Tom Cruise is a Movie Star People Pleaser. This has always been his mission statement, what he says fuels him, keeps him running and jumping and riding on bridges and off airplanes and cliffs – Tom is here to entertain you, goddamn it. He is here to give you what you want. And where gossip is concerned, as I have said a few times this year, what is good for gossip is Tom Cruise and Ana de Armas. And Tom is here to please. 

 

They went to dinner around Valentine’s Day. There have been several helicopter rides. We have a new fresh helicopter ride this week – TMZ has the photos and once again, her dogs are with her and it’s looking less and less business and more and more personal. 

 

Also, it’s not just transportation. They’re dating on the chopper and at the movies. Tom posted on Instagram recently his support of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. Turns out he went to see the film with Ana. 

Let me just hit pause here on the romance (or fauxmance) storyline to make note of the fact that when Tom makes a point of seeing other people’s movies, it’s never a private screening. He’s the “collective cinematic experience” guy, right there in the cineplex with everyone else. 

 

Now back to our A plot – whether or not this is real. 

Honestly, I don’t f-cking care. Whatever it is, it’s fun. Whether you think this might actually be legit, that he has a new girlfriend and might soon fulfill his role of “the boyfriend” in an epic tale of love with public declarations of devotion, or if it’s all a publicity stunt that will also feature him in the role of “the boyfriend” in an epic tale of love with public declarations of devotion, it’s fun. It will be a show. I want to watch this show. 

But watch is the key word here. 

 

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning opens in three weeks. The press tour starts soon, junketing is happening in a week or so. But there’s something in it for Ana too. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is coming just two weeks after M:I – TFR. And it’s her movie, she’s taking over from Keanu Reeves himself, these are huge shoes to fill, this is Ana de Armas trying to move into Action Movie Star territory and she looks great in the trailer but she needs to bring people into the theatres. 

You couldn’t have scripted it any more perfectly. Spy and Ballerina. Tom Cruise, Hollywood’s Most Enduring Male Action Star dating Ana de Armas, Hollywood’s Emerging Female Action Star, with films coming out back to back… 

And they’re “dating”?! Come on now, this is old school PR, a throwback, a classic – so nostalgic it’s almost wholesome.

Here's Tom arriving in London by himself the other day.