The (Top Gun and Mission Impossible) Running Man

Tom Cruise did not attend the London premiere of The Running Man last night but it felt like he was there because I’m having a harder and harder time distinguishing him from Glen Powell right now. 

If we’re talking about the “running man”, there is no other movie star more associated with running than Tom Cruise so Tom seems to be coming up so much during the promotion for this film, it’s almost like he’s an uncredited actor. 

@entertainment_weekly

After getting cast in TheRunningMan, GlenPowell’s first call was to #TomCruise 🏃🏻‍♂️💨

♬ original sound - Entertainment Weekly

Glen of course is Tom’s spiritual successor, his mentee/protégé, and Glen on the carpet is totally giving Tom. Like, Glen might be taller but the squinty smiley eye smile, the faraway movie star gaze, the dazzling confidence in his pose… and the teeth…!

This is Tom Cruise 2000 all over again, a quarter of a century time loop and body swap playing out before our very eyes. 

And Tom isn’t just living through Glen, he’s also present by association with some of the other celebrities on the carpet. Like Hayley Atwell and Simon Pegg – that combination automatically invokes Mission Impossible, right? At this point they should just put it on the movie poster: “Tom Cruise approved”. He probably wouldn’t even invoice them, LOL.

You know what made me laugh though? If you look at the group shot of the cast on the carpet last night and you didn’t know anything about this project… who is the main character here?! ALWAYS COLMAN DOMINGO.

He is a king wearing king clothing. 

And his heir would be Lee Pace who is sexy AF in the monochrome grey, a trench over a suit, and no shirt underneath, with his hair grown out to that dirtbag length. YUM. Leave it to the gays to save us, as usual.