tom cruise voice actor

'Top Gun' secrets: Why Tom Cruise's love scene isn't steamy and Val Kilmer's voice didn't need A.I.

• "Top Gun: Maverick" director Joseph Kosinski spoke about theatrical success of film now on digital.
• Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) has a dramatic reunion with Val Kilmer's Iceman 36 years after "Top Gun."
• A.I. technology was not used for Kilmer's voice in the scene, Kosinski says.

"Top Gun: Maverick" has permission to  buzz the tower , because it's coming home a hero. 

The long-awaited sequel to  1986's "Top Gun,"  again starring  Tom Cruise  as fighter pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, maneuvered through a gantlet of COVID-19 delays, with both filmmakers and the studio adamant that the film get a theater release.

The steely move paid off with a direct hit , as critics, old-school fans and newbies united in reentering the "Danger Zone."

"Maverick" has blasted through box-office records, bypassing "Titanic" and "Avengers: Infinity War" in all-time domestic earnings while raking in $1.4 billion worldwide.

"We e-mail every time another milestone is reached. Crossing over 'Titanic' to be Paramount's biggest movie ever was a big one," director Joseph Kosinski says of Cruise. "Our reaction is always the same: 'Congratulations, can you believe this?' And it just keeps going."

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As "Maverick" prepares to land Tuesday for digital rental and purchase, Kosinski spoke to USA TODAY about the film's massive success.

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Question: That reunion scene between Cruise's Maverick and Val Kilmer's terminally ill Iceman really struck a chord. What was it about the scene that connected so strongly with fans? 

Joseph Kosinski: It's two of our finest actors reunited on screen for the first time in 36 years, playing these iconic characters people have grown attached to watching "Top Gun" hundreds of times. To see them together, confronting some real heavy ideas and themes – confronting the end and having to let go – that's stuff anyone can relate to. Even more than the action, people tell me it's the emotional experience in "Maverick" that has made people go back again and again.

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Q: Kilmer, who has dealt with throat cancer, types most of his scene dialogue on the computer. Does that make Kilmer speaking his final words in the scene all the more powerful?

Kosinski: Every time I've seen the film with an audience, that gets a reaction. It's those final lines between them.

Q: There were reports that a London-based tech company has used artificial intelligence to restore Val Kilmer's voice. Was that used in the film?

Kosinski: I've read about it and saw Val is working with that company. But I've never used that technology and we didn't use that A.I. technology in "Top Gun." (Kilmer's) voice was digitally altered and blended a little bit just for clarity.

Q: Maverick and Charlie (Kelly McGillis) got steamy in "Top Gun," but the bedroom scene with Maverick and Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly) featured a lot of talking, with a kiss at the end. What was the thinking there?

Kosinski: The relationship between Maverick and Charlie is obviously a very different one. We're now with someone at a different point of Maverick's life. The relationship between Maverick and Penny is much deeper than a purely physical one. She's a really important emotional counterpoint for Maverick in this film. This felt like the right way to tell our story. 

Q: Was there any thought of having Lady Gaga sing a new version of the classic "Take My Breath Away" instead of her original song "Hold My Hand"?

Kosinski: No. "Take My Breath Away" is really Maverick and Charlie's theme from the first film. It never occurred to me to use it as a love theme for this film. It's a different relationship. And then once we heard Gaga's song that she had written, the problem was solved. We had our love theme. 

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Q: Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" made a return, of course, and even has orchestral versions in Hans Zimmer's "Maverick" score. Is that the ultimate honor for the '80s classic rock song?

Kosinski : Definitely. Hans Zimmer uses those five or six notes from "Danger Zone" over and over, in the film's beginning and in the third act. It's a really brilliant way to take the melody from Kenny Loggins' song and interpret it for an orchestral piece. 

Q: Ed Harris (as Rear Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain)   told us that jet flyover was so powerful, it knocked the roof off the guard station. Can you confirm the damage?

Kosinski: That was a filmmaking experience I'll never forget – Ed Harris standing there for real at the end of that runway taking that shock wave. We had worked with each rehearsal to get the altitude we wanted. So we had one take at the perfect altitude. And it blew the roof off the guard tower. It was intense. We had to wrap after that shot. Anyone else would have been blown away. But Ed Harris took it. And film is forever.

Q: You've brushed off "Maverick" sequel questions in the past. But I'll give you two choices: "Top Gun: Maverick" sequel or "Top Gun: The Musical.' Can you chose one?

Kosinski: A musical sounds great. I would love to see "Top Gun" on Broadway. That might be a genius idea.

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Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including Risky Business , A Few Good Men , The Firm , Jerry Maguire , and the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Who Is Tom Cruise?

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, better known as Tom Cruise, was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, to Mary and Thomas Mapother. Cruise's mother was an amateur actress and schoolteacher, and his father was an electrical engineer. His family moved around a great deal when Cruise was a child to accommodate his father's career.

Cruise's parents divorced when he was 11, and the children moved with their mother to Louisville, Kentucky, and then to Glen Ridge, New Jersey, after she remarried. Like his mother and three sisters, Cruise suffered from dyslexia, which made academic success difficult for him. He excelled in athletics, however, and considered pursuing a career in professional wrestling until a knee injury sidelined him during high school.

At age 14, Cruise enrolled in a Franciscan seminary with thoughts of becoming a priest, but he left after a year. When he was 16, a teacher encouraged him to participate in the school's production of the musical Guys and Dolls . After Cruise won the lead of Nathan Detroit, he found himself surprisingly at home on the stage, and a career was born.

'Taps,' 'The Outsiders'

Cruise set a 10-year deadline for himself in which to build an acting career. He left school and moved to New York City, struggling through audition after audition before landing an appearance in 1981's Endless Love , starring Brooke Shields. Around this same time, he snagged a small role in the military school drama Taps (1981), co-starring Sean Penn .

