Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we've got quite
a stack of sources here. Biographies, public
records, financial deep dives, all focused on
one person. Yeah, a figure who's really synonymous
with Hollywood itself, isn't he? Thomas Cruise,
Mapaldo IV. Tom Cruise. And our mission really
is to try and cut through all the noise, you
know, the constant media swirl. Exactly. We want
to get down to the facts. Look at his, what,
nearly 45 -year career, unpack the business side,
the, um... the immense financial power he wields.
And of course, we have to talk about the controversies,
especially his role in the Church of Scientology.
That's just inseparable from his story, really.
It is. So let's ground this. Where does he stand
right now in 2025? The numbers are just huge.
Okay, yeah, the raw stats. His films. Over $13
.3 billion worldwide gross. That's billion with
a B. Which puts him right up there. I mean, truly
in the highest tier of actors. And it's not just
money, right? There's the recognition, too. An
honorary Palme d 'Or at Cannes, three Golden
Globes. Four Oscar nominations spanning different
kinds of roles and just recently some really
significant honors. Like the U .S. Navy's highest
civilian award, the Distinguished Public Service
Award, end of 2024. Yeah. And then the BFI Fellowship
British Film Institute in early 2025. That's
serious industry respect sustained over decades.
Few people ever achieved that kind of longevity
and influence. So you've got this picture, right?
The ultimate movie star, the guy who risks everything.
For the shot. The showman. Exactly. But then
constantly there's this other narrative running
alongside it, the Scientology advocate, the controversy
magnet. It's this duality that makes him so fascinating,
I think. So let's trace it back. How did it all
start? Because his childhood was nothing like
the life he leads now. Right. Let's get into
the genesis of the superstar, the early life,
the 80s breakthrough. OK, so the sources are
pretty clear. Born July 3rd, 1962, Syracuse,
New York. And the childhood, marked by, well,
near poverty and just constant moving. How much
moving? 15 schools in 14 years before finishing
high school. Whoa. Just imagine that instability.
And a lot of that stemmed from his father, Thomas
Cruz Mapofa III, an electrical engineer. But
the descriptions Cruz uses, they're pretty bleak.
Yeah. I saw those quotes. He called him a merchant
of chaos. A bully. A coward. Said he beat the
kids. That's incredibly dark. And Cruz himself
drew a lesson from it, didn't he? About trust.
Yeah, he described his father as someone who'd
lull you in, make you feel safe, and then bang.
It taught him, basically, don't trust him. Be
careful. That kind of early experience, that
chaos, you have to think it instilled a need
for control later on. For precision. It seems
likely, doesn't it? That need for structure,
self -reliance. His father passed away in 84,
but that early impact seems profound. Now, before
acting really took hold, there was this brief
detour, wasn't there, into religion. Right, yeah.
He had a Catholic upbringing. And for about a
year, he was actually at St. Francis Seminary
in Cincinnati. Thinking of becoming a priest.
Apparently so. Franciscan order. He was on a
scholarship. But only for a year. Why'd he leave?
Well, accounts vary. Some say the family moved
again, which, given the track record, sounds
plausible. But there's another story from a former
classmate, actually, claimed Cruz got caught
taking liquor from the seminary and was asked
to leave. Huh. Okay, so maybe not quite the path
to priesthood. Either way, by 18, he'd made a
different choice. Moved to New York City, wanted
to be an actor. His mom and stepfather supported
the move. And started right at the bottom. Oh,
yeah. Buzz Boy in New York, then shifted to L
.A. trying for TV roles. His very first film
role was tiny. Endless Love, 1981, just a bit
part. But things moved fast after that. Very
fast. Taps later in 81. That was the real launch
pad. Military Academy drama. He wasn't meant
to have a big part initially, was he? No, he
was hired basically as an extra background cadet.
But the director, Harold Becker, was apparently
just blown away by his intensity on set. So they
expanded the role. Significantly. Turned him
into David Shawn, that sort of crazed standout
cadet, a major supporting character. People noticed
him in that. And that really set the stage for
the 80s explosion. 1983 feels like the pivotal
year. Definitely. First, Coppola's The Outsiders.
Huge ensemble cast, packed with future stars
Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze. A real
who's who. Yeah. And then later that same year.
Risky business. Ah, yes. The sunglasses, the
underwear scene. It was instantly labeled, you
know, a Generation X classic, a career maker.
