Tom Cruise

At a benefit for The New Group theater company, we learned that even celebrities like Billy Crudup and Justin Long have been fired (not Ethan Hawke, though).

We learned the difference between the man who buys a $300 shirt and the man who buys a $600 shirt at a fashion show sponsored by private concierge service Quintessentially.

After reviewing Stylista's lackluster ratings, we wondered when and if the rest of the world would see the appeal of Anne Slowey.   read more »

Transatlantic odd couple alert: According to the UK's Daily Star, imported socialite Peaches Geldof and Scientology captive Katie Holmes have totally connected (over what, exactly, is still unclear) in New York. Reportedly, Ms. Geldof so admired Ms. Holmes's turn in Broadway's All My Sons that she asked to interview the actress for Nylon, where she is a columnist of sorts. Either out of genuine interest in the budding fameball or just eagerness to escape the confines of her many East Village apartments, Ms. Holmes met the British 19-year-old for "afternoon tea" in a suite at the Rivington Hotel. Afterward, Ms. Geldof babysat Suri Cruise while Ms.  read more »

Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor's little girl, Ella, has a friend in Hollywood: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter Suri. Last evening outside of Cipriani 42nd Street, where Mr. Stiller was being honored by the Museum of the Moving Image, Ms. Taylor told us that Ella and Suri have had a couple of playdates. (Now that Ms. Holmes is in town performing in All My Sons, she and Suri have been spotted around New York.)

"And it's like any other playdate," said Ms. Taylor, who was wearing a long black Carolina Herrera dress. "I mean [Suri's] amazing and [Tom and Katie] are terrific. And when little kids get together you just let them do their thing, there's no outside elements. Ella likes being the older sister—and we haven't had many [playdates] but whoever's children that they're playing with, it's always a great thing to see your kids connecting."  read more »

It's 2 AM and you awake with a jerk, alone in your fully-lit apartment and still on the couch. On TV, the credits of some movie you've already seen a billion times are scrolling by. It feels like rock bottom. And we know, because we're just like you: single.

Need a movie to keep you company until you literally can't keep your eyes open? Join us tonight when we pass out to Jerry Maguire [starting @ 1:10 a.m. on Starz]

Why we'll try to stay up and watch it: In the trailer for  read more »

Someone knocked Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld "out cold" after the company's bankrupcy was announced. Seriously. [Radar]

Ashley Dupre now travels with three bodyguards (does Eliot Spitzer even still have a security detail?). [R&M] 

Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, who co-stars with Leonardo DiCaprio in the upcoming Body of Lies, may be barred from re-entering Iran because of her participation in the film. [R&M] 

One piece of good news on the Amy Winehouse front: She is not on an official suicide watch. [People]  read more »

Monday: Chuck
Gossip Girl is a rerun tonight, so you really have no excuse to let Chuck slip by your DVR. This episode should be especially good, as the intimidating Melinda Clarke (better known as The O.C.'s Julie Cooper), stops into the Buy More. Ms. Clarke plays a nefarious spy known as The Black Widow whom Chuck (Zachary Levi) must seduce in order to get a vital piece of information. In the previews, he's shown pathetically trying to warm her up by asking about her favorite bands. Ha! Perhaps we find this more hilarious than you do, only because we've done exactly that.  read more »

Tom Cruise's next film, the Bryan Singer-directed Valkyrie, is the film version of a yo-yo diet. Originally set for release this past summer, it was moved to the Hollywood dead zone of February before finally settling on the release date of Dec. 26, presumably in an effort to get some "awards consideration." Though judging from the new and terrible trailer, the only thing Valkyrie might get considered for is a Razzie.

In the film, Mr. Cruise stars as a Nazi officer during World War II who plots with other like-minded Nazi's, played by Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson and Terrence Stamp, to murder Adolph Hitler.  read more »

We have long been fascinated by the new Kirsten Dunst—the rehabilitated Downtown girl whose dinners at Freeman's and late night outings have grabbed New Yorkers' attention—but until now, we have not heard Ms. Dunst discuss her reinvented self. It seems she has grown and evolved since spending time at Cirque Lodge in Utah earlier this year (she checked out in late March), which was the final step to leaving her child actress self behind and becoming an adult, she tells Harper's Bazaar in their October issue.