His role in Taps was upgraded after director Harold Becker saw Cruise's potential, and his performance caught the attention of a number of critics and filmmakers. In 1983, Cruise appeared in Francis Ford Coppola 's The Outsiders , which also starred Emilio Estevez , Matt Dillon and Rob Lowe —all prominent members of a group of young actors the entertainment press dubbed the "Brat Pack." The film was not well received, but it allowed Cruise to work with an acclaimed director on a high-profile project.

'Risky Business'

His next film, Risky Business (1983), grossed $65 million. It also made Cruise a highly recognizable actor — thanks in no small part to a memorable scene of the young star dancing in his underwear.

In 1986, after a two-year hiatus, the budding actor released the big-budget fantasy film Legend , which did poorly at the box office. That same year, however, Cruise's A-list status was confirmed with the release of Top Gun , which co-starred Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan . The testosterone-fueled action-romance, set against the backdrop of an elite naval flight school, became the highest-grossing film of 1986.

'The Color of Money,' 'Rain Man' and 'Born on the Fourth of July'

Cruise followed the tremendous success of Top Gun with a string of both critically acclaimed and commercially successful films. He first starred in The Color of Money (1986) with co-star Paul Newman , and then went on to work with Dustin Hoffman on Rain Man (1988). Cruise's next role, as Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in the biopic Born on the Fourth of July (1989), earned him an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm' and 'Interview with a Vampire'

In 1992, Cruise proved once more that he could hold his own opposite a screen legend when he co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men . The film grossed more than $15 million its first weekend and earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. He continued to demonstrate his success as a leading man with The Firm (1993) and Interview with a Vampire (1994), which co-starred Brad Pitt.

'Mission: Impossible,' 'Jerry McGuire'

Next, Cruise hit the big screen with two huge hits—the $64 million blockbuster Mission: Impossible (1996), which the star also produced, and the highly acclaimed Jerry McGuire (1996), directed by Cameron Crowe. For the latter, Cruise earned a second Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe for Best Actor.

'Eyes Wide Shut,' 'Magnolia'

Cruise and then-wife Kidman spent much of 1997 and 1998 in England shooting Eyes Wide Shut , an erotic thriller that would be director Stanley Kubrick 's final film. The movie came out in the summer of 1999 to mixed reviews, but that year Cruise enjoyed greater success with the release of Magnolia . His performance as a self-confident sex guru in the ensemble film earned him another Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

'Vanilla Sky,' 'The Last Samurai'

Cruise then starred in the long-awaited smash hit Mission: Impossible 2 in 2000, alongside Anthony Hopkins , Thandie Newton and Ving Rhames. In 2002, he starred in Vanilla Sky , his second collaboration with Crowe, as well as Steven Spielberg 's Minority Report . The following year, Cruise traveled to Australia to shoot the $100 million war epic The Last Samurai, which earned him another Golden Globe nomination.

'War of the Worlds'

Cruise proved he remained a top draw by starring in the Spielberg-directed remake of the science-fiction classic War of the Worlds (2005), which grossed more than $230 million at the box office.

His next effort, Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), also scored well with audiences. However, Cruise was faced with a professional setback in August when Paramount Pictures ended its 14-year relationship with the actor. The company's chairman cited Cruise's erratic behavior and controversial views as the reason for the split, though industry experts noted that Paramount more likely ended the partnership over Cruise's high earnings from the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Cruise quickly rebounded and on November 2, 2006, he announced his new partnership with film executive Paula Wagner and the United Artists film studio. Their first production as a team, the political drama Lions for Lambs (2007), proved a commercial disappointment despite a strong cast that included Meryl Streep and Robert Redford .

'Tropic Thunder'

Taking a break from weighty material, Cruise delighted audiences with his performance in the comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Despite his relatively small role in a movie that featured Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller , Cruise stood out by obscuring his trademark good looks to play a balding, obese movie studio executive.

'Valkyrie,' 'Rock of Ages'

In December 2008, Cruise released his second project through United Artists. The film, Valkyrie , was a World War II drama about a plot to assassinate German leader Adolf Hitler . Cruise starred as a German army officer who became involved in the conspiracy.

Cruise returned to one of his most popular franchises in 2011 with Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol . Breaking into new territory, he then starred in the 2012 musical Rock of Ages . Although Cruise received some positive reviews for his performance as a rock star, the movie failed to attract much of an audience.

'Jack Reacher,' 'Edge of Tomorrow'

Returning to his mainstream action roots, Cruise starred in the 2012 crime drama Jack Reacher , based on a book by Lee Child. He then headlined a pair of science-fiction adventures, Oblivion (2013) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Showing no signs of slowing down, the veteran actor in 2015 delivered his usual high-energy performance for the fifth installment of his blockbuster franchise, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation .

Latest Movies and Familiar Franchises

In 2016, Cruise reprised the role of Jack Reacher for Never Go Back . He then headlined a reboot of The Mummy (2017), which performed respectably at the box office but was savaged by critics, before earning better reviews later that year for the crime thriller American Made .

2018 brought a return to familiar territory for Cruise, who starred in Mission Impossible —Fallout that summer. Prior to its release, he tweeted a photo to mark day 1 of production on the long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick , scheduled for a June 2020 release.

Scientology and Personal Life

Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers in 1987. It was through Rogers that the actor became a student of Scientology, the religion founded by writer L. Ron Hubbard. Cruise credited the church with curing his dyslexia, and he soon became one of its leading proponents. However, while his spiritual life flourished, his marriage to Rogers ended in 1990. That same year, Cruise made the racecar drama Days of Thunder alongside Kidman. Though the movie was unpopular among critics and fans alike, the two lead actors had real chemistry. On Christmas Eve 1990, after a brief courtship, Cruise and Kidman married in Telluride, Colorado.

