey Show of May 23, 2005. Cruise "jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend".^[66] The phrase "jumping the couch", fashioned after "jumping the shark", is used to describe someone "going off the deep end" in public in a manner extreme enough to tarnish his or her reputation.^[67] It enjoyed a short-lived popularity, being chosen by the editors of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang as the "slang term of the year" in 2005^[68] and by the nonprofit group Global Language Monitor as one of its top phrases for the year.^[69]

The "couch incident" was voted No.1 of 2005's "Most Surprising Television Moments" on a countdown on E!^{[citation needed]} and No.5 at BoxOfficeProphets.com.^[70] and was the subject of numerous parodies, including the epilogue of Scary Movie 4, an episode of South Park, a short on Sesame Street,^[71] and an episode of Family Guy. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Lesson learned: Tell, don't show".^[72]

In early May 2008, Cruise reappeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to celebrate 25 years in the film business. The feature was a two hour special, the first hour was Oprah spending the day with Cruise at his house in Telluride, Colorado on May 2.

Scientology[link]

Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology. He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers.^[73] He has said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Study Tech, helped him overcome dyslexia.^[74] In addition to promoting various programs that introduce people to Scientology, Cruise has campaigned for Scientology to be recognized as a religion in Europe. In 2005, the Paris city council revealed that Cruise had lobbied officials Nicolas Sarkozy and Jean-Claude Gaudin, described him as a spokesman and militant for Scientology, and barred any further dealings with him.^[75][76] Cruise co-founded and raised donations for Downtown Medical to offer New York City 9/11 rescue workers detoxification therapy based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. This drew criticism from the medical profession,^[77] as well as firefighters.^[78] For these activities and others, David Miscavige awarded Cruise Scientology's Freedom Medal of Valor in late 2004.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2004, Tom Cruise said: "I think psychiatry should be outlawed."^[79] A controversy erupted in 2005 after he openly criticized actress Brooke Shields for using the drug Paxil (paroxetine), an anti-depressant to which Shields attributes her recovery from postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter in 2003. Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience. Shields responded that Cruise "should stick to saving the world from aliens and let women who are experiencing postpartum depression decide what treatment options are best for them".^[80] This led to a heated argument between Matt Lauer and Cruise on NBC's Today on June 24, 2005.^[81] Medical authorities view Cruise's comments as furthering the social stigma of mental illness.^[82][83] Shields herself called Cruise's comments "a disservice to mothers everywhere".^[84] In late August 2006, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for his comments.^[85] Scientology is well known for its opposition to mainstream psychiatry.

On January 15, 2008, a video produced by the Church of Scientology featuring an interview with Cruise was posted on YouTube, showing Cruise discussing what being a Scientologist means to him.^[86][87] The Church of Scientology said the video had been "pirated and edited", and was taken from a three-hour video produced for members of Scientology.^[87][88] YouTube removed the Cruise video from their site under threat of litigation.^[89]

Cruise's more open attitude to Scientology has been attributed to the March 2004 departure of his publicist of 14 years, Pat Kingsley. He replaced her with his sister, fellow Scientologist Lee Anne DeVette, who served in that role until November 2005.^[90] DeVette was replaced with Paul Bloch from the publicity firm Rogers and Cowan.^[91] Such restructuring is seen as a move to curtail publicity of his views on Scientology, as well as the hard-sell of his relationship with Katie Holmes backfiring with the public.^[92][93]

Filmography[link]

As producer[link]

See also[link]

Brat Pack (actors) List of people from Syracuse, New York List of Scientologists Rock of Ages (2012 film)

Biography portal Film portal Scientology portal Supercouple Tom Cruise (disambiguation) Tom Cruise: Unauthorized (1998) Tom Cruise: All the World's a Stage (2006)

References[link]