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Author Topic: Paramount Dumps Cruise
Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001


 - posted 08-22-2006 08:15 PM      Profile for Will Kutler   Email Will Kutler   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
MSNBC Home » Entertainment » Movies

Paramount cuts ties with Tom Cruise
Chairman says the star’s behavior was unacceptable to the company

Junko Kimura / Getty Images file
Paramount Pictures ends its 14-year relationship with Tom Cruise.

Updated: 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Paramount Pictures has severed its 14-year-old ties to Tom Cruise’s production company because of his off-screen behavior, the chairman of the studio’s parent company said Wednesday in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

The report signaled the end of one of the most lucrative production deals commanded by any A-list Hollywood star and followed other signs that Cruise’s public stature had been damaged by his conduct during the past year.

Cruise’s representatives and officials from Viacom and Paramount did not have any immediate comment on the report.

Days after his latest film, “Mission: Impossible III,” opened to lower-than-expected domestic ticket sales in May, an opinion poll showed his star power in the eyes of the public had dimmed considerably.

And last month, the Los Angeles Times reported that Paramount Chairman Brad Grey had informed representatives for Cruise and his production partner, Paula Wagner, that the studio planned to slash the amount it spends on their company, Cruise/Wagner Productions.

Months ago, Grey was one of several movie industry executives who publicly rallied to Cruise’s defense to insist that his status and popularity were undiminished.They were reacting to a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an “unfavorable” opinion of the actor. Many cited his off-screen behavior during the past year, including his outspoken defense of his religion, Scientology, and his blunt criticism of psychiatry and actress Brooke Shield’s treatment for postpartum depression.

Cruise also became the butt of jokes for his manic, couch-hopping appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last May to declare his love for actress Katie Holmes, who recently gave birth to Cruise’s first biological child, a daughter they named Suri.

“As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal,” Redstone was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal report e-mailed to reporters. “His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14472455/

[ 08-22-2006, 11:00 PM: Message edited by: Will Kutler ]

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Dominic Espinosa
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1172
From: Boulder Creek, CA.
Registered: Jan 2004


 - posted 08-22-2006 08:32 PM      Profile for Dominic Espinosa   Email Dominic Espinosa   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Only a matter of time until it happened. I'm sure some other studio will be quick to lend a hand to good ol' C/W productiions.

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Michael Gonzalez
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 790
From: Grand Island , NE USA
Registered: Sep 2000


 - posted 08-22-2006 08:39 PM      Profile for Michael Gonzalez   Email Michael Gonzalez   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Does this mean that Comedy Central can now air the Scientology episode of South Park again?

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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000


 - posted 08-22-2006 09:06 PM      Profile for Phil Hill   Email Phil Hill       Edit/Delete Post 
It was aired again a couple of weeks ago...

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Chris Hipp
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1462
From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas)
Registered: Jul 2003


 - posted 08-22-2006 09:17 PM      Profile for Chris Hipp   Email Chris Hipp   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Who cares about scientology, I want to see mohammed on family guy.

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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000


 - posted 08-22-2006 10:01 PM      Profile for Jason Black   Author's Homepage   Email Jason Black   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Once again.. the Hippinator strikes again.. [Smile]

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99


 - posted 08-22-2006 10:18 PM      Profile for Brad Miller   Author's Homepage   Email Brad Miller       Edit/Delete Post 
Will, read the rules and edit in that link.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000


 - posted 08-23-2006 07:01 AM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Well if Cruise finds himself getting ditched just because of the controversy over his involvement with a relatively small-scale bunch of wack jobs, I guess that means Mel Gibson has really screwed the pooch...

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 08-23-2006 12:22 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Nah, Mel Gibson still has an "in" until he makes another mainstream movie. If he makes one and it flops, then he's screwed. You're only as good as your last hit (unless you're Woody Allen, I guess.)

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Ron Yost
Master Film Handler

Posts: 344
From: Paso Robles, CA
Registered: Aug 2003


 - posted 08-23-2006 12:24 PM      Profile for Ron Yost   Email Ron Yost   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Really dumb decision on Sumner Redstone's part, in my opinion. Too bad there are so few 'movie people' making movie-making decisions these days. Probably accounts for there being so many terrible films recently.

