Cruise told Matt Lauer in his “Mea Culpa” return to the Today Show that he regretted his anti-psychiatry Scientology rant in 2005 and that he would try and tone down the rhetoric in the future. He said there was a “time and place” to talk about Scientology and that “I’m just here to entertain people.”

American audiences are knowledgeable and wary enough of the cult for Tom to have to keep it zipped if he wants to improve his image, but apparently Cruise doesn’t feel the same about Spanish people. He is quoted as telling a Spanish magazine that he “cured” his dyslexia with the help of Scientology’s “study tech” developed by it’s founder, failed science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. (It’s somewhat possible Cruise gave these quotes earlier and they’re being rehashed by the magazine, as the Associated Press notes in their coverage. It does sound like a new interview though.)

Actor Tom Cruise said Scientology teachings helped him overcome childhood dyslexia, a Spanish magazine reported.

Cruise was quoted by Spanish magazine XL Semanal as saying he was diagnosed with the learning disability when he was 7 years old.

Cruise said he was often anxious, frustrated and bored as a youth and couldn’t concentrate in class, the magazine reported on its Web site Sunday.

The magazine quoted Cruise as saying he was functionally illiterate when he graduated from school in 1980, but learned to read perfectly as an adult through Scientology technology.

XL Semanal said the interview was conducted in Los Angeles, but did not say when. A transcript of Cruise’s original comments in English was not available.

The Church of Scientology was established in 1945 by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, and claims 10 million members around the world. Cruise and fellow actor John Travolta among its more famed followers.

[From AP via Huffington Post]

Scientology’s Study Tech has been widely discredited by education experts, and there are no independent studies to verify it’s effectiveness. Critics say that it is a way for Scientologists to try and slip their belief system unnoticed into a school’s curriculum and indoctrinate new recruits. Success stories largely rely on anecdotal evidence and testimonials.

The Andrew Morton unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise claimed that his relationship with Penelope Cruz was a deliberate move to try and expand the Scientology cult’s empire into Spain and Latin America. The actor also had a brief relationship with Sofia Vergara that Morton says dissolved once she learned she was being used as a PR tool for the cult.

If Cruise did give these quotes, it seems like a calculated statement to try and hype Scientology to Spanish-speaking audiences. Cruise seems to know that there’s a “time and place” to discuss the cult, and that American audiences are too savvy to buy it. Hopefully Spanish audiences are too.

Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and Suri are shown out in NY on 1/3/08. Credit: WENN

Star Magazine claims to have an “insider” who has told them that there are legal papers that dictate the contact Nicole Kidman can have with Connor and Isabella, her children with Tom Cruise. It’s been speculated that the reason Kidman is rarely seen with her older kids isn’t because she’s not a loving mother, but because she’s been pushed out of their lives by Cruise and his Scientology minions.

In the Jan. 5 issue of Star — on sale Dec. 24 — we report that Tom had special papers drawn up shortly after his split from Nicole that carefully spelled out all the details of his wife’s visitation rights, according to an insider who’s familiar with the documents.

The highly confidential agreement — kept under lock and key at the office of one of Tom’s lawyers — limits the time Nicole sees the kids, how much exposure she can have with them and when overnight visits are allowed, says the insider. “She doesn’t go anywhere with those kids without Tom’s say-so.”

Although Tom’s rep denies it, it’s not just Nicole’s physical interactions with the teenagers that are monitored. All her calls to Tom’s house are documented, and no correspondence occurs between them without Tom’s knowledge — and that includes e-mails, reveals the insider.

[From Star Magazine]

Star isn’t the most reality based tabloid on the newstands, but similar rumors about custody of the Cruise children have been floating around since the couple split in 2001. You wonder what kind of dirt Tom has on Nicole that would prompt her to agree to that kind of arrangement. The Scientology cult regularly collects sensitive and damning information on its members as part of the indoctrination process.

The prospect of actual written documents that are this detailed and controlling add a new aspect to the story. Both Tom and Nicole were absent from the premiere of Seven Pounds, the first film their son Connor appears in. Tom was out promoting his movie and some people gave him a pass for that, but Nicole didn’t seem to have a reason to stay away. If contact between Nicole and her children is as controlled as Star claims, Nicole could have been told that since Cruise wouldn’t be there to play doting father, she couldn’t show up and look better than him. It’s all about appearance with Cruise and he makes damn sure he’s never out-parented by Kidman in the eyes of the public.