Divorce from Kidman

For much of the 1990s, Cruise and Kidman found themselves fiercely defending the happiness and legitimacy of their marriage. They filed two different lawsuits against tabloid publications for stories they considered libelous. In each case, the couple received a published retraction and apology, along with a large monetary settlement which they donated to charity. The couple has two children, Isabella and Connor.

On February 5, 2001, Cruise and Kidman announced their separation after 11 years of marriage. The couple cited the difficulties involved with two acting careers and the amount of time spent apart while working. Following the divorce, Cruise briefly dated his Vanilla Sky co-star Penelope Cruz , followed by a much-publicized relationship with actress Katie Holmes. A month after his ties to Holmes became public, Cruise professed his love for the actress in a now-famous appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which he jumped on Winfrey's sofa, shouting "Yes!"

Marriage to Katie Holmes

In June 2005, after a two-month courtship, Cruise proposed to Holmes in a restaurant at the top of the Eiffel tower. In October, they announced that they were expecting their first child together. The hasty proposal and surprise pregnancy quickly became tabloid gossip. But Cruise made even bigger headlines that year as an outspoken advocate for Scientology. He openly criticized former co-star Brooke Shields for using anti-depressants during her recovery from postpartum depression. He also denounced psychiatry and modern medicine, claiming Scientology held the key to true healing. Cruise's statements led to a heated argument with news anchor Matt Lauer on The Today Show in June 2005, for which Cruise later apologized.

In 2006, Cruise and Holmes welcomed daughter Suri into the world. That year, they were married in an Italian castle, with celebrities Will Smith , Jada Pinkett Smith , Jennifer Lopez and Victoria and David Beckham among those in attendance. However, the storybook romance wouldn't last, and in June 2012, the couple announced their separation.

QUICK FACTS

• Birth Year: 1962
• Birth date: July 3, 1962
• Birth State: New York
• Birth City: Syracuse
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Actor Tom Cruise is the star of several box-office hits, including 'Risky Business,' 'A Few Good Men,' 'The Firm,' 'Jerry Maguire' and the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise.
• Astrological Sign: Cancer

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Tom Cruise Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/tom-cruise
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 26, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

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The Agony and Ecstasy of the World’s Biggest Tom Cruise Impersonator

Evan Ferrante is in the Tom Cruise business, and business is booming. “Busiest and most lucrative year of my adult life,” he tells Inverse .

Four years ago, times were tight for Evan Ferrante, an actor and producer who credibly calls himself the “leading Tom Cruise impressionist in the world.” His phone wasn’t ringing. He had just turned 40 and feared his career spent putting on the Cruise wig and jumping on couches was finally drying up.

“I was still impersonating Cruise, but very seldomly,” recalls Ferrante, now 44, whose stage name is “Not Tom Cruise.” “I had to take on three other side hustles. I’ve never worked so much in my life. I was a Lyft driver. I was a dog walker. I was hustling nonstop.”

These days, Ferrante’s business is still being Tom Cruise — and business is booming. During the first year of the pandemic, he pivoted to Cameo, which kept him and other celeb impersonators afloat. Ferrante was flooded with requests to cheer up bored, quarantined fans on birthdays and holidays — always in character as the Mission: Impossible star — and the response was heartening. (As one of his many five-star reviewers writes, “This was our second awesome video Not Tom Cruise has done for our son who is a military aviator in training. This guy is a total pro!”)

Then, in 2022, as the world was opening back up and Ferrante was resuming live event appearances, Top Gun: Maverick sold out theaters and restored Cruise to mainstream prominence. Ferrante couldn’t believe his luck.

“There wasn’t a day that went by last year that I didn’t receive an offer to perform live or in a commercial, film, TV, etc. — all thanks to Top Gun: Maverick ,” he says. “Busiest and most lucrative year of my adult life.”

A brief perusal of his Cameo videos or TikTok channel confirms that Ferrante, clad in dark shades and a Risky Business -style wig, has Cruise down cold (or at least a “heightened version of Cruise,” as he calls it). The manic delivery, the choked laugh, the abrupt tonal shifts, and high-pitched “ Whoo! ” He can shift seamlessly between Top Gun , Jerry Maguire , and other characters, and he can cater his shtick to current events (a recent video shows him visiting the WGA picket line in character as Cruise, riffing on Magnolia ).

At events, corporate crowds eat him up. “Many treat me like a dancing monkey or a wind-up doll,” Ferrante says. “Many are respectful. A lot of them are just super-pumped to see a Tom Cruise look-alike with them. They want to do all the lines with me. They’re very handsy with me.”

“People turn and look, and they go, ‘Oh, my God, is that Tom Cruise?’” says Colin Paolo, a creative director in the corporate sphere who has hired Ferrante for nearly a dozen events. “These are grown people that will stand in line. I’m never 100 percent sure whether they actually grasp he is an impersonator. I’ve seen grown men — 6-foot-1, 6-foot-2 — on the phone to their wives saying, ‘I’m getting my picture taken with Tom Cruise!’” (Ferrante never aims to deceive anyone, though he says it happens sometimes, especially when he performs overseas.)

Ferrante’s flourishing act speaks to Tom Cruise’s improbable endurance as a bankable — and perpetually youthful — screen icon now entering the fifth decade of his career, with blockbuster movies like Top Gun: Maverick and the upcoming Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One introducing him to new audiences.

It’s also reflective of a parasocial, celeb-obsessed culture in which people are hungry for personalized attention from their favorite stars. As A-listers like Cruise become increasingly sequestered and untouchable, doppelgangers such as Ferrante step in to provide the one-on-one connections with fans that neither the real Cruise, nor creepily realistic deepfake simulations , will.