Here we thought we were the official Kiki experts, but given the rich detail in the profile, we bring you a 10-point summary of what we learned about the rehabilitated Ms. Dunst  read more »

Oh we're sure the Museum of the Moving Image's board was just tickled about their choice for this year's honoree at their swanky 24th annual black-tie salute. Reuters says it's Ben Stiller, the guy who parodies last year's honoree, Tom Cruise, as TomCrooze, the actor's "stunt double."

So at Cipriani 42nd Street on Nov. 12, we expect to see one of these Tom Crooze clips in the tribute reel and maybe a few from his new movie with co-star Mr. Cruise, Topic Thunder.

Just as his fab comic turn in Tropic Thunder has critics going nuts, the star is making other headlines. First, the good news: his film Valkyrie, which was moved from this year to next (never a good sign) has now been moved back again, snagging a December 26 opening. This either means that the movie is awesome--Christmas is traditionally for award-nominee sure things like There Will Be Blood--or that producers want to hide it among the biggies. (Execs say it's a purely commercial decision, made after a screening went well.) We've got our fingers crossed: at the moment, Mr. Cruise is on our good side.  read more »

8/12/2008

SLIDESHOW:
Katie Holmes and
Baggy Jeans

While attending rehearsals for Broadway’s revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons over the past couple of weeks in New York, Katie Holmes has been clinging to her pegged boyfriend jeans like a security blanket while away from her home in Los Angeles—which hasn’t gone unnoticed by gossip and fashion blogs, all of which seem to be wondering what has inspired this new sartorial direction.

We can’t pretend to know what’s going through Ms. Holmes’s mind (can anyone really these days?), but according to US Weekly, this tired old pair of jeans belongs to her husband, Tom Cruise. A rep for Prps, the brand that manufactured the jean, told the magazine that they’ve even adopted the men’s style for women for their fall collection.  read more »

Tom Cruise has had plenty of roles as an ass-kicking government agent (the Mission Impossible movies, Minority Report, um... does Top Gun count? ). But he has been flashing his funny bone more often these days. So he turned down producers after flirting with a new thriller project. Now the role of a CIA agent accused of being a Russian spy could be rewritten for Angelina Jolie, who is currently in close talks with producers. In her first part since having twins, the puffy-lipped actress will sweeten the title role in Edwin A. Salt.

Screenwriter Kurt Wimmer (Thomas Crown Affair, Equilibrium) will be turning Edwin into...Edwina? Philip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, The Bone Collector) remains attached as director, according to Variety.  read more »

Tropic Thunder, the latest from writer-director-actor Ben Stiller, doesn’t open till August 13, but the trailer has been playing in theaters (and on laptops everywhere) for seemingly forever. The very funny—and often razor-sharp—big-budget film about the ridiculousness of big-budget films lampoons just about everything under the Hollywood sun. Per the previews, you probably know that Ben Stiller plays a fading action star; Jack Black, a tubby Warhol-wigged comedian; and Robert Downey Jr., an Australian method actor who undergoes an experimental pigmentation procedure in order to play an African-American soldier. All three are thrown together on the set of yet another Vietnam War picture (cue CSNY and the majestic helicopters!), where Steve Coogan is their bedraggled director.  read more »

Strand bookstore owner, Fred Bass, is "baffled and amazed" and Cynthia Rowley is "upset" that the city's promotional agency, NYC and Co., shot the designer in the bookstore for the city's "Just Ask the Locals" campaign, but advertised it as Midtown's Kinokuniya Books instead. [P6]  read more »

Dina Lohan will be honored as a "Top Mom"--no, really!--on Long Island by an organization called Mingling Moms, alongside Rae Stern (Howard Stern's mom), Betty Seinfeld (Jerry's mom), and Shelley Stevens Herschlag (Natalie Portman's mom). Check back here tomorrow for lots more ... [P6]  read more »

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon have reportedly gotten married after dating for about a month. [NY Daily News]

Project Runway is not just moving to Lifetime, but also Los Angeles for its sixth season. [EW]  read more »

