Tom Cruise has hit back at Dr Kim Howells, Britain’s minister for tourism, who claimed that the Hollywood action hero was too scared of terrorism to fly to Britain, by pointing out that he is a licenced pilot.
Dr Howells criticised “swashbuckling heroes like Tom Cruise” who were “too frightened to fly” in the wake of 11 September and the threat posed by Al-Qaida terrorists.
But, when he said that Cruise lacked the “balls” to fly, his attack prompted the star of Top Gun to fire back. “Afraid of flying? He’s a pilot,” Cruise’s spokeswoman said. “His airplane is his second home.” Cruise regularly takes the controls of a £20 million Challenger jet.
“Tom was over there (Britain) this past year promoting Minority Report,” the spokeswoman said. “In fact, he was all over Europe. Maybe he (Dr Howells) said it because Mr Cruise wasn’t in Cannes? But that’s because he’s shooting The Last Samurai in New Zealand. It’s pretty hard to be in two places at the same time.”

Here is the complete article!

On a more merrier note, Minority Report won 3 Saturn Awards. Best director: Steven Spielberg, Best supporting Actress: Samantha Morton and Best Science fiction film.

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Here’s the picture of Tom, taken some weeks ago, with The Edge DJ- Jay Jay:

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Penelope Cruz talks about her relationship with Tom. Here’s the interview..

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Here’s the Last Samurai trailer. Keep in mind that it is more of a teaser than an actual trailer. We’ll see more longer trailers as the release date comes closer.

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from Tom leavin NZ….here: http://www.tomcruisefan.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=285

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Official website with a cool preview: http://lastsamurai.warnerbros.com/intros.php

Chantal has sent me a lot of cool news:

Cruise Bids Adieu to Kiwi Country

HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) – What will Tom Cruise miss most about New Zealand. The local beach and the fish and chips.

Now that principal photography has wrapped on “The Last Samurai,” Cruise, accompanied by his two children, Conor and Isabella, flew on his private jet from the North Island town of New Plymouth on Friday, reports The Associated Press.

The 40-year-old actor spent nearly four months in the Taranaki province filming a movie about Japan’s legendary warrior class adapting to Western influence in the mid-19th century.

“I’m going to miss the fish and chips, we’re going to miss our Friday night McDonald’s you know, we are going to miss the beach at night,” Cruise told a local radio station shortly before his departure.

Producers said 80 percent of the $114 million movie was shot at 10 locations around the province. “The Last Samurai” is set for release in the United States in December.

From: Zap2It

Cruise wraps up ‘Last Samurai’ shoot
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Tom Cruise says he’ll miss the local beach and fish and chips now that he’s finished filming his scenes for “The Last Samurai.”

Cruise, accompanied by his two children, Conor and Isabella, flew on his private jet from the North Island town of New Plymouth Friday.

The 40-year-old actor spent nearly four months in the Taranaki province filming on the set of the movie about Japan’s legendary warrior class adapting to Western influence in the mid-19th century.

“I’m going to miss the fish and chips, we’re going to miss our Friday night McDonald’s you know, we are going to miss the beach at night,” he told a local radio station shortly before his departure.

Producers said 80 percent of the $114 million movie was shot at 10 locations around the province. “The Last Samurai” is set for release in the United States in December. (More on Tom Cruise)

From: Canoe

Space Station, T-Rex Set Imax Box Office Records
By Etan Vlessing

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) – Imax Corp. said Thursday that the Tom Cruise (news)-narrated ‘Space Station’ movie has broken the $50 million box office barrier after 55 weeks in release, making it the fastest-grossing giant-screen 3-D film ever.

Toronto-based Imax also indicated that ‘T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous’ has reached the $75 million box office summit, making it the industry’s all-time highest-grossing Imax 3-D film. Other Imax films have taken in more money at the box office over time, but they were 2-D films, not 3-D product.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

From: Yahoo!