“It’s just a fascinating character to explore, Tom Cruise,” Ferrante says. “I provide a window into his world, right? It’s almost like Mary Poppins with her bags of endless things. I can dip into this bag, and with enough imagination, I can come up with a thousand scenarios that would be funny with Cruise. You don’t know what Cruise’s life or existence is like, and I’m going to fill in the blanks. I’m going to create this mythology, this lore.”

Ferrante with the real Tom Cruise.

Born 17 years after Tom Cruise, Evan Ferrante was raised by an Italian Catholic father and Russian Jewish mother in Armonk, New York. He became a child actor in the 1980s, appearing in commercials and soap operas, like the short-lived Swans Crossing , but says his ethnically ambiguous features made it hard to book roles.

In 1993, he received his SAG card, but the endless auditions became grueling. “It takes its toll on you psychologically,” Ferrante says. “You lose a little bit of your childhood.”

“I sometimes don’t know where Evan Ferrante begins or ends or Tom Cruise begins or ends.”

In 1997, Ferrante was a freshman at Boston University when his hallmate, an aspiring filmmaker named Alex Merkin, noticed that his voice and mannerisms resembled Tom Cruise’s. “ Jerry Maguire had just come out, and it was doing really well,” recalls Merkin. “I told him he should try to learn some of those lines. So he did, and it was, like, uncanny. Almost immediately, it was insane.”

At the time, Merkin did a bad Jean-Claude Van Damme impression. The two teamed up, aiming to impress girls.

“We would try to break the ice by knocking on doors, and we would both do impressions and try to meet women and go on dates,” says Merkin. “It was so good that everywhere we would go, through the next four years and after, it would be like: ‘OK, do the Tom Cruise impression.’ It would just become a party trick. I actually had him record my voicemail greeting as Tom Cruise.”

Once Ferrante embraced the talent, “it was one of those things where it’s like you have a twin that died in the womb, and it’s like you have an evil twin brother — you can’t escape it,” Merkin says. “He was not going to be able to separate himself from it. Not that he wanted to.”

After graduation, Ferrante was ready to leave his Tom Cruise act behind. He was tired of it. But then came the early YouTube days, which coincided with heavy tabloid interest in Cruise’s couch-jumping exploits. In 2006, at a girlfriend’s urging, Ferrante uploaded a crudely shot “demo reel” of his various Cruise characters to YouTube. The video currently has more than 200,000 views.

“It got the attention of some friends of mine in the industry, who had ideas to create a series around this persona that I created, this heightened version of Cruise,” he says.

Soon enough, Ferrante was hired to portray Cruise in a Funny or Die video series, and his party trick became a career. Since then, Ferrante has performed at countless corporate events, parodied Cruise in commercials and cartoons, and pumped out thousands of Cameo messages (current rate: $100 for a personalized video, $387 for a live video call). Movie studios have even hired him to serve as Cruise’s voice match in early cuts of movie trailers.

At times, he was hard up for cash and said yes to appearances he later regretted. There was, for instance, the demoralizing time he agreed to dance in his tighty-whities at several ’80s-themed nights in the Midwest.

“It was all unhappily married, nicotine-stained women in Dubuque, Iowa, and Fredericksburg, Indiana,” Ferrante recalls. “They were just clawing at my underwear. I felt like a Chippendales dancer.”

“They were just clawing at my underwear. I felt like a Chippendales dancer.”

Sometimes, playing Tom Cruise is a joy. Other times, it’s a source of psychic confusion.

“It’s an identity crisis, like Jekyll and Hyde,” Ferrante says. “I sometimes don’t know where Evan Ferrante begins or ends or Tom Cruise begins or ends.”

Last year, when Top Gun: Maverick came out, Ferrante remembers thinking, “‘How big could this possibly be?’ And it was way bigger than I ever imagined. Almost every day, I’d get some sort of inquiry — mainly corporate appearances. Commercial work, voiceover work. There was an incessant demand for Maverick. And it did not stop for well over a year!”

Recently, Ferrante’s life has been a little like George Clooney’s in Up in the Air , except instead of traveling around the country firing employees, he travels around getting employees fired up — usually in character as Maverick, the ace naval aviator. He’ll play “Danger Zone,” the bombastic Top Gun theme, as his entrance music, and fist-bump all the middle managers as he races up to the stage. Or sometimes he’s in character as Ethan Hunt from Mission: Impossible .

Cruise’s oeuvre “pairs well with corporate America.”

Last year, Ferrante performed at so many corporate events in so many cities that he has to start rifling through his 1099 forms just to remember them all. Much of it’s a blur. There was the Snapchat event, the opening of an Alamo Drafthouse somewhere he can’t recall, the fintech company that flew him in a helicopter and feted him with caviar, and the FedEx event where he was tasked with entertaining FedEx presidents from all over.

“All these events, they’re all properly liquored up,” Ferrante says. “Everyone is pretty three sheets to the wind. They come here to let loose.”

“I’ve used him on ‘Remission: Possible’ for pharmaceutical companies,” says Paolo, the creative director. “In the corporate sphere, not to be catty or anything, but they’re pretty much behind the times — they like things that have been done and proven. Like Hollywood, right? They like Top Gun . They like Mission: Impossible. Risky Business is something that not a lot of them understood. But those other two — and since every two years is a new Mission: Impossible — the world opens up for Evan.”

Cruise’s oeuvre “pairs well with corporate America,” Ferrante observes. “With Top Gun , you have ‘I feel the need…’; Jerry Maguire , ‘show me the money’ for anything in fintech or finance.”

While technology companies pay him handsomely, the tech industry may also be Ferrante’s undoing as artificial-intelligence-generated deepfake software grows increasingly sophisticated. In 2021, a company called Metaphysic worked with a Cruise look-alike named Miles Fisher to create startlingly convincing videos of Cruise teeing off at a golf course, among other activities. It wasn’t really Cruise — just his face digitally “mapped” onto Fisher’s — but the videos fooled countless viewers. (Chris Umé, the co-founder of Metaphysic, did not respond to requests for comment.)