Rumor has it that fashion label, Heatherette, is no more as Richie Rich may start his own line or move out to Los Angeles (gasp!) to pursue music and television projects. [N.Y. Daily News]

For John Varvatos, the real challenge of opening a store in the CBGB space was not crossing picket lines but getting the stench of punk out of the space.  read more »

Lou Reed secretly married his long-time girlfriend Laurie Anderson in Colorado on April 12 and then celebrated back here in New York with friends like Julian and Olatz Schnabel and Richard Belzer of Law & Order. [P6]  read more »

An animal rights group that calls itself the Paint Panthers painted the words "Bunny Butcher" outside Donna Karan's home in the Hamptons. [NY Daily News]

The Lower East Side still hates yuppies, apparently (a little self-loathing, no?). An activist tells Page Six that everyone is so pissed at Bruce Willis for opening his Bowery Wine Company on East First Street, that they are going to get a pig and name it Bruce. [P6]  read more »

Meet Emma Jean Stephenson, of Beaver Falls, Penn. Ms. Stephenson has been in the dog-showing business for 48 years, breeding and showing Dachshunds (longhair, smooth, and wiry)—many, she said, who end up with New York City owners.

Behind her was one of her dogs, Gunner (Ch. E.J’s Gunner’s Grandson), who didn’t seem to be the least bit perturbed by the noise and din of the back room.

He is indeed the grandson of one of Ms. Stephenson’s champions dogs, E.J.’s Top Gun.  read more »

The L.A. Times’ Web Scout blog posted a story last night about a group of Web types protesting the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles and dozens of other cities around the world—including the church’s Manhattan location on West 46th Street (see video above!).

This mysterious group goes by the name Anonymous and has called for a war on Scientology, the uniform for which, at least from this video, appears to be a Guy Fawkes mask like the one the protagonist in the Wachowski Brothers’ V for Vendetta wore.

When Web Scout asked the Church of Scientology about the protests, the organization released a statement: “’Anonymous' is a group of cyber-terrorists who hide their identities behind masks and computer anonymity,” that statement read in part. “[It] is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry."

Judge for yourself: On Jan. 21, the group posted an eerie video with a computer-generated voice on YouTube that laid down the gauntlet when it said: “Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed.”  read more »

Today brings some added conspiracy surrounding the all-too-infamous Tom Cruise Scientology video. A recent item published on OnlineAthens.com, the Athens Banner-Herald’s official Web site, claims that after local satirist and TV producer Waco O’Guin posted his own spoof of the Cruise clip, his Web site was hacked.  read more »

CBS’ Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson was not allowed to air the Tom Cruise video that has been on the tips of innumerable tongues this week. So, he went and made his own version. As impossible as it sounds, Mr. Ferguson's version, complete with lots of strange acronyms, double-chin laughs and a karate chop or two, might be better than the original.

"I was scared to death of him," Miss USA Tara Conner says of Trump on his upcoming "E! True Hollywood Story." Imagine what Rosie would say. (Page Six)

Charlie Rose joins "60 Minutes," which continues its refusal to target audiences under 50. (NYT)

Clay Aiken debuts in "Spamalot" today. (Goings On)

Chris Martin attacks a photographer when bringing wife Gwyneth Paltrow home from the hospital. (Page Six)

Lily Allen suffers a miscarriage in her first pregnancy. (US)

Lindsay Lohan has to spend a couple days working at a morgue – drunk driving means dead people, you know? (NYT)

In that weird Tom Cruise Scientology video, he takes credit for saving Ground Zero workers. (Page Six)

Hallelujah! We’re not sure how long it’ll stick, but the Tom Cruise Scientology advertisement we reported on earlier has been restored to the Web. In it, the Lions for Lambs star wants to know: Do you have what it takes?

“If you’re on board, you’re on board like the rest of us,” Mr. Cruise assures his viewers in the clip. “Now is the time! Being a Scientologist, people turn to you. So you better know it, and if you don’t, go and learn it!” Oh, yeah, and “being a Scientologist, you see things the way they are in all their glory and complexity.” In short, Mr. Cruise’s reality—alien beings and all—is way more realer than yours.

