Cruise outshines Oscars rivals as Academy readies for award show
Tom Cruise lived up to his billing as the “last true movie star” as nearly 200 of this year’s Oscar nominees gathered to celebrate – and size up their competition – at the Academy’s boozy annual luncheon Monday.
There was no doubt that Cruise remained the main attraction in a room full of A-listers like Steven Spielberg and Cate Blanchett. Throughout the event, a line of well-wishers gathered to greet him, including Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and Hollywood moguls.
This year, Cruise has been nominated as a producer of Top Gun: Maverick, in which he also played a lead role. The movie is getting closer to being a front-runner for the Oscar for best picture, Hollywood’s most prestigious award.
Cruise stated to AFP, “It’s been incredible… I just want to get people into theaters.”
He admitted, pointing to the Beverly Hills ballroom with its enormous golden statuettes and open champagne bars, which was packed with Oscar nominees and voters.
On March 12, the 95th Academy Awards will be presented.
This year, Academy voters selected a number of nominations for box office successes like Maverick and Avatar: Black Panther and The Way of Water: Wakanda Forever has raised hopes that viewers of the Oscars will return.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once,” starring Michelle Yeoh, has been nominated for an Oscar. Photo: AFP: “The awards gods have smiled on us – there’s nothing we can do about that,” Glenn Weiss, who will produce the Oscars telecast ceremony again next month, joked.
Academy president Janet Yang also reiterated her desire to end the “unprecedented” controversy that occurred last year, when Will Smith infamously slapped Chris Rock live on the Oscars stage before being banned, during her luncheon speech.
The events that took place on stage were completely unacceptable. Additionally, our organization’s response was inadequate, she stated.
After striking Rock, Smith was allowed to attend the Oscars and accept his award for best actor, but he was later barred from attending the Academy Awards for a decade.
Yang exclaimed, to applause, that the Academy “must actively compassionately and decisively” in times of crisis.
After lunch, the names of the 182 nominees who were present, as well as those of the international feature film category’s directors, were read aloud, and the nominees took the customary, enormous “class photo.”
With 11 nominations, the quirky sci-fi with a majority Asian cast known as Everything Everywhere All At Once was the most nominated film this year, and its cast received many of the loudest cheers on Monday.
The Oscars luncheon crowd erupted in raucous applause for Colin Farrell and Austin Butler, who were nominated for best actor and stars in the rival films for best picture, “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Elvis.” Photo: “We paid them a lot of money to do that!” declares AFP. Michelle Yeoh, who was up for best actress, made fun of the huge success of the independent film, calling it “a dream come true.”
The luncheon crowd also erupted in applause for Colin Farrell and Austin Butler, who were nominated for best actor and stars in the best picture rivals Elvis and The Banshees of Inisherin, respectively.
Andrea Riseborough, who controversially received a sought-after nomination for best actress as a result of an intense, last-minute social media campaign led by prominent celebrities, was notable for her absence on Monday.
However, Kazuo Ishiguro was among the present nominees for the screenplay of the British drama Living, which he wrote five years after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in Stockholm.
Cate Blanchett (Tar), a nominee for best actress, attended the annual Oscars nominees luncheon. Photo: AFP: “This is very different… It’s like an American dream in some way.” He stated, “So many people long to be here.”
He continued, “The Oscars are more like an election — there is a lot more campaigning” than for other prestigious awards.
Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist and Nobel Prize winner, attended as an executive producer of the short documentary Stranger at the Gate, about a US Marine veteran who planned to blow up a mosque in his hometown.
After meeting Cruise, she told AFP, “It’s surreal.” I’ve seen him on the screen, and now I’m actually seeing him.
