The Lame Reason Tom Cruise Bailed From The Oscars Last Minute Has Been Revealed

tom cruise top gun maverick

Paramount Pictures


Tom Cruise still has that juice. The success of Top Gun: Maverick is all you need to prove it, as it not only became one of the highest-grossing films ever made but it had an extended theatrical run the likes of which the industry hasn’t seen in some time.

Top Gun: Maverick was also a critical darling, as it racked up six Academy Award nominations — including a Best Picture nod — to go along with its 96% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

And yet, when it came time for all of Hollywood’s stars to gather to celebrate the year that was in film, Cruise was nowhere to be found at the Academy Awards on Sunday night despite attending the official luncheon just a few days prior.

As for why Cruise bailed at the last minute, reports indicate that he caught wind that Knocked Up director helped Jimmy Kimmel write his monologue, which perturbed the 60-year-old movie star as Apatow previously took some shots at him while speaking at the DGA Awards. Apatow, however, apparently did not help Kimmel write his monology, which did include some shots at Cruise, including a Scientology joke.

Insiders had hinted that Cruise pulled out because he had caught wind that Judd Apatow — who had made a series of brutal jokes at Cruise’s expense at the DGA Awards — was helping with Kimmel’s monologue. But that wasn’t actually the case, and McNearney hopes that’s not the reason Cruise didn’t come.

“Jimmy tends to send his monologue to a group of people he trusts, comedy writers and comedians,” McNearney said. “They don’t help with the monologue. They just tell him like that joke’s working, that joke’s not working. No, Judd was not writing or doing anything for the monologue.” [via Variety]

While Top Gun: Maverick never came close to winning any of the major awards (such as Best Picture), it did take home the Oscar for Best Sound Design.

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