Though Ferrante had nothing to do with those videos, he was initially blamed and had his Instagram account temporarily deactivated. The actor had participated in other deepfake projects previously. “I was probably the very first actor to work with a deepfake technician/engineer,” Ferrante says, referencing a 2019 video in which he helped artificially place Tom Cruise’s face over Christian Bale’s in American Psycho .

Soon, he believes, studios will pay enormous sums to license the digital likeness of famous movie stars in perpetuity. “They’ll pay Tom Cruise $10 billion, whatever, for the forever usage of his likeness. That is certainly coming into being right now. It’s not science fiction.”

Ferrante reenacts an infamous Tom Cruise moment.

Ferrante knows he can’t do this forever. As Rear Adm. Cain (Ed Harris) tells Maverick in the new Top Gun , “The future is coming, and you’re not in it.”

“I’m winding down,” Ferrante says. “I would say I’m in the twilight of my career.”

For one thing, he’s a dad now — he and his partner have a 2-year-old son — and he doesn’t have the same energy he once had. (No, the toddler doesn’t know who Tom Cruise is: “I have this Tom Cruise pillow here. He thinks that’s Daddy,” Ferrante says.)

For another, Ferrante figures he’ll need a more stable income to support his growing family. He now complements his Cruise income by working as a real estate agent for a luxury firm based in Beverly Hills. It’s not exactly clear which is the day job and which is the side hustle.

“One day the phone may stop ringing.”

If Ferrante does hang up his Cruise wig, he wants to go out with a bang. He muses about writing a book someday espousing what he’s learned as a Cruise impersonator and what successful attributes Cruise has that could be parlayed into corporate America. (“It’ll almost be like a mission statement, like from Jerry Maguire .”) He then wants to design a keynote presentation around it and begin presenting his own speech to corporate audiences. He believes Cruise’s “incredible discipline” is the main attribute separating him from the man himself.

For now, Ferrante is just riding the wave of Cruise fever wherever it takes him.

“I was in Chicago a week ago,” he tells me. “I don’t know where I’ll end up next. I’m sure I’ll get a call tomorrow. One day the phone may stop ringing, and I’m prepared for that and I’m transitioning, but every time I transition, they end up sucking me back in.”

This article was originally published on June 28, 2023

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• What Is Cinema?

Tom Cruise Continues His Summer of Concerts With Glastonbury Stop

People never really talk about Tom Cruise 's brow-raising role in Rock of Ages , Adam Shankman ’s 2012 adaptation of the Broadway musical that mission-improbably cast Cruise as a hair band frontman named Stacee Jaxx. If you wondered what it might be like to hear the star of Mission Impossible straight-facedly belt out Pour Some Sugar on Me and Paradise City , get thee to the streaming platform of your choice.

But if you always wanted to hear him sing along with Oasis, you had to be in the VIP section at this weekend's Glastonbury Festival, where you'd find Tom Cruise alongside film sidekick Simon Pegg , MI director Christopher McQuarrie , and The Crown 's Margaret Thatcher stand-in, actor Gillian Anderson .

Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, Gillian Anderson, and Simon Pegg ahead of Coldplay performing during day four of Glastonbury Festival 2024 at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 29, 2024 in Glastonbury, England.

The trio were there to catch Coldplay, the headliner of Saturday's day of acts . Cruise, Pegg, and Anderson reportedly cooled their heels as they waited for the show to begin, even joining the crowd in a sing-along set to Oasis's “Don't Look Back on Anger,” posts to social media show.

Cruise's performance from the VIP perch was relatively restrained compared to his work as Jaxx: according to an interview from 2012 , Cruise insisted that his character be joined onscreen by a baboon.

Jaxx was “totally outrageous but yet I wanted to play it straight and have these different moments that evolve,” Cruise said, explaining the addition of a monkey to the cast. "Adam [Shankman] kept going, ‘Look, do we need the monkey?’ And I kept saying, ‘I really need the monkey. And then he came at me with the baboon.”

Is Cruise feeling nostalgic for those rock star days? Perhaps, as this is his second concert weekend in a row. Just last week, the actor was in a VIP tent at Wembley Stadium , dancing and singing along to Taylor Swift during a London stop on her Eras Tour. Alongside VIPers including Hugh Grant , Travis Kelce (one night before his landmark performance ), and Greta Gerwig , Cruise reportedly joined in as Swift performed “Shake It Off.”

Cruise's tentmates were in for a show, if a 2012 interview with Rock of Ages co-star Malin Akerman is any indication. “He’s just superman,” she said then. “He can do everything, and he has an absolutely brilliant voice.”

According to Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott , who visited the Rock of Ages set for some of Cruise's scenes, the action star “did a fantastic job” when he performed Pour Some Sugar on Me , a 1987 hit for the band.

And according to Elliott, Cruise had nothing but respect for the real-life musicians he was attempting to channel. “Look, I just want you guys to know, I’m doing this with the most integrity as possible," Elliott says Cruise told him. "I’m not poking fun. I’m doing this to honor you guys.”

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Tom Cruise fans can’t believe it’s his 62nd birthday today

"He still looks and does stuff in films any 26 year old wouldn't!"

Tom Cruise fans have paid tribute to the actor on his birthday, although many are in disbelief about his age.

• READ MORE:  ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ review: staggering stunts can’t make up for the nonsensical plot

The Mission: Impossible star turned 62 years old today (July 4), a fact that appears to have taken many social media users by surprise.

“Tom Cruise turned 62 today [and] still looks and does stuff in films any 26 year old wouldn’t! Be like Tom Cruise!!” one person posted on X/Twitter . 

“Can’t believe Tom Cruise is 62,” wrote another, while a third added: “Old is gold. Look at Tom Cruise. He turned 62 today!! Insane.”

