Tom Cruise’s honorary Oscar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tom Cruise was awarded an Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards (GA)

I had not heard of these GAs (apparently Debbie Allen, Dolly Parton and production designer Wynn Thomas were also honored).

The NYT said the GA has become an awards campaign stop.

I don’t really understand how getting honorary academy awards helps stars to campaign for actual academy awards. Do these GA mean anything?

It’s an actual Oscar.
“ Tom Cruise received an honorary Oscar at the 16th Annual Governors Awards on November 16, 2025. This award, presented by Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, marks Cruise's first time receiving an Academy Award, although he has been nominated for four Oscars in total. During his acceptance speech, Cruise expressed his deep appreciation for cinema, stating, "Making films is not what I do, it's who I am," and paid tribute to those who have contributed to the film industry, including his fellow honorees”

It’s mostly for those who have not received an acting Oscar but have significantly contributed to the industry.

Tom should have received best actor for Rain Man. He carried the emotion through that entire movie while Dustin Hoffman stood there pretty much emotionless.

Yes. He should have received an Oscar for his performances in both Rain Man and Born on the Fourth of July. Both were just outstanding work. He also gave great performances in A Few Good Men and Magnolia. I am surprised he was recognized for an Honorary, because Hollywood supposedly do not like him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God I could not love Nicole Kidman more. She just keeps rising about the men in her life.

yep. She escaped Harvey. She managed to resuscitate herself after tc. And KU just played for trump. Let the trash take itself out. You go girl.

She said her marriage to Cruise, a powerful man in the industry, saved her from Weinstein and sexual harassment in the industry overall.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-45874724

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Firm
Mission Impossible
Top Gun
Rain Man
Born on the 4th of July
Jerry Maguire
A few good men
Interview with the vampire
Days of thunder
The outsiders

Give the man an oscar!!

when he actually wins one, then sure

Plenty of great actors never won an Oscar for acting. Cary Grant, Robert Redford, James Earl Jones, Ralph Fiennes, Cicely Tyson, and several others. Henry Fonda and Paul Newman did not receive competitive Oscar wins until they were on the death bead. I think all the people I named made great movies and should have been recognized for their work, but probably did not play well with the crowd and was shunned. Reminds me of the person who played Erica Kane who basically carried Daytime Soap Operas for years, but was shunned every year for an award.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ew.

He is gross with a checkered past.

He is an amazing actor - think of all the incredible movies he’s done. Risky Business, Rain Man, A Few a Good Men… He is also supposed to be very nice and great to work with. Renee Zellweger credits him with her career.

I think he’s a gross person and weirdo. But I think he’s actually an amazing actor and has done incredible things for the film industry across a bunch of different genres. Even his crap action movies are generally carried by his charisma and when he has an actual acting job, he’s incredible (Raian, Born on the Fourth). And he’s apparently incredibly dedicated on set and generally well liked by the people he works with. Which is more than you can say about a lot of people with weird personal beliefs (like RFK who is both a weirdo and terrible at his job). So I give him a ton of credit for what he’s done professionally. He’s one of the few genuine movie stars of his generation.

Speaking of the Tom Cruise ouvre, I kind of want to go back and watch Taps which is the first thing I remember him from. I remember being like totally blown away and traumatized by it, and the cast in it is really incredible — Cruise, Penn, Timothy Hutton, Giancarlo Esposito, George C Scott… Id guess the plot is actually kind of dumb but it would be fun to watch those actors as kids again.

Kindred heart here. I would throw in The Outsiders as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Firm
Mission Impossible
Top Gun
Rain Man
Born on the 4th of July
Jerry Maguire
A few good men
Interview with the vampire
Days of thunder
The outsiders

Give the man an oscar!!

when he actually wins one, then sure

Plenty of great actors never won an Oscar for acting. Cary Grant, Robert Redford, James Earl Jones, Ralph Fiennes, Cicely Tyson, and several others. Henry Fonda and Paul Newman did not receive competitive Oscar wins until they were on the death bead. I think all the people I named made great movies and should have been recognized for their work, but probably did not play well with the crowd and was shunned. Reminds me of the person who played Erica Kane who basically carried Daytime Soap Operas for years, but was shunned every year for an award.

Actually I think basically all those actors were well liked and respected in Hollywood but just got unlucky with nominations. Cary Grant basically only did comedy and a couple Hitchcock things, and they really never nominated for comedy. Paul Newman was nominated for the verdict but lost to Ben Kingsley in Gandhi — Gandhi was just a steamroller that year, and that was a tough choice. He has 10 minimalism and was 62 when he won so hardly on his deathbed. Arguably should have won for cool hand luke in 1967 but that was an insanely competitive year. Hes another that got a lifetime achievement award because Hollywood felt bad. Redford was nominated for the sting but lost to Brandi’s godfather, so you can’t really fault that. Somewhat surprising he wasn’t nominated for flight of the condor or all the presidents men but Redford didn’t like campaigning and I think the distributors didn’t push the film. But he did get a competitive Oscar — for directing.
Weirdly, a lot of people who aren’t popular in Hollywood did get Oscar’s -/ I don’t think Brando, orsoj Welles or woody Allen are broadly liked but won lots of stuff.