Actor Cruise Says Goodbye to New Zealand
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Tom Cruise (news) says he’ll miss the local beach and fish and chips now that he’s finished filming his scenes for “The Last Samurai.”

Cruise, accompanied by his two children, Conor and Isabella, flew on his private jet from the North Island town of New Plymouth on Friday.

The 40-year-old actor spent nearly four months in the Taranaki province filming on the set of the movie about Japan’s legendary warrior class adapting to Western influence in the mid-19th century.

“I’m going to miss the fish and chips, we’re going to miss our Friday night McDonald’s you know, we are going to miss the beach at night,” he told a local radio station shortly before his departure.

Producers said 80 percent of the $114 million movie was shot at 10 locations around the province. “The Last Samurai” is set for release in the United States in December.

From: Yahoo!

Tom Cruise Wraps ‘Last Samurai’
A long-haired, bearded TOM CRUISE wraps principal photography today on his newest film, ‘The Last Samurai,’ after a seven-month shoot that took cast and crew all the way from Japan to New Zealand and back to the U.S.

“From a production standpoint, this is the largest film I’ve ever been involved in in my career,” Tom said in a press conference right before the New Zealand shoot.

Tonight on ET, we have the very first images from Tom’s epic period piece, plus exclusive footage of the star reacting to a Kiwi tribe’s native blessing!

Film crews constructed a 19th-Century Japanese Village in New Zealand’s Taranaki’s Uruti Valley for the movie, with Mt. Taranaki standing in for Mt Fuji. But before filming could commence, a native tribe had to bless the movie with a sacred prayer. Tom and the film’s director, ED ZWICK (‘Glory,’ ‘The Siege’), were welcomed by the local mayor and spoke a greeting in the native tongue at a press conference. Tom thanked the locals for welcoming him and his crew and called the landscape “stunning, absolutely breathtaking.”

In the movie, Tom stars as Capt. Nathan Algren, a Civil War veteran who journeys to Japan in the late 1870s to train the troops of the emperor Meiji, who no longer wants to rely on samurai warriors to protect his territories. But when Tom’s character is captured by the banished samurai, he learns about their code of honor and has a crisis of conscience as the emperor’s new army prepares to wipe out the last samurai.

“It’s not a historical picture,” Tom said. “It’s more dealing with the spirit of the samurai, honoring the spirit of the samurai. There’s a tremendous amount of adventure. I’ve been working for eight months to get in shape for this picture. The scope of the film is quite large, and athletically I had to learn swords, Kendo, Japanese martial arts, working on a horse, all manner of weapons, [and] I’ve learned Bushido.”

Tom also trained with master swordsman NICK POWELL, who also coached the cast of ‘The Mummy,’ MEL GIBSON for ‘Braveheart’ and RUSSELL CROWE for ‘Gladiator.’

Joining Tom in the film are TONY GOLDWYN (‘Ghost’), who plays Colonel Benjamin Bagley, a Civil War veteran seeking fortune in Japan. BILLY CONNOLLY (‘Mrs. Brown’) is Sgt. Zebulah Grant, a close friend of Algren’s. TIMOTHY SPALL (‘Vanilla Sky’) plays Simon Graham, Algren’s British interpreter. And KEN WATANABE (‘Tampopo’) portrays Katsumoto, a samurai leader.

‘The Last Samurai’ is slated for release in December 2003.

From Sci-Fi to ‘Samurai’! Tom Takes Tokyo

October 08, 2002

Konichiwa! A bearded TOM CRUISE jetted to Japan this week to announce the start of principal photography on his newest film, ‘The Last Samurai.’

The period epic, directed by ED ZWICK (‘Glory,’ ‘The Siege’), stars Tom as a Civil War veteran who journeys to Japan in the late 1870s to train the troops of the emperor Meiji, who no longer wants to rely on samurai warriors to protect his territories. But when Tom’s character is captured by the samurai, he learns about their code of honor and has a crisis of conscience as the emperor’s new army prepares to wipe out the last samurai.