A mysterious, nine-minute-long video of Tom Cruise talking about the power of Scientology disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared, according to the Huffington Post. The official church video reportedly features the 45-year-old actor saying, “We are the way to happiness.”

Apparently the media outlet was sent links to the video, which has since been removed, from investigative reporter Mark Ebner. In a new unauthorized biography by Andrew Morton, the author claims that Mr. Cruise is the second most powerful person in Scientology, a religion founded by the late science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, behind current leader David Miscavige. During the videotaped interview, Mr. Cruise is also quoted as saying that Scientologists are “the authorities on the mind,” and, according to the blog, “the only people who can bring peace and unite cultures.”

In a new unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise, Andrew Morton—the author who made a small fortune with Diana: Her True Story—makes some pretty serious and inflamatory claims.

The book, which is scheduled to be released later this month, alleges that Katie Holmes was impregnated, a la Rosemary's Baby, with the preserved semen of deceased Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It also says that Mr. Cruise’s ex-wife, Nicole Kidman, “feared blackmail” over auditing tapes she made with Scientologists in which she discusses her sex life. Moreover, Mr. Morton writes that Mr. Cruise is the second most powerful person in the church’s hierarchy; and, according to the book, he now plans to recruit soccer phenom David Beckham to the religion.  read more »

Despite talk of marital strife, Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban are expecting their first child. According to Britain’s Daily Mail, the 40-year-old actress and the country musician—who has, since they married in June of 2006, been dealing with substance abuse issues—broke the good news to their families over the Christmas holiday.

If all goes well, the child will be Ms. Kidman’s first successful delivery. During her marriage to Tom Cruise, the divorced couple adopted two children together—Isabella, 14, and Connor, 12. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, The Golden Compass star also revealed that she suffered a miscarriage when married to Mr. Cruise. “[T]that was really very traumatic,” she told the magazine at the time.

The actress and Mr. Urban spent Christmas together in Sydney, where Ms. Kidman finished working on director Baz Luhrmann’s forthcoming Australia.

UPDATE: Since the Daily Mail story broke, an Australian publicist for Ms. Kidman has publicly denied that the actress is pregnant.

Katie Holmes spoke to Parade about the holidays, of which she has “always been a huge fan.” Ms. Holmes, who turned 29 yesterday, recently told the somewhat-random insert mag that she and Tom Cruise plan to spend Christmas with all of their relatives at their Telluride, Colo., retreat.  read more »

Last week, celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, PhD, wanted to tell our readers his list of the Top Ten Celebrity Meltdowns of 2007.

Today, on the phone with the Daily Transom, he got a little more daring.

First up: recent news that Lindsay Lohan has started to use the paparazzi to her own advantage, setting up and pocketing proceeds from snaps of her own mug.

“I say kudos to her!” he said. “I was thinking last week, Why don’t celebrities just use their brain?”  read more »

Rumors suggesting that Will Smith is a Scientologist have been swirling and growing as he is seen in public more and more with Tom Cruise, a well-known member of the organization. There was even an item about it on Page Six today. But now, the likelihood that the I Am Legend star is in fact an L. Ron Hubbard disciple seems a bit greater. It turns out the Will Smith Foundation, which gives away hundreds of thousands of dollars to various causes, donated $20,000 to the Church of Scientology’s home-schooling program, called the Hollywood Education and Literacy Program. Recently on Access Hollywood, Mr. Smith reiterated what he told Men’s Vogue, saying, “I was introduced [to] it by Tom and I’m a student of world religion.”

Katie Holmes has revealed Tom Cruise’s biggest turn-on. As it happens, the actor, 43, likes to see his wife looking as though she just left a bespoke clothier on London’s Savile Row. “Tom likes me in a suit and a mini every now and then. I like it when he likes it. It makes me blush. He'll say, 'You look good. I hope security's going with you.' Now that gives me attitude," Ms. Holmes, 28, says in an interview for In Style’s January issue. The Dawson’s Creek actress goes on to say that she would “love to” have kids again, but she isn’t in a hurry. Apparently, being pregnant with Suri was made easier thanks to her husband. “I couldn't have asked for a more supportive human being. He had the room ready, candles everywhere, pictures in frames. It was very homey and beautiful,” said Ms. Holmes, who apparently fell in love with the actor “in an instant,” adding: “Suri is talking up a storm, running around, so aware," Ms. Holmes also said. "She loves coloring and creating. She's a great mimic and dancer. She came to the photo shoot and was all into the shoes."