Katie Holmes must know that this is her future too if things don’t last forever with Tom. She bore the blood heir to the throne so she doesn’t stand a chance of being there for Suri as she grows up if her marriage were to end.

Tom Cruise is shown at the Valkyrie premiere on 12/18/08. Credit: SAC/Fame Pictures. Nicole Kidman is shown at a photocall for Australia on 12/2/08. Credit: WENN

MSNBC’s The Scoop reports that Tom Cruise was so afraid of the inevitable negative reviews of his bloated Nazi movie Valkyrie that he offered journalists a free screening at his mansion in exchange for some kind words. I wonder if they included a complimentary stress test with that. (You know I’m not going to be the only one to make that joke today.) It’s unclear if the screening actually happened or if it was just planned:

“Distractingly bad,” and “unengaging Nazi escapade” are among some of the reviewers’ comments attached to “Valkyrie,” Tom Cruise’s film that opens Christmas day.

Cruise’s people can’t be happy —for the obvious reasons — but also, according to a source with radio station K-Earth 101, the Cruise camp was willing to go to great lengths to garner some positive publicity. In fact, they went so far as to offer a screening for anyone at the station and their friends at the Cruise home, if only they’d “say ‘nice things’ about the movie,” according to the source.

Here’s what’s said to have happened. On Nov. 24, Mark Steines of “Entertainment Tonight” called into the show to discuss the exclusive interview “ET” had scored with Cruise. During the course of the interview with Lisa Stanley, Stanley mocks Cruise for not having a German accent in the film, says early viewers “laughed at it,” and then asks, “Listen, I’m just curious how you have no German accent, so many delays, and now people are saying, ‘It’s fantastic!’ It’s impossible.”

Impossible if you’ve seen the film … maybe. Which is why, according to the radio station source, a member of Cruise’s camp called the station to offer up a free friends and family screening.

“They offered to hold it in Tom’s home — they didn’t say if he’d be there or not,” the source says. “We just had to agree to say ‘nice things’ about the movie.”

[From MSNBC's The Scoop]

This isn’t uncommon in the movie industry and I remember reading an article by Roger Ebert that I’m having trouble finding again about how movie reviewers, especially lesser-known journalists from smaller outlets, are wooed by the studios. Free flights, vacations, meals and pampering help secure the taglines that go before terrible films you’ll feel you wasted precious minutes of your life being subjected to. The superlative quotes for the bad movies are followed by a credit in a tiny font for some person you’ve never heard of who was probably treated to at least a hot meal in exchange for selling out good taste.

Bad reviews may not negatively affect box office and there are plenty of other factors that come into play. The Scoop reports that Valykyrie is doing about as well in advance tracking, or polls, as Benjamin Button, which they attribute to all the publicity Cruise has been doing for the film.

The film is at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes and some top notch critics who are unlikely to have had beer and chips at Tommy’s house like it. Roger Ebert gives it three stars and calls it “a meticulous thriller,” with Tom’s performance “perfectly satisfactory, if not electrifying.” Ebert says he doesn’t understand why everyone was trashing Tom because he does pretty well in the role.

Maybe we were wrong and the film will do ok at the box office this holiday. I know I’d rather see Benjamin Button though.

Tom Cruise is shown at the premiere of Valkyrie on 12/18/08. Credit: PRPhotos

Tom Cruise avoided protesters at the LA premiere of his Nazi movie Valykyrie last night by entering the press tent from an underground garage and not going out to mingle with fans at all. He dealt with the controversy the same way at the NY premiere on December 15. Neither venue had an outdoor red carpet, and Cruise didn’t sign autographs or greet people waiting for him. Photo agency Splash News said that some fans stood in the cold for hours hoping to see Tom and had to leave disappointed.

It was a whos-who of celebrity Scientologists at the opening too. Many of the people who showed up but weren’t in the movie were easily identified as members of Tom’s cult.

