He should have won it for “Magnolia,” but the man considered one of the last great movie stars has finally been awarded an Oscar. Tom Cruise, 63, picked up an Honorary Oscar statuette this weekend at the Governors Awards.
“This may be his first Oscar,” Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu said, while presenting the Oscar to Cruise, “but from what I have seen and experienced, this will not be the last.”
Iñárritu and Cruise recently shot a film together, tentatively titled “Judy,” which is already gaining Oscar buzz—despite absolutely nobody knowing what it’s about.
Despite four Oscar nominations—three for his performances in “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Jerry Maguire,” and “Magnolia” — Cruise has yet to secure a competitive win. Yet he continues to work at a feverish pace, and Iñárritu may be right: he might eventually win a competitive one.
In his speech, Cruise said, “making films is not what I do. It’s who I am.”
If it weren’t for Daniel Day-Lewis’ landmark turn in “My Left Foot,” Cruise probably would have won the Oscar in 1990 for “Born on the Fourth of July.” Cruise delivered a fearless, career-defining performance as Ron Kovic, a disillusioned Vietnam veteran whose physical and emotional unravelling was impossible to unsee.
He should’ve won, full-stop, for “Magnolia.” As Frank T.J. Mackey, Cruise discarded every preconceived notion of his screen persona. It was raw. It was explosive. It was art. A foul-mouthed alpha guru with a soul crumbling beneath the surface — that performance was like watching a ticking time bomb.
He also should’ve been nominated for “Collateral,” where he turned the hitman into something elegant and chilling. And don’t even get me started on “Tropic Thunder” — the comedic brilliance of Les Grossman was so unexpected it practically made us forget it was Cruise underneath all that makeup.
Other notable Cruise vehicles include “Risky Business,” “Rain Man,” “A Few Good Men,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” and “Minority Report.” That’s not even including the various different, and successful, action movies he’s starred in over the years, including most recently, the much hailed “Top Gun: Maverick.”
So yes, Tom Cruise finally has his Oscar, but his career is far from over. He’s entering the post–“Mission: Impossible” phase of his career, working with A-list filmmakers on dramas — and we’re all here for it.