Dear Gossips, 

As expected, the crowd in Cannes went wild over Tom Cruise last night for the premiere of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. He’d spent the day in and out of the Palais for various photocalls and select media opportunities, and stopped in on Christopher McQuarrie’s masterclass which I mentioned yesterday in my post. 

 

And here was the scene as he left the hotel to make his way to the red carpet. 

@excluscannesfilmfestival

Tom Cruise in Cannes for his film « Mission Impossible » 📽️🍿 @Tom Cruise #cannesfilmfestival #fyp #tiktokfashion #missionimpossible #tomcruise

♬ Mission Impossible - Adam Clayton

Inside the theatre he was greeted with roaring applause upon arrival. 

@varietymagazine

Tom Cruise enters the theater to roaring applause at the Cannes premiere of "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning."

♬ original sound - Variety - Variety
 

The movie is nearly three hours long – Sarah will be posting her review in the days to come but this was one of her complaints, that it’s excessive, and as long as it is for the audience, imagine how long it is for him?! Pretty sure he had to watch it last night and I wonder how many times it’s been for him now, on top of watching cuts of it during production and post. This, I guess, is what it takes to be Tom Cruise: you don’t get tired of yourself. As vain as I am, I would have tired of myself decades ago. 

 

The Final Reckoning received a five minute standing ovation after its almost three hour run, and this is a thing at Cannes, all the reporting about how long the ovations are to the point where they become meaningless. 

@varietymagazine

Tom Cruise beams as his death-defying stunts in the eighth #MissionImpossible film earn a 5-minute standing ovation at Cannes.

♬ original sound - Variety

Five minutes, at Cannes, isn’t a long time. There are some ovations that go as long as ten minutes. Maybe, in addition to curbing the length of a woman’s gown, the festival is also shortening the applause. 

 

As the wide release for M:I – The Final Reckoning approaches, there have been questions about whether or not this really is Tom’s last ride as Ethan Hunt. He hinted at it last night during his remarks when the movie was over and he was thanking Chris McQuarrie: “It’s been a real privilege and a pleasure. I look forward to making a bunch of other kinds of movies with you. I can’t wait.”

A bunch of other movies means not Mission movies…? 

The thing about Tom Cruise is that he almost compulsively has to keep making movies. And the movie he’s been making after wrapping on MITFR is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s next project which is still untitled. They started shooting last fall and continued through the winter. Plot details have been kept secret other than a brief description about how “the most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.”

 

And it’s an impressive cast that includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg Sandra Hüller, Emma D’Arcy, and Jesse Plemons whose wife, Kirsten Dunst, worked with Tom all those years ago on Interview With The Vampire. This is why she’s on his Christmas cake list. So Jesse’s been familiar with the Christmas cake for years. But has Jesse been shown the six-hour movie about filmmaking that Tom only screens for a select few?! 

Alejandro González Iñárritu makes movies that get nominated. And even though the movie sounds more like a Tom movie than an Iñárritu one, the expectation here is that it’s more than just popcorn and blockbuster. The film is scheduled to come out next year. I wonder whether or not we’ll be talking about a campaign. 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey