Recognition from his peers! Tom Cruise has had a long and storied career in Hollywood — but the awards season recognition for Top Gun: Maverick is a new high.
“Tom is over the moon that he’s been nominated as a producer by both the Oscars, and especially the Producers Guild,” an insider exclusively reveals of the Mission: Impossible actor, 60, in the new issue of Us Weekly.
The action star recently accepted the David O. Selznick Achievement Award — which recognizes a producer for their “extraordinary body of work in motion pictures” — at the 2023 Producers Guild of America Awards. Past honorees include Clint Eastwood, Jerry Bruckheimer, Steven Spielberg and Michael Douglas.
“Filmmaking for Tom these days is all about creating the whole package and making it work and make money, as opposed to having that one scene in the film where he cries or yells and generates the perfect ‘Oscars clip,'” the source adds. “Tom has grown out of caring about that stuff, and in the process has grown into an absolutely killer businessman and producer — and that’s the real thing he’s intent on celebrating this awards season.”
The War of the Worlds star praised his fellow filmmakers while accepting his Producers Guild trophy on February 25, saying that he was “rooting” for their success.
“I know that things don’t just happen. I know it’s not just luck. You have to create that luck,” Cruise told the crowd. “You have to will it into existence. I want you to know that I’m always rooting for you. I’m rooting for all of you. The better every studio does, the better every film does, the better we all do and the better it is for everyone. I look forward to seeing what you create in the future, and I’ll continue to do all I can to contribute and help this industry and this art form that I love.”
In January, the Minority Report actor scored an Oscar nomination as a producer on Top Gun: Maverick, which hit theaters in May 2022. He has previously been nominated three times as an actor — scoring nods for Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia — but he has never won.
Top Gun: Maverick, however, could be the movie that changes his luck at the Academy Awards. The film is also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Sound, Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects.
The insider notes that Cruise will also be pulling for his “old friend” Andrea Riseborough at this year’s Oscars, which air on Sunday, March 12. The U.K. native, 41, scored a surprise Best Actress nomination for her performance in To Leslie, an independent film that made less than $40,000 at the box office.
Riseborough and Cruise previously worked together on the 2013 action film Oblivion, which was directed by Joseph Kosinski, who also helmed Top Gun: Maverick.
The other 2023 nominees for Best Actress include Cate Blanchett for Tár, Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Ana de Armas for Blonde and Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans.
For more on how Cruise is celebrating during awards season, watch the video above and pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