Others have paid tribute to the actor for keeping them entertained throughout the years, describing him as one of the last true movie stars of our time.

“Happy Birthday to Tom Cruise, one of the last true movie stars (who turns 62 today)!!” wrote another user. “With a career that spans from the 80s to 2020s, Cruise has always proved to be about a balance between acting talent and audience appeal (a true box-office magnet).”

This is #TomCruise Tom Cruise turned 62 today Tom Cruise still looks & does stuff in films any 26 year old wouldn't! Be like Tom Cruise!! 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/SPoovBzmpX — Mimansa Shekhar (@mimansashekhar) July 3, 2024

Can’t believe my husband(tom cruise) is 62😢😢😢 pic.twitter.com/xxI14lxbtN — vic🪣 (@vadeaway) July 4, 2024

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Happy Birthday to Tom Cruise, one of the last true movie stars (who turns 62 today)!! With a career that spans from the 80s to 2020s, Cruise has always proved to be about a balance between acting talent and audience appeal (a true box-office magnet). His TOP 10 performances: pic.twitter.com/Q90AyWRa15 — ribeiro (@Erib3004) July 3, 2024

Last week, Cruise and his Mission: Impossible co-star Simon Pegg were spotted at Glastonbury joining a crowd in singing Oasis ’ ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ ahead of  Coldplay’s  headlining set.

Cruise and Pegg were photographed alongside fellow actor  Gillia Anderson  and  M:I  director Christopher McQuarrie standing on a platform at the Pyramid Stage, waiting to watch Coldplay’s set on Saturday (June 29).

In video shared by BBC 6 Music’s Matt Everitt, Cruise and Pegg are seen joining the crowd below them in singing the chorus of ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, Pegg dramatically waving his arms like a conductor.

Pegg was present at Glastonbury to introduce  Shaun of the Dead  for a 20th anniversary screening alongside director  Edgar Wright  that same day as part of  the festival’s Pilton Palais Cinema programming . The week prior, Cruise was also spotted attending Taylor Swift’s three-night Eras Tour run at Wembley Stadium .

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Suri steps out of the shadows: get to know Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ only child

Suri is the daughter of the top gun actor and dawson's creek star.

Suri Cruise has grown up before the eyes of the world; her famous parents,  Tom Cruise and  Katie Holmes , had a whirlwind romance that whipped up a frenzy around their small family and ended with a sudden split after nearly six years, followed by a reported estrangement from her father. 

Suri was the A-list of nepo babies in the 2000s; she even inspired a mean-girls-style Tumblr blog called  'Suri's Burn Book' which was full of sassy quips about other nepo babies like the  Beckham kids , written in her voice.

But she is no longer the timid child carted around by her doting mother; on June 21, the teen graduated from LaGuardia High School in New York, making headlines with her decision to  drop her famous father's surname and change to 'Suri Noelle'. Her name, meaning 'princess' in Hebrew, now incorporates her mother's middle name, proving just how close the two are.

Suri was the spitting image of her mom at graduation, dressed in a white flowy dress with her long dark hair worn down. Notably absent from the event was her father, who was seen  dancing up a storm at Taylor Swift's London leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour instead of attending his youngest child's graduation.

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Growing up in the spotlight.

Katie and Tom's love affair was a defining moment of the 2000s; we all remember the iconic moment when Tom jumped on Oprah's couch, so in love that he couldn't contain his excitement. The pair, dubbed TomKat by the media, met in April 2005, got engaged just seven weeks later, and  welcomed Suri in April 2006 before  marrying in October 2006. 

Tom  gushed to ABC News about the birth of his daughter, saying at the time, "It was everything that we wanted it to be... It was spiritual. It was powerful. It was indescribable."

Katie echoed his sentiments, telling  Vanity Fair in October of the same year, "The moment the doctor handed me Suri, I was just ready. The feeling is indescribable. All I can say is the moment I looked in her eyes, I felt like Mom."  

Katie's protectiveness over her only child has been a constant since her birth; she told  Instyle about the lengths she went to avoid the press and find privacy when Suri was growing up.

"We were followed a lot when she was little," she said. "I just wanted her outside, so I would walk her around to find parks at, like, six in the morning when nobody would see us."

Speaking to  Glamour in 2023, the Dawson's Creek actress reiterated how abnormal Suri's childhood was. "What has been really important for me with my daughter, because she was so visible at a young age, is I really like to protect her," she said. 

"I'm very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She's an incredible person," the proud mother continued.

Scientology vs fatherhood

Katie and Tom divorced in 2012, after less than six years of marriage. The relationship between Tom and Suri is  reportedly strained due to Tom's heavy involvement with the controversial Church of Scientology. 

Speaking in court during a  2013 defamation trial in which Tom sued a media company for claiming he abandoned his child, a lawyer asked if his ex-wife divorced him to distance Suri from the world of Scientology. 

Tom revealed, "That was one of the assertions, yes." The pair were last snapped together at Disney World in 2012.

Katie was granted full custody of Suri during the divorce proceedings, and Tom received visitation rights. Despite their separation, both parents expressed that they were "committed to working together as parents to accomplish what is in our daughter Suri's best interests." 

Suri’s promising path 

Katie's goal was always to "nurture her into her individuality, to make sure she is 100 per cent herself and strong, confident and able. And to know it," she told Instyle. “She came out very strong — she's always been a strong personality," she continued.

At 18, Suri has already started honing her talents; she lent her beautiful singing voice to two movies her mom directed: Alone Together (2022) and Rare Objects (2023). 

In the  Glamour interview, Katie raved about her daughter's talents and the importance of involving Suri in her projects. "I hope she always does something on my films. I always ask her," she revealed.

"But both of those experiences came out of the same sense of what I love about our industry, which is, you have these projects, and you become a family with people. And it's this safe, beautiful, creative space.

