LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Seeking to end speculation that superstar Tom Cruise may soon leave Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s United Artists film label, MGM Chairman Harry Sloan said on Thursday the actor will stay a “full partner” at the studio.

“He will continue as our full partner in control of UA. He is in the middle of one of the greatest careers our industry has ever seen and one that will continue at the top of United Artists Entertainment,” Sloan said in statement.

One day earlier, Cruise’s long-time producing partner Paula Wagner left her post as chief executive of UA to return to making movies instead of running the specialty film company.

MGM said in a statement late Wednesday that Cruise would remain with UA, but speculation continued in Hollywood on Thursday that Cruise might soon leave.

Cruise and Wagner, who was Cruise’s producing partner on movies such as the “Mission: Impossible” series, acquired around 30 percent of the MGM division nearly two years ago to revive the studio formed by Hollywood luminaries Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffiths.

But under Wagner’s tenure, UA released just one movie, “Lions for Lambs,” that flopped at box offices, and they have seen their World War II drama “Valkyrie” delayed.

Still, Wagner left with several high-profile projects in development including “Ranger’s Apprentice” from Oscar winner Paul Haggis and “Champions” by Guillermo del Toro.

Wagner retained her ownership stake in UA, and the studio continues to operate with a full staff that includes Chief Operating Officer Elliot Kleinberg.

(Editing by Richard Chang) (Source: Yahoo! News)

Paula Wagner leaving UA as chief executive

LOS ANGELES – Tom Cruise’s producing partner Paula Wagner said Wednesday she will leave her job as chief executive of United Artists to produce projects independently.

Wagner will continue to co-own the studio with Cruise and “be attached to UA’s most exciting film properties,” UA and its parent company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. added in a joint statement.

Cruise and Wagner were brought in to head UA in November 2006.

She said she still believes in the vision she and Cruise have for the film studio that was formed nearly 90 years ago by Hollywood actors including Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.

“I am proud of all that we’ve accomplished in the past two years,” she said.

However, the effort has faced challenges.

The studio flopped on its first production attempt with last year’s political thriller “Lions for Lambs,” which was estimated to have lost about $30 million. Wagner has said the company took a modest financial risk with the film but its symbolic benefits were invaluable.

UA’s second effort “Valkyrie,” starring Cruise as a Nazi army officer executed after a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, has been delayed a few times.

In April, UA pushed back the release date from Oct. 3 to February 2009. MGM announced Wednesday the film would be released Dec. 26.

“We saw and tested the movie, and we believe a strong movie deserves a strong play date,” said Clark Woods, president of MGM Distribution. (Source: Yahoo! News)

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Source: The Hollywood Reporter August 12, 2008

Tom Cruise is loosely attached to Food Fight, a warmhearted comedy about a snooty New York chef who is forced to cook meals at a school cafeteria, says The Hollywood Reporter. Cruise would play the role of the chef in the project at Universal-based Working Title.

Veteran screenwriter Adam Brooks (Definitely, Maybe) is attached to write the screenplay. Drillbit Taylor helmer Steven Brill had been in talks to direct Food Fight, but they came to naught; a search for a new director is under way.

“Food Fight” would mark a departure for Cruise, who has made few comedies since his breakout role in 1983′s “Risky business”: His last such lead role was in 1996′s dramedy “Jerry Maguire.”

In Tropic Thunder, Cruise plays an overweight, over-the-top studio executive. He has had other bit comedy parts over the years in films like Austin Powers in Goldmember. (Source: Coming Soon)

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Source: Variety

Columbia Pictures espionage thriller Edwin A. Salt, once expected to star Tom Cruise, will be rewritten by screenwriter Kurt Wimmer as a star vehicle for Angelina Jolie, reports Variety. Philip Noyce remains attached as director and Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Sunil Perkash are producing.

Jolie is close to a deal to play the title character, a CIA officer who’s accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy and must elude capture long enough to establish her innocence.

Cruise had long flirted with the project, but that ended recently. The well-regarded script had several male movie stars circling.

Jolie took a liking to it, prompting the studio’s decision to rewrite it. The trade adds that the project won’t require that much of an overhaul to suit her.

Edwin A. Salt will undergo a title change, and if everything falls into place, the film shapes up as a return vehicle for Jolie, who recently gave birth to twins. Another candidate for her return is the Lionsgate drama Atlas Shrugged, which has been adapted by Randall Wallace from the Ayn Rand novel. (Source: Coming Soon)

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Holmes Denies Forcing Out Cruise’s Family

Tom Cruise’s representative has denied the star’s wife, Katie Holmes, has ordered his mother and sister to move out of the couple’s family home.

Cruise’s mom, Mary Lee South, and his sister Cass have been living with the Hollywood actor at his mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif., since his divorce from Nicole Kidman in 2001. But now the star’s family have decided to quit the luxury property, leaving Cruise, Holmes and their 2-year-old daughter, Suri, alone in the house.