High profile Scientologists Jenna and Bohdi Elfman, Priscilla Presley, and “Young and the Restless” actress Michelle Stafford were in attendance. There was a some pregnant singer I’d never heard of called Holly Palmer, and some other random actors and actresses. Not all of the non-cast premiere attendees are easily-googled Scientologists, but it makes you wonder. (For instance actresses Kelly Hu and Bree Turner aren’t listed on the IMDB credits for the film. A lot of random people show up at premieres, but with the Scientology angle it kind of makes you suspicious.) There’s nothing wrong with inviting your friends for support, but does Cruise want to keep reminding the public that he’s a member of one of the world’s most dangerous and oppressive cults? He said he wasn’t going to talk about it, but it’s not like he’s really distancing himself. His wife, Katie Holmes, and their daughter, Suri, were not at the premiere as they’re in NY where Katie is performing on stage.

Ultimately the public will decide if Cruise has redeemed himself enough to entertain us again. His press junket might have ended triumphantly if he was starring in a more palatable move, and he should have chosen lighter fare for the holiday season. Valkyrie is not likely to be successful in attracting ticket sales or more than one or two technical nominations from the Academy.

Credit: Protester photos from Splash News. Premiere photos from Fame Pictures. Also shown are Cruise’s co-star Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh, and Thomas Kretschmann.

Tom Cruise was on David Letterman last night, where he read the Top Ten list the “Craziest Things People Say About Tom Cruise on The Internet.” Cruise came across as both good natured and funny. I really hate to say this, but Cruise seems somewhat normal and likable in his recent interviews and has marginally redeemed himself in my eyes. We are strong supporters of Anonymous here, and we are aware of the Mafia-like tactics of Scientology. It is a cult that kills, ruins lives and rips apart families, but even evil dictators can smile and court the press. Maybe that helps explains why Cruise is so fascinated with Hitler.

Cruise said that reading the Top Ten List on Letterman was on his “bucket list” of things to do. He laughed to himself when he read the subject of the list and you could tell it was his first time reading it:

“Top Craziest Things People Say About Tom Cruise on The Internet.”

10. I sleep upside-down suspended in a special bat-like harness.
9. During the filming of “Days of Thunder” on a dare I ate a tire.
8. I still wear those underpants from “Risky Business”
7. My real name is Tom Blagojevich
6. I once heimliched a koala. (Cruise needed help with ‘heimliched.’)
5. Once a month, I take the Universal studio tour naked.
4. I believe all emotional and psychological disorders can be cured with Vicks Vaporub.
3. I’m a power mad egomaniac who is completely insulated from reality. Oh wait, no that’s Letterman.
2. After jumping on her couch, Oprah hammer-locked me til I coughed blood.
1. I keep a cell phone in my pants so I can tell friends “Call my ass.”

I watched the interview and they showed a lot of photos of Cruise and his family including him looking scary as a wrestler at 16, and dressed up as Santa last year. There was also a picture of him posing with Paul Newman in their racing jackets. He said “he taught me how to race cars, I think so he could beat me.”

Cruise also talked about his first jobs selling cards door to door and bagging ice at age eight. He said he had to stand right in the ice machine and that he was freezing cold, but he did it to earn money to go to the movies.

He still looks way too thin to me but a lot of you are saying he’s hotter super small like that. He’s also much more appealing when he sticks to talking about his movies and telling benign stories, and he seems to have realized that.

Tom Cruise is shown arriving at the Late Show last night. His mom was also there. Credit: WENN

Suri Cruise and her mom, Katie Holmes, visited the dancers backstage at the New York City Ballet yesterday. Suri wore a red satin dress with white tights, red ballet slippers and a coat. Katie was in a belted cardigan over silk pants and wore a white knit cap and little to no makeup.

Dad Tom Cruise explained to Lara Spencer on “The Insider” (link leads to video) that Suri dresses herself and that “Kate and I, whatever she wants to wear, encourage them as best we can.” He also said that if Suri wants to be a model or an actress when she grows up “whatever she wants” is ok with him. Cruise told a story about how Connor, 13, auditioned for his role as a younger version of Will Smith in Seven Pounds and how it made him nervous for him. He said that whatever his kids want to do, he supports them.

