The film production giant Paramount Pictures just dropped Tom Cruise from their company, citing his inappropriate behavior in public (TomKat jumps on a couch, tells Matt Lauer he needs to do more research and claims Brooke Shields is a drug addict, etc.) as the reason why.
Why does this remind me of when my kids were young declaring no more dinners out for a while until they could contain their spoon-tossing, water-capsizing, and otherwise uncivilized behavior?
I never thought it would happen but... a mega movie star got not just reprimanded but fired. And obviously, it was not family, friends or (where are the?) handlers who told Tom to tone it down, for his image and popularity's sake. It was the folks at Paramount who made a whopping 1 billion dollars off Tom but decided to sever ties with him and his work, letting the public know that Tom had to have really crossed the line of social acceptability to force them to do so.
In light of the recent Cruise news, Matt Lauer put in his two cents on Today, questioning why or why not other celebrities who say, endure drug addictions and enter and re-enter rehab, aren't given the same kick in the butt as Tom? Now that Paramount has something is being done to curb star's inappropriate behavior, it does get you thinking how other stars are allowed to get away with all their antics and still get paid by the studios that shell out big bucks to produce and promote the movies that make them famous. Aka always-late-to-work Lindsay Lohan.
Obviously, money and cutting losses is Paramount's incentive, more so than Tom's bizarre couch-hopping, Scientology-infused public critiques and displays. When it comes down to it, Tom was fired because his behavior cost his parent company serious money - especially with the releases of Cruise's last two film disappointments (at least box office wise), War of the Worlds and Mission Impossible 3. And while Tom's slap on the wrist seems a bit too late for my taste, it does send a provocative message about how even mega, super star celebs can't get away with letting their personal life implode their professional careers or more accurately, sales.
Well, Tom has already begun to respond, and not just by shopping around for a new production home. He has started backpedaling about his searing comments regarding Brooks Shield's use of antidepressants post-partum. Sounds like Katie's experience after giving birth may has softened his extreme position? Next up, the grand revelation of the Suri pictures in the fall issue of Vogue. In which I predict Suri will look adorable and normal, and we will be left in a huge let down of why Cruise toyed with the public so long with this impenetrable shield of privacy after the HUGE public build-up he created about the pregnancy and birth. I mean if Katie actually had the baby herself and the baby is normal, then why all the hoopla, the secretiveness, and the obviously highly structured visits and strategic post-comments by less than a handful of friends and ex-girlfriend?
The other question on my mind is whether sequestered Katie, living under his reportedly domineering rules and being hourly indoctrinated into Scientology, will think of firing him next? Will she tire of him not allowing her to go out in public with her baby? Not be able to invite her friends over to hang out, as apparently she is not? Not be able to dash home to visit the folks and friends she grew up with and show off Suri? Instead, we see endless pictures of Katie shopping at Barney's. Again and again. And my take on this is that all Katie's shopping has been her attempts at a temporary lift from sadness.
Image from BET
Apparently, all the naysaying, science fiction reading, conspiracy theorists were wrong - Suri Cruise lives! And, I must say, she is quite cute.