It just perfectly captured his energy, that mix
of. charm and rebellion. And that just catapulted
him, didn't it? Straight towards Top Gun. Exactly.
1986. Top Gun wasn't just a hit, it was a phenomenon.
It cemented him as a global superstar, a sex
symbol. It really set the template for that high
-octane, charismatic action hero he'd become
known for. But what's interesting looking back
is he didn't just stick to that, did he? He immediately
used that clout to work with serious directors.
Right. That's a smart move. Straight after Top
Gun, he does The Color of Money with Martin Scorsese.
Playing pool against Paul Nimmin. I mean, talk
about holding your own. And critics noticed.
They praised the chemistry. So you really believe
these guys were top pool players. It showed he
had dramatic chocks, not just star power. And
he followed that up quickly. Rain Man in 88.
Yeah. Opposite Dustin Hoffman. And Rain Man wins
Best Picture. Cruz is in a complex supporting
role there, showing he could play alongside another
huge talent without, you know, just dominating
through sheer charisma. It broadened his range
again. But the real turning point. Critically
speaking, the moment he went from star to maybe
respected actor, that was 89, right? Absolutely.
Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July, playing
Ron Kovach, the paralyzed Vietnam vet. That was
a huge swing for him. Massive. And the reviews
were incredible. Roger Ebert wrote something
like, nothing Cruise has done will prepare you
for what he does in this film. So the performance
was so convincing, the movie lived through it.
And that's when the awards really started coming
in. First Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama.
And, crucially, his first Oscar nomination for
Best Actor. He'd done it. He'd used his box office
power to get taken seriously as a dramatic actor.
So as we move into the 1990s, his personal life
starts becoming much more public, right? Especially
his marriage to Nicole Kidman. Yeah, they met
filming Days of Thunder in 1990s, got married
that year, and his next two big films co -start
her. Days of Thunder, the racing movie, and then
Far and Away in 92, that historical epic. Those
were solid hits, but the rest of the 90s really
shows him refusing to be pinned down. He kept
stretching. Like The Firm in 93. That was huge,
wasn't it? The John Grisham legal thriller? Massive.
Critically acclaimed, commercially successful,
proved he could carry a complex talking movie
entirely on his shoulders. And then, again, this
almost whiplash -inducing turn from legal thriller
to gothic horror. Interview with the Vampire,
1994. playing Lestat. And this is where we get
that amazing story about Anne Rice, the author.
Right. She was really against him being cast,
wasn't she? Very publicly. Extremely publicly.
She wanted Julian Sands, thought Cruise was too,
you know, all -American, too top gun for the
decadent Lestat. But then she saw the movie.
And did a complete 180. She was apparently just
stunned by his performance, how he captured the
character. And she didn't just say it. She paid
to say it. That's the incredible part. Took out
a two -page ad in Daily Variety, cost nearly
$8 ,000 back then, just to publicly apologize
and praise his performance, a huge public admission
that she was wrong. That says a lot about his
focus, his ability to transform. 1996. That feels
like another massive turning point. Maybe the
biggest strategic. Oh, absolutely. 1996 is the
year he launches Mission Impossible. And crucially,
he's not just the star, Ethan Hunt. He's the
producer. Exactly. It was the first big project
for Cruz Wagner Productions, the company he'd
set up with his former agent, Paula Wagner, back
in 93. This shift from just actor to actor producer.
That's the foundation of the power he has now,
isn't it? Completely. It gave him control, creative,
and financial. We'll definitely get more into
that. But even while building this franchise
machine, he kept chasing the critical hits, too.
Like later in 96, Jerry Maguire? Yeah, with Cameron
Crowe. Show me the money. Iconic. And another
massive success, right? Both box office and awards.
Totally. Over $273 million worldwide. showed
he could absolutely nail romantic dramedy, got
him his second Golden Globe, this time for musical
or comedy, and his second best actor Oscar nomination.
He was really balancing the blockbuster and the
prestige picture perfectly. And he finished the
decade working with absolute legends. Stanley
Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut, 1999, reuniting with
Kidman on screen, a notoriously difficult long
shoot. But his performance was praised, right,
for the commitment. Yeah, critics noted that
sort of fierce dedication he brings to everything,
and then almost immediately after Kubrick. Paul
Thomas Anderson. Magnolia. And in a supporting
role, which was a surprise for a star of his
magnitude then. Playing Frank T .J. Mackey, that
toxic motivational speaker. That role was something
else. So intense. And universally acclaimed.