Katie and Tom have received some public criticism for letting Suri go out without a coat in the fall in New York. Suri was recently photographed without shoes on a rainy night, although she was being carried.

A gaunt-looking Tom Cruise made his return to The Today Show with Matt Lauer. Cruise’s last appearance with Lauer in 2005 was a memorable one in which he criticized the use of antidepressants and claimed that postpartum depression could be cured with vitamins. Lauer countered that friends of his have been helped by psychiatric drugs and Cruise called him “glib.” Lauer and Cruise have since made peace with each other, with Cruise cracking some good-natured jokes at Lauer’s expense at his roast this October.

The first thing Lauer and Cruise addressed on the show this morning was the elephant in the room, but it seemed like only the audience could see it because they were pretty comfortable with each other. Cruise came across as both earnest about and embarassed by his 2005 outburst. I think he handled explaining it very well.

On the “you don’t know the history of psychiatry” scandal
Lauer: This isn’t a rematch… Without going into the subject matter I’m just curious, what was the reaction on your end to the last time we sat down?

Cruise: I went back and I looked at it… I thought about it a lot seriously. It was a subject matter that’s important and being debated in the public and that’s where it should be. After looking at it I really thought, it’s not what I had intended. In looking at it I thought ‘that came across arrogant.’ That’s one of those things you go ‘OK, I could have absolutely handled that better….’ I didn’t communicate it the way I wanted to communicate it. That’s not the person that I am.”

On the press backlash against him and how he dealt with it
Cruise: I think it was a confluence of events that happened at that time. I think it was at the end of a PR tour a lot of stuff was going on.”

Lauer: How do you deal with it emotionally?
Cruise: I learned a really good lesson… I understand the spin of it. I’ve lived 25 years of this kind of stuff. Certainly things were also twisted and misrepresented. I just take responsibility for it… good lessons. I’m here to entertain people. Certain issues and things… have a time and a place and proper environment. When I’m promoting films… that’s what I want to talk about.

On whether he wants to talk about Scientology
Lauer: It’s my understanding you decided don’t want to talk about Scientology any more.
Cruise: That’s actually not true. It’s something – I’ve been a Scientologist 25 years… I think there’s a time and a place for it. Things can get misunderstood and twisted. When people are tuning in to hear about my movie… that’s what I’m here to talk about. If I don’t talk about it, it’s like ‘why aren’t you talking about it?’ If I do talk about it, it’s like ‘you’re proselytizing.’

I’m here to entertain people.

[Transcribed from Cruise's appearance on the Today Show, air December 15, 2008]

Matt said that there were no hard feelings after the interview contrary to public belief, and then he talked about Tom’s funny speech at his roast. Tom talked about his family, calling Katie “an amazing woman,” and added “also Suri and all of our kids.” As for whether they’ll have another, he told Lauer he must know how it is and said “I think that’s a question for ‘the women.’”

The first reviews are in for Valkyrie, Tom Cruise’s holiday release Nazi thriller, and they’re mixed. Cruise’s performance is not as laughable as some advance reports may have you believe, according to the critics, but it’s not that amazing either. It’s a passable film that people are likely to pass up at the box office in favor of lighter fare, according to Variety:

After a long takeoff, “Valkyrie” finally takes flight as a thriller in its second half but never soars very high. Bryan Singer’s long-awaited account of the near-miss assassination of Adolf Hitler by a ring of rebel German army officers on July 20, 1944, has visual splendor galore, but is a cold work lacking in the requisite tension and suspense. This second production from Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner at United Artists will do better than the first, “Lions for Lambs,” but is a decidedly odd choice for Christmas Day release, and looks destined for just so-so commercial returns.

Cruise himself is a bit stiff but still adequate as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, the handsome, aristocratic officer whose disenchantment with Nazism, the Fuehrer and the war finds sympathetic ears among a sizable number of military bigwigs at a time when the tide has turned against Germany in the East and an Allied invasion is expected imminently in the West.