In preparation for the role, Tom trained with master swordsman NICK POWELL, who also trained MEL GIBSON for ‘Braveheart’ and RUSSELL CROWE for ‘Gladiator.’ Also starring TONY GOLDWYN (‘Ghost’) and BILLY CONNOLLY (‘Mrs. Brown’) and TIMOTHY SPALL (‘Vanilla Sky’), ‘The Last Samurai’ is slated for release in December 2003.

Just this past Sunday, the busy top gun also attended the closing night of the Hollywood Film Festival with the premiere of ‘Narc,’ a gritty new film starring JASON PATRIC and RAY LIOTTA. Tom produced the movie and walked the red carpet to sign autographs and show his support for the film.

From: Etonline

That’s it for the night, thanks to the wonderful Chantal for all the news! You Rock!!
And, scroll down a little bit more because Fanny has posted the TEASER POSTER of The Last Samurai!

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Remember when Tom called The Edge radio in NZ in Feburary, and talked to them for 18 minutes donating money? (look in the news archieves if you don’t know what I am talking about). Tom talked to The Edge radio again for 22 minutes before he left NZ. Click Here to listen to it. Then click on “Tom Cruise says good bye, part 1, 2, 3″. Also read JJ’s personal diary to see what she thought.
And Here is a really nice article about Tom’s departure from NZ, along with a picture. Also, another article here, along with a picture.

And VOTE for Tom as the most attractive male of the week.

And last, here’s the teaser poster for The Last Samurai:

Don’t forget to watch Access Hollywood on Wednesday!

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Here are a few caps from The Last Samurai teaser that was shown on ET yesterday. I posted the link to the teaser yesterday, so you can find that and view the teaser. These are just a few quick glimpses from the film:

Here’s one and another one, one more, another one, and last one
Of course, the full promotional trailer will be shown on Access hollywood on Wednesday. Speaking of Access hollywood, Tom and Penelope made their list of the 10 most hottest couples in Hollywood.

Also, Penelope told ET on Thursday that Tom will NOT be able to join her at this year’s Cannes Film Festival..

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Boy has there been a lot of Tom news today. As I posted earlier, Tom left Taranaki this morning, and you can view the video here. Here’s a beautiful shot of Tom Cruise waving as he leaves NZ. Also, I posted a picture of Tom and Penelope yesterday from People magazine. Here’s a close shot of that picture. And lastly, PLEASE watch Access Hollywood on Wednesday, they will show the first, full, promotional trailer of the Last Samurai (where you can catch Tom shirtless, BTW). Also, I’ll post the newest pictures from the new last samurai teaser tomorrow.

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Ok, have tons of news. First the bad part, Tom left Taranaki today. The citizens were really sad to leave Tom, but he said that he WILL come back. You can watch the video Here. You can see Tom and his son, Connor, waving right before they got into the jet.

Also, BRAND NEW LAST SAMURAI TEASER. It’s hard not to keep your hopes up high. If you watch Entertainment Tonight, watch it tonight, they will show the newest teaser from Samurai, as well as a brand new interview of Tom. You can find the whole interview Here

This is what Tom told ET:
“”It’s not a historical picture,” Tom said. “It’s more dealing with the spirit of the samurai, honoring the spirit of the samurai. There’s a tremendous amount of adventure. I’ve been working for eight months to get in shape for this picture. The scope of the film is quite large, and athletically I had to learn swords, Kendo, Japanese martial arts, working on a horse, all manner of weapons, [and] I’ve learned Bushido.”

I will make screen caps of his interview and post it here. Also, Imax Corp. said Thursday that the Tom Cruise (news)-narrated ‘SPACE STATION’ movie has broken the $50 million box office barrier after 55 weeks in release, making it the fastest-grossing giant-screen 3-D film ever.

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