 "So it comes out of love for me to include someone who I love dearly," she continued. "That's how I like to work. I like to have that kind of feeling. It was very meaningful to me to have her there because she's my heart."

 Katie's dedication to nurturing Suri's artistic talents is evident; she told  P eople in 2014 about her efforts to be "very creative" with her daughter and to encourage her artistic spirit. "That speaks to the girl in me," she said of her parenting style.

 In a now-deleted TikTok video, Suri hinted at her college choice by wearing a  Carnegie Mellon sweater .  She was also snapped heading to her  high school prom with her boyfriend, budding musician  Toby Cohen , reminding us again how much she has grown up. 

The mother-daughter-duo share an extremely close bond, and are sure to miss each other when Suri heads off to college. "My main goal is to just let her know how much I love her," the 45-year-old told People. "I'm very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She's an incredible person. She's my heart.

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Tom Cruise (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor, producer and one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood. His films, such as the popular "Mission: Impossible," "Top Gun" and Jack Reacher" action franchises, have grossed over $4 billion in North America and over $11.5 billion worldwide. Best known for performing his own death-defying stunts, Cruise has been nominated for four Academy Awards, eight Golden Globes (with two wins), an honorary Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival and more. Cruise began his acting career in the 1980s, and his first major roles came in the 1983 comedy "Risky Business," Francis Ford Coppola's "The Outsiders" and the sports drama "All the Right Moves." His big breakout was the 1986 military drama "Top Gun," where he starred as U.S. pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. In 2022, 36 years after "Top Gun," he revisited the role with "Top Gun: Maverick." It picked up six Academy Award nominations, including best picture, adapted screenplay, original song, film editing, visual effects and won for best sound. In 1990, Cruise earned his first Academy Award nomination for best actor with "Born on the Fourth of July," followed by another in 1997 for "Jerry Maguire" and a supporting actor nod in 2000 for "Magnolia." In 1996, Cruise launched his most iconic franchise and debuted as special agent Ethan Hunt in the first "Mission: Impossible" film. The series wraps up with a two part finale, "Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning" in 2023 and 2024. His other major films include "Rain Man" (1988), "A Few Good Men" (1992), "Interview With the Vampire" (1994), "Minority Report" (2002) and "War of the Worlds" (2005).

July 3, 1962

Syracuse, NY

• Mission: Impossible,
• Top Gun: Maverick,
• Jerry Maguire,
• War of the Worlds

Golden Globe, "Magnolia," Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Won), Golden Globe, "Jerry Maguire," Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (Won), Golden Globe, "Born on the Fourth of July," Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (Won)

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Johnny depp beat tom hanks, tom cruise and michael jackson for ‘edward scissorhands’ role.

The actor's breakout role in Tim Burton's 1990 film launched a years-long collaboration between the actor and filmmaker.

By Carly Thomas

Carly Thomas

Associate Editor

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Johnny Depp has revealed which A-listers he beat out for his big screen breakout role in Tim Burton ‘s Edward Scissorhands .

During an interview in Tara Wood’s still-untitled Burton docuseries, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on Monday, the actor looked back at the 1990 film that ignited a years-long screen collaboration between Depp and the filmmaker.

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The Pirates of the Caribbean actor said when he first read the Edward Scissorhands script from Burton and screenwriter Caroline Thompson, it “passed through everything, anything, solid and went to the very core of whatever I am. The writing was beautiful. The character was beautiful. What I suppose [attracted] me emotionally was that Edward was me. It’s exactly what I should be doing.” 

However, Depp admitted he felt like he was becoming “pigeonholed” as a teen star at the time with his role in 21 Jump Street  from 1987 to 1990. And he saw John Waters’ 1990 film Cry-Baby as “the first solid step in the direction” for him.

“In all honesty, I was probably doing my best for probably the last two years to get fired,” he said of 21 Jump Street . “I knew how important the choice to make  Cry-Baby  with John Waters was, which gave me the opportunity to make fun of this arena I’d been placed in.”

As Depp continued to move in the direction he had dreamt about, his agent finally booked him a meeting with Burton for Edward Scissorhands . But it led to a moment of self-sabotage upon learning about all the A-list stars also fighting for the role of Edward.

“He’s never going to cast me when everyone in Hollywood is after the part,” Depp recalled thinking. “Tim’s really juggling because he’s getting hit by his agent, the studio, everybody. So I called my agent after reading the script and said, ‘Please cancel the meeting, I’m not going.’ She said, ‘Are you fucking nuts?’”

But Depp “finally gave in,” ultimately leading him to become one of Burton’s onscreen muses for years to come. The duo collaborated on numerous projects, including 1994’s  Ed Wood , 2005’s  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and 2010’s Alice in Wonderland .

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Tom Cruise is an American actor. He made his notable film debut in the movie Risky Business .

He soon became the most sought-after leading man in Hollywood, and has been nominated for an Oscar several times.

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• 1 64 Zoo Lane (1999)
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• 3 Tara Strong

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Tom Cruise facts: Top Gun actor's age, films, marriages, children, net worth and more revealed

4 May 2023, 13:45

Tom Cruise has been one of Hollywood's leading names for over nearly forty years.

Tom Cruise is an American actor who is the fifth-highest-grossing (as of 2023) film actor of all time as well as one of the highest-paid actors in cinema.

He has appeared in some of the biggest film franchises ever like Top Gun and its sequel Top Gun: Maverick (which is his highest-grossing film to date), the Mission Impossible film series, as well as other blockbusters such as Jerry Maguire , Minority Report , Interview With A Vampire , A Few Good Men , The Last Samurai , War Of The Worlds, Days Of Thunder, Cocktail and Jack Reacher .