[From Variety via Huffington Post]

The Hollywood Reporter is a little more enthusiastic about the film, but says that it’s lacking in some key respects. There is a mild spoiler alert for the quoted text below. Everyone knows how this story turns out, but this may reveal a little too much about the plot:

Bottom Line: Well-crafted historical thriller boasts fine performances but fails to probe the motives behind the plot to kill Hitler.
After keeping “Valkyrie” under wraps for months and moving its release date four times, MGM has finally pulled back the curtains on its Tom Cruise historical thriller to reveal a coolly efficient, entertaining and straightforward tale about the last of 15 known assassination attempts against Adolf Hitler…

The coup itself, following the assassination attempt that many believe has succeeded, makes for fascinating viewing and much what-if speculation that should continue long after the credits roll. All details are convincing and presumably well researched. The film has a documentary-like authenticity yet remains a sleek thriller filled with flawed heroes and catastrophic missteps.

Singer has crafted a fine film. One just wishes for greater details — and a different ending.

[From The Hollywood Reporter via Huffington Post]

Cruise and Lauer in 2005

Cruise is playing the hero and he’s going to promote the hell out of that film. He’s even going to go back on The Today Show. Matt Lauer and Tom Cruise have patched things up after their much talked about on-air confrontation over psychiatric drugs in 2005. Tom Cruise made some jokes at Matt Lauer’s roast in October and they seem to have reached a tentative truce. Cruise will appear on The Today Show on December 15, and they’ll probably joke about their heated exchange three years ago and then move on.

In the new issue of People, Cruise says he “could have handled things better” in that infamous interview, and calls 2005 “My year of jumping dangerously.” Cruise’s interview with Lauer was at the end of June, 2005, just six weeks after he jumped on Oprah’s couch when trying to express the magnitude of his feelings for Katie Holmes. He seems to have partially recovered since, with a two part love fest on Oprah and a comedic role in Tropic Thunder as a parody of the guy who fired him from Paramount. He may not ever be the same to the public, but he’s working on it.

Last week Tom Cruise repeatedly called his wife and daughter “strong” and “determined,” emphasizing the strong wills of the women in his life in multiple interviews he gave to promote his holiday release Nazi film, Valkyrie. Katie Holmes has an upcoming interview in NY Times Magazine and she calls herself “strong” now that her husband has graced her with the adjective. Remember how Katie kept saying “amazing,” when Tom used the word so often during the courtship phase of their media blitz relationship? Katie is so strong now that she’s able to remember her talking points and repeat them perfectly. She’s even allowed to ad lib a little:

“There’s a misperception about me that I just became this wallflower, this woman who doesn’t have any control of her life,” the 29-year-old actress tells the New York Times Magazine in the issue hitting newsstands Sunday. “And that’s pretty wrong. From the very beginning, I’ve made choices in my life that have been very strong. ”

Holmes, who married Tom Cruise in Italy in 2006 after a whirlwind romance, says that she had a girlhood crush on her now husband, and was surprised how down-to-earth he was in person.

“When I met Tom I was completely in love and, yes, I admired him growing up – he’s Tom Cruise! … When I met him, he was so warm and I thought, Wow! You can be a superstar and a human being. He made me feel so amazing.”

Cruise, 46, who is also interviewed in a separate Q&A in the Times magazine, also addresses his early relationship with Holmes. “I knew I wanted to marry Kate when I met her,” he says. “After our very first date, I was sure. At one point, I thought she was going to ask me to marry her first and I cut her off by changing the subject. I wanted to ask her.”

Asked if Holmes, who has a 2-year-old daughter Suri with Cruise, misses having a more anonymous existence, she says not at all. “My life has expanded. My family and friends are all part of this bigger life.”

[From People]

Holmes says that all the negative talk about her family doesn’t affect her. She claims to be so busy that she doesn’t “pay attention to all that noise.” She must ignore her husband, too. It’s pretty rude to say you thought your wife was going to propose to you first but you decided to do the manly thing and make sure you were the one who popped the question. Maybe it’s true that Katie is asserting herself in the relationship, though. Tom had to have some motivation for such passive aggressive behavior.