Seems to me there are only three male sure-draws these days .. Cruise, Johnny Depp and Mel Gibson. All three are 'colorful' personalities .. but, they make $$.

I'm sure Cruise/Wagner Pdns. will find a better home with a more progressive company than Viacom. Shouldn't be difficult to do. [Big Grin]

Ron Yost

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001


 - posted 08-23-2006 07:52 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The one thing in Mel Gibson's defense is he's a zealot for a form of religion at least a couple thousand years old. There's a lot of cathedrals, classic art and various institutions which support the legitimacy of Christianity. Still, that anti-semiticism thing can really bite old Mel in the honches something fierce. Nevertheless, he's still a "nutjob" for a well established religion.

That brings me to the scientology thing.

Scientology strikes me as a sort of "pay as you go bible" -just to find out what happens as part of a freakin' made up bad science fiction story put together by someone whose ego was not in check at all.

The equivalent would be getting the Book of Genesis from the Old Testament for "free." That's just to get you into the club so to speak, at least after you've spent a week's worth of pay on some "auditing" crap. Let's go with that analogy a little further.

Want the next book, the book of Exodus? Hmm. We'll take 6 months pay for that. We'll take a year's salary for the Book of Leviticus.

Oh. I'm sorry? You want some of those New Testament chapters? Matthew? Mark? Luke? John? Well, you'll need to hook up with a good Hollywood studio for a $20 million per picture deal to find out that information. Or at least pull off a good Enron-style swindle to bilk some other people out of their cash. Revelation of Christ to John you say? Oof. You're gonna need some Halliburton money to find out about that one!

Please note, any militant scientologists who might be reading my post that I make of my own free will unaffiliated with any other organization and do so freely based on my United States Constitution supported right of free speech please know this: your lawyers can feel free to fuck off and screw with someone elsewhere. I'll say what I want and you really have no legal recourse to do anything about it. Don't like it? Tough shit. Find another battle elsewhere.

That last flippant remark by yours truly can be some indicator why Paramount has chosen to distance itself from Cruise and start airing that wonderfully funny South Park episode again. Most Americans know Scientology is a "religion" based on a made up science fiction story only a few decades old. They know about the Gistapo-like tactics aimed against families of disconnected Scientologist cult victims -as well as the numerous death threats leveled against psychologists. The group is way the hell out there and way out of touch.

In the end, I really feel bad for Tom Cruise. He is a good actor. I thought he even deserved an Oscar statue of Born on the Fourth of July; he was at least worthy of the nomination. But shit! He's got to wake up and realize he's gone off the deep end with this militant Scientology thing and get back a little closer to a more grounded approach.

Y'know, I have friends that are into all sorts of arguably crazy stuff. One of my best friends is deeply involved in Asatru, an old Viking religion that predates Christianity by thousands of years. Although she believes Christianity derives many of its themes from Asatru (and that Christians are deceiving themselves in what she feels is a later, made up religion) she doesn't go so far as to get in other people's faces saying they need to believe as she does.

That latter disconnect, not allowing others to have their own beliefs, is why we have so many damned wars.
[Mad]

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 08-23-2006 08:23 PM      Profile for Mark Gulbrandsen   Email Mark Gulbrandsen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Cruise is much better off without Redstone. He will have more control over what he makes and does... probalby will also make much higher $$ per show too. Bit really who cares... Cruise will always be around no matter what.

Mark

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99


 - posted 08-23-2006 10:07 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I think Tom Cruise is annoying. I've thought that for awhile.

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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000


 - posted 08-24-2006 01:42 AM      Profile for Phil Hill   Email Phil Hill       Edit/Delete Post 
I agree Joe. The last film Cruise made that was really good was "A Few Good Men"...and largely due to the other cast members. Everything else, including that LAME POS "War of the Worlds" and most ALL other of his films were crap!

I say good riddance! It's WAY past time for the spaceship to take him and drop him in the volcano.

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000


 - posted 08-24-2006 01:51 AM      Profile for Mike Heenan   Email Mike Heenan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The one I liked him in was cocktail... great flick

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