It’s hard to believe that the first pictures of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ family holiday card won’t grace the cover of Vanity Fair—à la baby Suri—this year. No, this time around, Us snapped up the exclusive. The handsome card’s designer, none other than Ms. Holmes, even put the names of her two stepchildren, Bella and Connor, on the cream, brown and burgundy number. (Suri, of course, has already beaten her mother to the Stephen-Crane punch; the wee tot already has her own postcards.) The most surprising aspect of the festive greeting is not the awkward bow knotted around it, but rather the fact that Ms. Cruise signs her name as “Kate”—something her hubby calls her, at least in public.

And while we’re not exactly sure what Scientologists celebrate in the month of December, a source close to the couple said the Cruises would be spending the holiday in Telluride, Colo., where they have a home. “Katie has kept her staff busy doing the shopping, and even had a different gift-wrapping design for different categories: family, friends, business associates,” the source added.

If it’s Thursday, this must be Düsseldorf! It looks like Katie Holmes got a little excited at the prospect of traveling to Deutschland, as she chopped off most of her hair and fashioned it into some kind of futuristic bob. While attending the Bambi Media Awards Ceremony in the German town with her hubby, Tom Cruise, Ms. Holmes—all nervous smiles—showed off her new hairdo. The Huffington Post thinks she looks like the couple’s baby, Suri. We, on the other hand, are of the mind that she looks more like Venus A, the Mazinger Angel robotic toy which has, among other rad features, “typhoon missiles” for mammaries.

Now that the Spice Girls are once again sharing the same rack, they have really started to turn up the heat. A little over a week after the British pop group dove headlong into their reunion tour at this month’s Victoria’s Secret fashion show, they've been courted by the Cruise family, who stopped by to hear the ladies croon, clap and clop during a recent closed rehearsal. But that’s not all, Tom, Katie and Suri apparently went so far as to wish the hot-again herbs good luck on their upcoming tour, which gets underway in Vancouver on December 2.

From the official Spice Girls Web site:

Tom and Katie enjoyed an impromptu audience with the girls and were treated to an exclusive performance, while Suri danced along to the music.

“David and I are great friends with Tom and Katie,” Victoria told us afterwards “It was lovely of them to come down to rehearsals, a really nice surprise. Katie has told me before that she used to be a big Spice fan so it was great for her to meet the other girls.”

Surprise Guests at Rehearsals [TheSpiceGirls.com via HuffPo]

In the latest issue of Men’s Vogue, Will Smith tells the book that, after flirting with Buddhism and Hinduism in the past, he has started to study Scientology with Hollywood pal Tom Cruise. Adding to Mr. Smith’s recent revelation, a source apparently told US Weekly that the I Am Legend star’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, 36, has also become interested in the quasi-religion started by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.  read more »

For all his winning charm, Tom Cruise is despised by his Lions for Lambs co-stars Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, an insider told the Huffington Post. When the subject of Ms. Streep and Mr. Redford’s absence from a recent dinner honoring Mr. Cruise was raised at the event, the source reportedly spilled the beans.

“Meryl and Bob can’t stand Tom. In London, Tom kept trying to push himself into interviews. Bob said, No. Tom wouldn’t listen. Meryl has done almost nothing for the movie. She wants nothing to do with him.”

Another source, however, tried to take the stirring spoon out of the pot, saying, “That’s mean. They’re great friends. Just look at their interview on Good Morning America.”

Oh, and Nicole Kidman said that her life didn’t feel “relevant” when she was married to him. Oh, snap!

Tom’s Co-Stars Meryl Streep And Robert Redford Skip Tribute Dinner [HuffPo]

The liberal actor-director’s A-list new political drama is topical, tripartite—and honestly, somewhat tortuous.  read more »

Despite starring Tom Cruise, Robert Redford’s antiwar diatribe is totally toothless.  read more »