Yahoo News Tom Cruise Gets Hero’s Welcome (With Five-Minute Applause) During CAA Visit
Tom Cruise had quite the day on Feb 13.
First, he stopped by the Oscar nominees luncheon, where THR‘s Scott Feinberg reported that the Top Gun: Maverick star and producer “was swarmed by virtually everyone” while making his first stop on the awards season circuit.
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That included Steven Spielberg, who gushed about Top Gun’s success, saying, “You saved Hollywood’s ass, and you might have saved theatrical distribution.” Cruise, who appeared humbled by the remarks from his collaborator on such films as Minority Report and War of the Worlds, took a hard line during the pandemic by pushing Paramount to hold Top Gun: Maverick for a theatrical release rather than a streaming premiere, a trend that had become popular (and controversial) during that time.
After the nominees luncheon, Cruise cruised over to Century City for a meeting with his CAA agents, a roster that includes Kevin Huvane, Joel Lubin and Maha Dakhil, the latter of whom posted a pic of the meeting on Instagram, writing, “Office visit from the man who brought us back to the theaters.”
THR learned that CAA employees surprised Cruise by leaving their offices and gathering in the lobby and along the stairwells on every floor for a greeting that included five minutes of applause. Per Puck, it was Dakhil who initiated the spontaneous showing by emailing the entire staff at 2:33 p.m. on Monday, “PLEASE COME OUT OF YOUR OFFICE TO WAVE TO TOM CRUISE FROM THE STAIRWELL.”
This story first appeared in the Feb. 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