• Tom Cruise fought for 'wingman' Val Kilmer to star in Top Gun sequel after his battle with cancer
• When Tom Cruise and Cher secretly dated in the 1980s: 'There was a connection'
• Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's daughter Isabella shares rare selfie and how dad 'saved' her

Cruise became a Hollywood lead during the 1980s with stand-out performances in films like Rain Man , The Color Of Money , and Born on the Fourth of July .

Although he is well-known for his roles in action movies, Tom Cruise has also been nominated for four Academy Awards throughout his career, though he hasn't won any.

Cruise has been a member of the controversial Church of Scientology since converting in the 2000s, and has advocated for the organisation as it helped him to overcome his dyslexia.

Risky Business Original Glasses Dance Scene (Mandela FX)

How old is Tom Cruise and when was he born?

Tom Cruise was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York. In 2023, he will turn 61 years old.

His father Thomas Cruise Mapother III was an electrical engineer and his mother Mary Lee was a special education teacher. They both originated from Louisville, Kentucky so Cruise and his three sisters (Lee Anne, Marian, and Cass) were brought up as Catholic.

One of his cousins, William Mapother is also an actor and has appeared alongside Cruise in five of his films.

He once described his father as "a merchant of chaos" as he was a violent bully who would beat Tom Cruise and his siblings.

How did Tom Cruise get his start in acting?

Tom Cruise moved around frequently during his youth due to his father's work, and attended 15 different schools in 14 years.

After falling in love with acting during his youth, Cruise eventually moved to New York City to pursue a career in the profession, then onwards to Los Angeles.

He was cast in several small roles shortly after his move, but it wasn't until he was cast in Francis Ford Coppola's 'Generation X' cult classic The Outsiders (which featured young stars like Patrick Swayze , Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, and Emilio Estevez) that he began gaining notoriety.

His big break came when he was cast in the iconic comedy-drama Risky Business which subsequently became a cult phenomenon and surprise box office hit, which is still regarded as one of the defining films of the 1980s.

What are Tom Cruise’s biggest films?

Top Gun (1986) Official Trailer - Tom Cruise Movie

- Mission Impossible (series)

- A Few Good Men

- Risky Business

- The Last Samurai

- Jerry Maguire

- The Color Of Money

- Born on the Fourth of July

- Top Gun: Maverick

Is Tom Cruise married?

Tom Cruise is not currently married. He divorced his third wife Katie Holmes in 2012.

He was also married twice before, first to actress Mimi Rogers from 1987-1990, and then to actress Nicole Kidman from 1990-2001 who he appeared alongside films like Days Of Thunder and Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut .

Does Tom Cruise have any children?

Tom Cruise has three children. He shares his only son Connor and eldest daughter Isabella with his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman who adopted the pair when they were married.

He also has a biological daughter, Suri, who he had with ex-wife Katie Holmes.

Cruise is notoriously private about his children and his relationship with them, although it's been repeatedly reported that he is estranged from his three kids.

What is Tom Cruise’s net worth?

JERRY MAGUIRE - Show Me the Money - MATHEMATICS in the MOVIES

Tom Cruise's reported net worth is $620 million.

Are there any other facts we should know about Tom Cruise?

Tom Cruise loses his mind on Oprah - Original Video - Hilarious!! - Celeburbia.com

The Hollywood action hero got his Hollywood teeth before he became a leading man, getting braces fitted before his career properly kicked off after being cast in Ridley Scott's fantasy film Legend .

Cruise was reportedly touted to play Neo in The Matrix film franchise before it went to Keanu Reeves , and similarly with the role of Iron Man before Robert Downey Jr was cast as the lead.

Executives at Disney wanted to likeness of Aladdin to resemble Tom Cruise as they said it'd make the character more likeable.

After his turn in Risky Business (and the iconic improvised dance scene) Cruise was credited with saving the sunglasses brand Ray-Ban from going under due to the renewed popularity the film gave the frames.

He participates in most of - if not all of - his stunts in movies, and has a gruelling regime to keep him prepared. When asked about how he keeps fit Cruise replied with: "Sea-kayaking, caving… fencing, treadmill, weights… rock-climbing, hiking… I jog… I do so many different activities."

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Tom Cruise is still working on his movie to be shot in space

"We've been working on it diligently and we'll see where we go."

Cruise was asked about the currently untitled film at the premiere for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One , and revealed that he still wanted to partake in the space walk for the shoot.

“We’ve been working on it diligently and we’ll see where we go,” he said (via Variety ), before confirming that the film was yet to have a production date. Doug Liman, who worked with Cruise on Edge of Tomorrow , is currently slated to direct the film.

Related: Mission: Impossible 7 was the "most challenging" of the series

Whilst Cruise will set foot into the next frontier for that film, the star undertook numerous stunts for the seventh film in the M:I franchise, opening to rave reviews and solid box office takings.

Ahead of the film’s release, co-star Hayley Atwell spoke exclusively with Digital Spy , and revealed she wanted to film some stunts alongside Cruise.

“You don't come in as the leading lady opposite Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible if you don't want to do your own stunts or you're like, 'I'm going to sit this one out.' He'll be like, 'What? But you can do it,’” she explained.

Related: Mission: Impossible 7 director explains controversial Ilsa decision

“We had this expert team of stuntmen and women who oversaw all my training, so it meant I was fit for purpose. It meant on any given day, my physical behaviour and what I'd built up to physically be able to do was dynamic - it was safe enough so I could change elements of the performance so I could make her seem more reckless or more full of self-doubt.

“Part of the reason why the fearlessness came in was because Tom is so prepared and disciplined and will drill every physical move he needs to make, knowing where the obstacles are, double-checking the harness and such,” she added.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is released in UK cinemas on July 11 and in US cinemas on July 12.

Mission Impossible 25th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray] [2021]

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (DVD) [2018]

Paramount Home Entertainment Mission: Impossible - The 6-Movie Collection (4K UHD)

Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media.  His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.  

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