Katie Holmes is shown out in NY on 12/3. Tom and Suri are shown today, 12/4. Credit: Bauergriffin

Last week Hello! Magazine in the UK featured some quotes from Tom Cruise about the state of his marriage two years on. He said “And they said it wouldn’t last. I guess we proved them wrong, didn’t we?”

This latest Hello! has more words of wisdom from the 46 year-old 5’7″ screen star in an exclusive interview. The quotes he gives about Suri refusing to wear pants have already been reported as he either said the same thing to Entertainment Tonight, or they’re quoting the Hello! Interview, but there’s some additional interesting information about how he views his daughter and wife, along with his relationship with the media.

The Daily Mail has some of these quotes, but they’re taking them from Grazia. Either Grazia just switched Cruise’s statements around a little and reprinted them from Hello! or Cruise repeated himself to them. Hello! changed some of his words to Brit-speak too: (update: it was at a press conference, see below.)

On Katie and Suri both being “determined”
“Suri’s very much like her mother. She’s open and sunny, just like her Mom is, but she’s also very determined. She’s very much a girl, and she will not wear trousers, for instance, only dresses. I put a pair of trousers on her and turn and leave the room, and straight away the trousers are off and a dress is on instead.”

On Suri saying sneakers are “boy shoes”
“She also has opinions about shoes. The other day, Kate showed her some gold-coloured sneakers – you know those gold sneakers that little girls have these days? – thinking she might like to wear them, and she looked at them and said, ‘Oh Mommy, these are lovely but… they’re boy shoes.’ She’s sweet but she’s very strong-willed – just like her mother.

On Kate being such a great mother
“Kate’s a wonderful mother, very calm and very loving. She’s a woman who’s sure of herself, confident and strong. She’s incredibly wise as well as being a very gracious and elegant person. I adore her.

“Well, we all know how I feel about Kate, right?”

On the media backlash at their whirlwind romance
“I guess I did court her kind of aggressively. There were things I did at the time that I look back and think, ‘Well, okay, I could have handled a couple of moments of that a little better.’ But I was surprised at some of the things that were said about me at the time. It all escalated until it got to the point where I’d hear another piece of gossip about me, and think, ‘Whaaaat? It can’t get worse than this.’ It affected us all, and as a father and a husband you want to protect your family. You want to be able to say to them, ‘Look, you don’t have to worry about anything. It’s all going to be all right.’”

On Kate being a “strong woman”
“Kate is such a strong woman, her entire family are incredible people, and certainly so are my children, Isabella and Connor.”

Tom goes on to talk about how it was when Suri was born and how it wasn’t as stressful for him because he knew the drill from Isabella and Connor. He says “I’m much more relaxed with Suri.”

Claims Suri doesn’t “have to deal with” fame
“She doesn’t have to deal with it.” [Talking about the Forbes story ranking her top baby] “When we’re not working we lead a very normal life with her, with friends over and ordinary stuff. You want to protect your children, but you don’t want to bring them up to be afraid of people. Suri’s a very open and warm child, and we want to preserve that, which we’re doing by giving her a lot of love. All she knows is that she is number one to Kate and me. And that’s all that matters.

[From Hello! Magazine, print edition, December 2, 2008. Commentary and subtitles are our own]

How many different ways can Tom say that Katie gets her way? Why doesn’t he just call her a stubborn pain in the ass and be done with it? It’s funny because whenever he starts to say something negative about her, like about how she’s strong willed, he immediately switches back to “incredible,” “amazing” mode and praises her.

According to the Daily Mail, he also told Grazia that some of the shots of little Suri by the paparazzi are “incredible.” Here he said that “she doesn’t have to deal with [fame]” and maybe he meant the broader aspects of fame, but Suri is often seen crying and looking visibly upset by the paparazzi surrounding her family and screaming her name. She’s surely affected by it and no amount of “love” and letting her get her way can make up for that. You get that Tom wants to play nice with the media, but he would do well to speak out a little against aggressive photographers.

Update: Cruise essentially said the same thing to The Mirror, and as Agent Bedhead points out he was giving a press conference.

Tom and Katie are shown having lunch with her family at Balthazar restaurant in NY on Halloween. Credit: Bauergriffin. Suri is shown out with her mom eating a cupcake on 11/24/08. Credit: WENN