Rolling Stone called him a revelation, said he
was fully deserving of the shower of superlatives,
described his energy as like a wounded animal.
Wow. And that got him more awards buzz. Third
Golden Globe, third Oscar nomination, this time
for supporting actor. It proved he was willing
to take risks, work with challenging directors,
even step out of the leading man spotlight for
the right role. He truly diversified his portfolio,
you could say. So, okay, entering the 2000s,
he's got the critical respect, he's got the production
company. Now what? Now he seems to fully embrace
becoming the undisputed king of the blockbuster,
leveraging all that capital he'd built up. Mission
Impossible 2 kicks off the decade in 2000. Directed
by John Woo. Very different style. Very different.
And it was the biggest film in the world that
year, $547 million globally. That really cemented
the MI franchise as his core action vehicle.
This is also when he starts working with Spielberg.
Yeah, a major collaboration. First, Vanilla Sky
in 2001, which was kind of a remake, a bit more
experimental. And then the big one, Minority
Report in 2002. Which is still considered a classic
sci -fi film. Absolutely. Often ranks among the
greats. It showed he could anchor these big,
intelligent, complex blockbusters, not just pure
action. But he kept mixing it up, even within
the action genre. Definitely. The Last Samurai
in 2003, historical action drama, got him another
Golden Globe nomination. And then a really interesting
move in 2004. Collateral. Playing the villain.
Yeah. Vincent, the gray -haired hitman, directed
by Michael Mann. Such a cool, sleek, neo -noir
film. And critics loved him in it. Showed a darker
side. Totally subverted his usual hero image.
It was seen as a really strong performance and
a great thriller. And all this time, Cruz Wagner
Productions is humming along behind the scenes.
Right. co -producing almost all his films, but
also backing other interesting projects where
he didn't even appear, like the others that Nicole
Kidman, Ghost Story or Shattered Glass. So his
influence was really growing beyond just his
own stardom. Massively. This is when people like
Edward J. Epstein, the Hollywood economist, started
calling him one of the most powerful and richest
forces in Hollywood. Epstein said he was in that
tiny group like Spielberg or Lucas who could
basically guarantee a billion dollar franchise
success, right? Exactly. And Epstein made that
crucial point. The public gets so caught up in
the tabloid stuff. Right, the controversies.
That they often miss the exceptional commercial
prowess, the sheer strategic brilliance of his
business operation. Which leads us directly to
that big rupture in 2006, the split with Paramount.
Yeah, that was huge news. Sumner Redstone, the
Viacom chairman back then, publicly announced
they were ending their 14 -year relationship
with Cruz Wagner. And the reason given was his
public behavior. The Oprah couch jump. The Scientology
comment. That was the official line, yeah. Redstone
claimed Cruz's antics were costing the studio
money. But was that the real reason? The sources
suggest maybe not. Well, industry analysts at
the time, and looking back, felt that the public
stuff was more of a convenient excuse. The deeper
issue, reportedly, was money. Specifically, the
money from the mission. Impossible DVDs. Exactly.
Cruz -Wagner had negotiated an incredible deal,
giving them a huge chunk of the home video revenue,
the back -end cuts. DVDs were massive then, and
Paramount was apparently furious about how much
Cruise's company was taking from this incredibly
valuable franchise. So it was really a fight
over profit sharing disguised as a reaction to
his personal life. That's what many analysts
contend. It was about the revolutionary nature
of his deal structure. So what did Cruise and
Wagner do after the Paramount split? They made
a power move. took over the management of United
Artists, the historic studio, in late 2006. So
they became studio heads, essentially. Pretty
much. Cruise produced and starred in films there,
like Lions for Lambs and Valkyrie. Wagner eventually
stepped down from the day -to -day in 2008, but
kept her stake. But the split with Paramount
didn't last forever, did it? No. Business logic
tends to win out in Hollywood. Cruise eventually
went back to Paramount, both as producer and
star. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol in 2011
really marked the big return. And launched the
modern era of that franchise, which has been
incredibly successful. Hugely successful. And
he's still making strategic moves. January 2024,
he announced a new partnership with Warner Bros.
