Tom Cruise was the star of the top-grossing movie of 2022 (at the domestic box office). James Cameron directed the biggest film of the year (at the worldwide box office). So, why weren’t they at the 2023 Oscars on Sunday?
A representative for Cruise told the Guardian that he wasn’t in attendance because “the actor is filming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part II, the action franchise’s upcoming eighth installment, in Europe.” If Top Gun: Maverick was named Best Picture, producer Jerry Bruckheimer would have accepted the Oscar; Everything Everywhere All at Once ended up winning. When Cruise found out that the Top Gun sequel lost, he let out his aggression by jumping his motorcycle over a pit of man-eating lions… I assume.
Meanwhile, Jon Landau, who produced Avatar: The Way of Water, told the New York Times that Cameron’s absence was due to “personal reasons.” If you direct three of the four highest-grossing movies ever, the Oscars need you more than you need the Oscars.
Host Jimmy Kimmel joked about Cruise and Cameron not being at the Oscars during the ceremony. “You know, Tom [Cruise] and James Cameron didn’t show up tonight. The two guys who insisted we go to the theatre didn’t come the theater,” he said. Kimmel later called Cruise “L Ron Hubba Hubba.” Hm, maybe that’s why he didn’t show up?
(Via the Guardian)