The move sparked rumors that Holmes had played a part in their departure. But a representative for Cruise has dismissed the claims, telling the London newspaper Metro, “This has nothing to do with Katie.” (SFGate)

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It’s been 25 years since he shimmied in his skivvies in Risky Business, but Tom Cruise can still shake it like a pro, according to his Tropic Thunder director Ben Stiller.

“The guy has moves,” says Stiller, who also co-wrote and stars in the military-themed action-comedy.

Cruise, 46, is winning raves for his role as a vulgar, venom-spewing studio executive in the movie, in which he’s nearly unrecognizable beneath a fat suit, a bald cap and a beard.

The dancing was Cruise’s idea, says his director.

“It wasn’t in the script,” Stiller said during a press day for the film. “He was like, ‘You know, I really feel like I want this guy to dance.’ ”

Some of the physical transformation was Cruise’s brainchild too. “He said, ‘I really want to have some big, hairy hands,’ ” says Stiller. “I actually didn’t have to sell him on anything.”

Cruise isn’t the only Thunder actor who took on a controversial, image-twisting role: Robert Downey Jr. has drawn praise for his portrayal of an African-American actor in the movie.

Tropic Thunder hits theaters Aug. 13. (People, August 07, 2008)

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Tom Cruise says Ben Stiller is his inspiration. Cruise, who has a cameo as a fat balding studio executive in Ben’s new comedy ‘Tropic Thunder’, loved working with the comic star and has praised his achievements in Hollywood. He said: “One can’t fully appreciate what Ben has accomplished in acting, writing, directing, producing, and starring in a film like ‘Tropic Thunder’ without recognising that any single one of these functions alone is a full-time job.” Cruise, who worked with Stiller on 2000 mockumentary ‘Mission: Improbable’, has also revealed he didn’t hesitate at the chance to team up with him again after Ben described the movie as his “dream project”.

The 46-year-old ‘Top Gun’ star added to Men’s Vogue magazine: “To make a long story short, I read it, I loved it, and we started working on it.”

Meanwhile, Ben has praised Tom’s comic timing in ‘Tropic Thunder’ and insists he was prepared to do anything to raise a laugh.

Stiller said: “He said, ‘I want really big hands playing this guy.’ I said, ‘Really? Big hands?’ He had these hands made, and then I said, ‘Well, it’d be really cool if you were bald too.’ Then we did this make-up test where he got bald.

“Then he said, ‘It’d be interesting if this guy danced.’ He started dancing. I was loving it. I asked him if he’d be up for dancing in the end credits and he said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ ” (Source: iafrica)

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Sorry “Top Gun” fans, it appears Tom Cruise returning to the franchise has not been cleared for take off.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced suggesting Cruise was in line to reprise his role as Maverick in the fighter jet film, 22 years after the original.

However, “Access Hollywood” has confirmed those reports are false.

When contacted by “Access,” a spokesperson for Paramount (which released “Top Gun” in 1986) said there was “no way” Cruise would be returning to the role.

In addition, a rep for Cruise also told “Access” the reports of a Maverick reprisal are completely untrue.

According to the erroneous reports, the sequel would have seen Cruise’s character returning to Top Gun school as a flight instructor.

Fans can catch Cruise on the big screen in a brief cameo in the upcoming comedy “Tropic Thunder,” which hits theaters Aug. 13.

His next starring role will come in the World War II drama “Valkyrie,” slated for a February 2009 release. (MSNBC)

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Sun, 20 July 2008 at 5:48 pm

Tom Cruise and wife Katie Holmes bring a bit of Hollywood to the pit lane at the Red Bull US MotoGP World Championship on Sunday at the Laguna Seca track in California.

MotoGP is the world’s premier motorcycling championship, with a season of 18 Grand Prix in 16 countries.

Follow the MotoGP Grand Prix live on MotoGP.com. Live Video allows you to view every detail of the practice sessions and the race! (Source: Just Jared)

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Source: Moviehole July 19, 2008

Fox News’ Roger Friedman is reporting that Tom Cruise is set to be replaced by Will Smith in the Phillip Noyce drama, Edwin A. Salt. The problem is, it’s not true.

Moviehole reports: “We can confirm that this isn’t true – none of it. High-ranking contacts within the production tell us – and we quote – “The studio, producers, director and potential star (Cruise) are all waiting on a rewrite of the script from Kurt Wimmer, which is due in a few weeks. Will Smith has not been approached to star. Cruise is the only actor who has been approached.”

The Columbia Pictures release is about a CIA officer who is fingered by a defector as a Russian sleeper spy. Salt must elude capture by his superiors and sets out to reunite with his family and prove his innocence. (ComingSoon.net)

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Thu, 17 July 2008 at 8:01 am

Katie Holmes gets picked up and escorted home by husband Tom Cruise after spending some time with her mom in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old actress has been shooting for her guest spot on Eli Stone.

Eli producer Marc Guggenheim told E! that Katie, who is shooting in the next few days, might return. “There is absolutely the possibility for the character to recur. She’s wonderful and if she wants to come back, she’s more than welcome.”

“She is not just in one or two scenes. She is in a significant portion of the scenes. She is singing and dancing, but we do want to keep some of that a secret.” (Source: Just Jared)

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