Discovery. Developing and producing films there,
both original stuff and potential franchises.
It shows the industry still sees him as a major
creative and financial force. So the 2010s, 2020s.
This is peak Tom Cruise, the global action phenomenon.
Absolutely. Box office juggernaut. He even holds
a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive
movies grossing over $100 million. How many is
that? Seven films in a row between 2011 and 2018.
Just an incredible run of commercial fits. And
then the biggest of them all, Top Gun Maverick
in 2022. Yeah, just blew everyone away. Huge
critical acclaim, broke box office records left
and right. Over a billion dollars worldwide,
his highest grossing film ever. And his personal
payday from that was reported to be enormous,
wasn't it? Estimated at around $100 million.
How does that work? How does he make that much
from one movie? It goes back to those back -end
deals. He doesn't just take a salary up front.
He gets a percentage of the film's total revenue
after the studio makes back its costs. So not
just ticket sales. No, everything. Rentals, streaming
deals, Blu -ray sales, TV rights. across the
entire life of the film it's a structure that
gives him immense earning potential and frankly
leverage it's incredible financial engineering
really but even he can't control everything right
like what happened with the last mission impossible
right dead reckoning part one in 2023 critically
it was well received people liked the movie but
the box office was disappointing Yeah. Compared
to expectations. Yeah. And largely because of
timing. It ran straight into the Barbenheimer
phenomenon. The simultaneous release of Barbie
and Oppenheimer. Exactly. That cultural moment
just sucked up all the oxygen, all the screens.
It showed that even Tom Cruise can get caught
in the cross currents of unexpected cultural
trends. He guarantees spectacle, but not always
the release window. So what's next? He's got
another. Mission Impossible coming. Mission Impossible,
The Final Reckoning, set for 2025. And he said
this will be his last time playing Ethan Hunt.
The end of an era for that character. Definitely.
But he's not stopping. He's already lining up
other big projects, like that untitled film with
director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu at Warner
Bros. High prestige stuff. And still doing crazy
stunts. I saw something about him jumping off
a stadium roof. Yeah. Stade de France in Paris,
apparently, for a promo shoot for the L .A. 2028
Olympics. The commitment to spectacle is just
undimmed. OK, so that's the professional side,
unparalleled success, strategic genius, physical
commitment. But we have to turn to the other
side now, the public life, the personal controversies
mainly revolving around Scientology. Right. And
his involvement there goes way back, since 1986.
It's been a constant thread and a constant source
of media scrutiny. Let's trace the relationships
again, but through that lens. His first wife,
Mimi Rogers. Married 87 to 90. She was actually
a second generation Scientologist, one of their
auditors. That's their term for counselors, basically.
She's the one who introduced him to Scientology.
And after they divorced, she gave that Playboy
interview. Yeah, in 93. Suggested Cruz had considered
becoming a monk and that it affected their intimacy,
but she later retracted those specific comments.
Under pressure. Sources suggest yes. Friends
claimed Tom, agents, studios were furious, told
her career was basically over unless she walked
it back. She did end up getting a substantial
divorce settlement, around $4 million. Then came
Nicole Kidman. Met on Days of Thunder, married
1990, adopted two children. Divorced 2001. Right.
Publicly, Kidman mentioned suffering an ectopic
pregnancy and a later miscarriage during the
marriage. But behind the scenes, there were allegations
about Scientology's role in the breakup. Yeah,
this comes from former high -ranking Scientologist
Mike Rinder. He claimed the church actively worked
to break them up. Alleged pressure on Cruz increased
auditing. And even phone tapping on Kidman. Rinder
alleged that, yeah, to monitor her. Now, Cruz's
lawyer vehemently denied any wiretapping. But
the claim itself points to the perception of
the church's deep influence in his personal life.
After Kidman, he dated Penelope Cruz for about
three years, until 2004. Then things got really
intense regarding his relationships in Scientology,
didn't they? That's when Vanity Fair published
that explosive article, alleging that after the
crew's breakup, Scientology leaders launched
a secret project. A project to find him a new
girlfriend. Essentially, yes. To audition Scientologist
actresses. The article described a process, interviewing
candidates, asking deeply personal questions.
And this allegedly led to a brief relationship
with actress Nazanin Bonaidi. That was the claim.