I do think cruise is liked by a lot of industry people because his movies employ tons of people in makeup, costume, effects, music, etc, and he makes a lot of movies. The bulk of Hollywood is not living on the sweet little art film made on a shoestring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Firm
Mission Impossible
Top Gun
Rain Man
Born on the 4th of July
Jerry Maguire
A few good men
Interview with the vampire
Days of thunder
The outsiders

Give the man an oscar!!

when he actually wins one, then sure

Plenty of great actors never won an Oscar for acting. Cary Grant, Robert Redford, James Earl Jones, Ralph Fiennes, Cicely Tyson, and several others. Henry Fonda and Paul Newman did not receive competitive Oscar wins until they were on the death bead. I think all the people I named made great movies and should have been recognized for their work, but probably did not play well with the crowd and was shunned. Reminds me of the person who played Erica Kane who basically carried Daytime Soap Operas for years, but was shunned every year for an award.

all the more reason that the fake Oscar is just a PR buy. Embarrassing for all involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why now? He's been making B-grade action films to fund scientology for years now.

Agree with you but I think the industry is grateful to him for bringing back audiences to theaters like Top Gun Maverick did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why now? He's been making B-grade action films to fund scientology for years now.

What is an A-grade action film? I loved Collateral and would not consider it a B movie, but everybody has an opinion.

[Anonymous]

LOL at the people on this thread putting down Cruise's accomplishments. He has achieved things in his profession that few if any of us will ever achieve in ours.

As for Scientology, perhaps it is BS but as one of the PPs said, how is it any less BS than any other religion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Firm
Mission Impossible
Top Gun
Rain Man
Born on the 4th of July
Jerry Maguire
A few good men
Interview with the vampire
Days of thunder
The outsiders

Give the man an oscar!!

when he actually wins one, then sure

Plenty of great actors never won an Oscar for acting. Cary Grant, Robert Redford, James Earl Jones, Ralph Fiennes, Cicely Tyson, and several others. Henry Fonda and Paul Newman did not receive competitive Oscar wins until they were on the death bead. I think all the people I named made great movies and should have been recognized for their work, but probably did not play well with the crowd and was shunned. Reminds me of the person who played Erica Kane who basically carried Daytime Soap Operas for years, but was shunned every year for an award.

Paul Newman won his Oscar in 1987, and didn't die until 21 years later in 2008.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL at the people on this thread putting down Cruise's accomplishments. He has achieved things in his profession that few if any of us will ever achieve in ours.

As for Scientology, perhaps it is BS but as one of the PPs said, how is it any less BS than any other religion?

Exactly. Personally, coming from a family full of autistic people, some of them high-achieving, I believe he has autism. He's very driven and dedicated and probably not a great socio-emotional communicator in real life, hence all his failed marriages. Anthony Hopkins recently did an interview in which he talks about his own great memory for lines, and his Asperger's diagnosis. I think Cruise is the same way (and I think it shows in every interview and public interaction). He's dyslexic too, which makes reading scripts and remembering lines that much more of an achievement.

Much respect for his work.

[Anonymous]

Why does he even want an Oscar when he has already been awarded the prestigious Freedom Medal of Valor by the international association of Scientology??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why now? He's been making B-grade action films to fund scientology for years now.

What is an A-grade action film? I loved Collateral and would not consider it a B movie, but everybody has an opinion.

I thought Edge of Tomorrow was really good too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why now? He's been making B-grade action films to fund scientology for years now.

What is an A-grade action film? I loved Collateral and would not consider it a B movie, but everybody has an opinion.

Collateral came out 21 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL at the people on this thread putting down Cruise's accomplishments. He has achieved things in his profession that few if any of us will ever achieve in ours.

As for Scientology, perhaps it is BS but as one of the PPs said, how is it any less BS than any other religion?

Exactly. Personally, coming from a family full of autistic people, some of them high-achieving, I believe he has autism. He's very driven and dedicated and probably not a great socio-emotional communicator in real life, hence all his failed marriages. Anthony Hopkins recently did an interview in which he talks about his own great memory for lines, and his Asperger's diagnosis. I think Cruise is the same way (and I think it shows in every interview and public interaction). He's dyslexic too, which makes reading scripts and remembering lines that much more of an achievement.

Much respect for his work.

OP - I have not commented much apart from thanking a PP near beginning who explained the practical process of this award to me.

I have enjoyed all the replies and wanted to thank you for this insight.

I had no idea that TC has been struggling with such neurodivergence. You are completely right that he deserves respect for his many accomplishments, for providing livelihoods for so many people, and especially for managing his learning differences so phenomenally. We also have neurodiversity in our family. The struggles (plus creative gifts) are real.

Bravo TC!