Bonatti later left Scientology and described
the whole process, her time with Cruz, in very
harsh terms comparing it to white slavery. Wow.
How did Scientology and Cruz respond? Strong
denials. Threatened lawsuits against Vanity Fair,
called it religious bigotry. But the story stuck,
adding to the narrative of intense church involvement
in his life. And then Tomcat. Ah, yes. Katie
Holmes. Starting in April 2005. And the couch
jump. The Oprah couch jump. That became the defining
image, didn't it? That public declaration of
love. It was a lot. They got married in November
2006. A big Scientology ceremony in Italy. With
David Miscavige, the leader of Scientology, as
his best man. Very high profile. But the marriage
didn't last. Holmes filed for divorce in 2012.
And the reason became public later. Yeah. During
subsequent legal proceedings, Cruz himself admitted
under deposition that Holmes divorced him partly
to protect their daughter, Suri, from Scientology.
That's a huge admission. Massive. He also confirmed
Suri is no longer a practicing Scientologist.
It really laid bare the personal cost and family
conflict stemming from his deep commitment to
the church. And that commitment, as you said,
started in 86. He's known to be very close to
Miscavige. Yes. And he credits Scientology's
methods specifically. something called study
technology with helping him overcome his dyslexia.
What is study technology exactly? It's Scientology's
approach to learning. Focuses on identifying
barriers like misunderstood words to improve
comprehension. He genuinely believes it helped
him significantly. But his public advocacy for
Scientology has often backfired, hasn't it? Consistently.
After 9 -11, for instance, he co -founded this
group, Downtown Medical, offered detoxification
therapy to rescue workers. Based on Scientology
principles. Yeah, L. Ron Hubbard's purification
rundown. Saunas, vitamins, oils. But it drew
immediate strong criticism from doctors and firefighters.
Called it pseudoscience, potentially harmful.
Yet he received an award from Scientology for
it. Yeah, Miscavige gave him the Scientology
Freedom Medal of Valor for that initiative. highlighted
the disconnect between how the church viewed
his actions and how the outside world, particularly
the medical community, saw them. His lobbying
efforts have caused issues, too. Like in France.
Right. 2005, he lobbied the French interior minister,
Nicolas Sarkozy, at the time, trying to get Scientology
recognized officially as a religion there. And
the reaction? The Council of Paris basically
said, no more dealings with this guy, called
him a militant spokesman for Scientology, showed
his activism could have real diplomatic consequences.
We also know he turned down a Kennedy Center
honor from President Trump in 2025. But. The
biggest public controversy, the one everyone
remembers, has to be the anti -psychiatry stuff.
Oh, absolutely. His statement that psychiatry
should be outlawed. Right. His claim that there's
no such thing as a chemical imbalance. And specifically
calling out Brooke Shields for using Paxil for
postpartum depression. Yes. That led to her famous
response. Tom should stick to saving the world
from aliens and let women who are experiencing
postpartum depression decide what treatment options
are best for them. And it culminated in that
incredibly awkward, heated interview with Matt
Lauer on the Today Show in 2005. Yeah, where
Cruz called Lauer glib for questioning his stance
on psychiatric drugs. It was a major media moment.
How did the medical world react? Very negatively.
Medical authorities felt his comments were actively
harmful, increasing the stigma around mental
illness, potentially stopping people from seeking
help. The Lancet, the medical journal, basically
said, look, maybe drugs are overused sometimes,
but a celebrity shouldn't be adding to the burden
of the mentally ill. Did he ever walk that back?
He did eventually apologize personally to Brooke
Shields in 2006, but the public perception damage
was significant and long -lasting. And finally,
there's the pattern of litigation. He seems quick
to sue to protect his image. Very much so. He
successfully sued tabloids over false claims
about his sexuality, won a huge $10 million default
judgment against a porn actor who falsely claimed
an affair. But the lawsuit about abandoning his
daughter Suri... That one backfired a bit, didn't
it? In a way, he sued In Touch and Life and Style
magazines for defamation over headlines claiming
he'd abandoned Suri after the divorce. But during
the deposition for that case... He had to admit
under oath that he hadn't actually seen his daughter
in 110 days at that point. Oof. Yeah. While he
eventually settled the suit, that admission revealed
a difficult personal reality behind the public
image he fought so hard to control. It just highlights
this constant battle to manage the narrative.
Okay, so weaving this all together, The incredible
career, the controversies. How do we understand
his enduring legacy? Roger Ebert had a theory,
didn't he? Yeah. About a formula. Yeah. Ebert
identified what he called the Tom Cruise picture
formula, especially looking at those 80s hits.
But you can see elements of it recurring throughout
his career. A formula for success. What were
the ingredients? Ebert listed nine key things.
Let's see if I can remember them. Okay. One,
the Cruise character, usually the hotshot, maybe
an underachiever initially. Right. Two, the mentor
figure who guides him. Three. The superior woman,
often the love interest, sometimes a superior
officer or professional. Four. The craft, the
skill he has to master, like flying, pool, lawyering.
Five. The arena, the specific world or institution,
like Top Gun school, a courtroom. Six. The arcana,
the secret knowledge or jargon of that world.
Seven. The trail, the journey or process of learning.
Eight. The proto -enemy, often internal flaw,
like recklessness or an early rival. Like Iceman
and Top Gun. Exactly. And finally, nine, the
eventual enemy, the external threat or antagonist
he has to overcome. If you apply that to Top
Gun, it fits perfectly. Maverick's the hotshot,
needs to hone flying, the craft in the arena.
Top Gun's school, mentored by Viper, deals with
his recklessness, proto -enemy. And Iceman takes
on the MiGs. Eventual enemy. Precisely. But what's
clever, as Ebert pointed out, is how Cruz sometimes
uses the formula but flips the emotional core.
How so? Take a few good men. Caffey is the hotshot
lawyer, the underachiever who coasts. The craft
he needs to hone isn't about gaining discipline
like Maverick. It's about letting go of his cynical
detachment and actually committing, challenging
the system. Ah, I see. So the formula provides
structure, but the internal journey can change.
Right. or Rain Man. Charlie Babbitt is the hotshot
hustler. The craft isn't business, it's learning
empathy, connecting with his brother. The arcana
is understanding Raymond's world. The arena is
the road trip. The proto -enemy is his own greed.
It's adaptable. That's fascinating. Explain some
of that consistent appeal. Beyond the films,
his personal passions have become part of his
image too, right? Like aviation. Definitely.
He's been a licensed pilot since 94. Flies aerobatics.
owns his own P -51 Mustang Warbird. He was inducted
into the Living Legends of Aviation Group in
2010. It's not just an on -screen thing. And
he has this unique international standing, especially
in Japan. Yeah, remarkably so. Apparently, his
connection with Japan is so strong that back
in 2006, October 10th was officially declared
Tom Cruise Day there. That's a pretty unique
honor for a Western celebrity. And the industry
continues to recognize his power, not just as
an actor, but as a producer. Right. Receiving
the David O. Selznick Achievement Award from
the Producers Guild in 2022, that's a major acknowledgement
of his business impact. And the most recent awards
really lean into the action star persona. Seems
like it. Winning the Critics' Choice Super Award
for Best Actor in an Action Movie three years
running 2023, 2024, 2025, even in his 60s, he's
still seen as the absolute benchmark for action
performance. So wrapping this all up for you,
the listener. What are we seeing here? We've
tracked this journey from, frankly, a really
tough childhood. Yeah, chaotic, unstable. To
this global figure defined by an almost obsessive
need for control. Control over the finances,
the back end deals. Control over the stunts,
the production, the physical performance. And
often. trying desperately to control the public
narrative, especially around his personal life
and beliefs. And that duality is the core, isn't
it? The absolute mastery of filmmaking craft
and commercial strategy on one hand. Contrasted
with a personal life constantly under a microscope,
often defined by controversial affiliations and
legal fights, like Epstein said, the noise often
drowns out appreciation for the sheer scale of
his professional achievement. The sources are
clear. He's one of maybe a tiny handful of people
left who can reliably open a massive billion
dollar potential movie purely on his name and
commitment. So given that undeniable bankability,
that dedication to spectacle, the unique financial
power he holds, we have to leave you with a question
to think about. With Mission impossible supposedly
ending for him in 2025, does the entire concept
of the singular, globally bankable movie star
now rest primarily on his shoulders? And if it
does, what happens to the blockbuster landscape
when Ethan Hunt finally hangs it up? What does
that future look like? Something for you to chew
on.