Tom Cruise was in typically rakish form as he debuted red hair and flaunted height-boosting shoes while posing with Prince William and Kate Middleton at the London premiere of his new movie “Digger” this week.
Breaking through the royals’ natural froideur, the Hollywood star got them to crack a smile on Tuesday as part of his p.r. blitz ahead of the film’s opening this coming Friday.
But even though Tinseltown remains in his thrall, Page Six can reveal that Cruise’s Oscar hopes for the movie — about a wealthy oil tycoon forced to fix a global environmental catastrophe he caused — have already plummeted.
And the satirical comedy, directed by four-time Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu, is currently on track for a dismal $15 million domestic opening weekend
“There was a press screening in LA last week — and the press reactions were mixed at best,” an industry insider told us.
“Then you saw its placement on all the Oscar lists drop after that screening. Tom is still beloved, but I don’t think people want to see him in a fat suit and makeup — they want to see him as the action hero.”
Indeed, Debra Birnbaum, editor of leading awards prediction platform Gold Derby, confirmed that Cruise’s Oscar prospects had fallen following last Saturday’s screening at the Steven J. Ross Theater on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, Calif.
“Despite Tom’s full-court p.r. press, they just weren’t jumping on the couch for his performance,” she told Page Six.
“His odds on GoldDerby.com have tumbled since the embargo [for social media movie reviews] lifted, leaving him a big hole to dig himself out of — he’s dropped among our experts and overall, including users, too.”
According to one person who has seen the movie, “Yes, ‘Digger’ is a massive creative swing.”
Despite his box office hits, from “Top Gun” to the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, Cruise has never won a competitive Oscar, although he has been nominated four times: for Best Actor for “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Jerry Maguire,” Best Supporting Actor for “Magnolia” and Best Picture as a producer of “Top Gun: Maverick.”
However, he was given an honorary Oscar at the 16th Governors Awards last November.
In the upcoming Best Actor Oscar race, Cruise is now languishing behind Andrew Scott for “Elsinore,” in which the Irish actor portrays Scottish actor Ian Charleson, the “Chariots of Fire” star who died from AIDS aged 40 in 1990.
John Malkovich is also ahead of Cruise for “Wild Horse Nine,” along with Matt Damon for “The Odyssey.”
“Tom’s now in fourth place, which still gives him a chance of a nomination, but the Best Actor race is the most competitive of all this year,” Birnbaum added.
For years, Cruise has managed the remarkable feat of branding himself as one of Hollywood’s most bankable and beloved stars, largely by keeping the focus firmly on the death-defying stunts and blockbuster spectacle of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise — and firmly away from the Church of Scientology and his fractured family relationships.
But “Digger” presents a very different challenge.
This time, Cruise isn’t dangling from a plane or riding a motorcycle off a cliff. He is asking audiences — and, crucially, Academy voters — to embrace Tom Cruise the actor again.
And during his carefully orchestrated return to the spotlight, his famously complicated personal life has once more become part of the conversation.
Critics online revived questions about his estrangement from his daughter Suri, 20, with ex-wife Katie Holmes, and his long-standing ties to Scientology.
Cruise remains Scientology’s most famous member and has long been close to its leader, David Miscavige.
Even Travis and Jason Kelce were blasted on Instagram for welcoming Cruise onto their “New Heights” podcast this week. The actor was among the guests at Travis and Taylor Swift’s NYC wedding and also joined Swift at a Kansas City Chiefs game on Sept. 14.
“Ask him about his daughter,” read one comment.
“Shoutout Scientology,” read another. “You guys must’ve left that part of the podcast off where he tried to convince you to join a cult.”
Another wrote: “He spends more time with the Kelce brothers than his own daughter.”
As part of his “Digger” press, Cruise appeared on the cover of GQ, baring his abs in an open button-up shirt and jeans, with one hand placed near his crotch, prompting an outcry online that it gave people the “ick.”
“Don’t know how to explain it but I find this photo deeply disturbing,” one X user said.
Despite giving a lengthy interview to the magazine, Cruise — as is his wont — did not discuss his personal life.
He did, however, address rumors about his demanding nature, admitting, “Look, I work hard, and people that work with me, they know.
“I expect a lot and I’m up-front about it. It’s like: ‘The rumors are true. And do you want this?’ ”
Cruise is rarely asked publicly about Scientology, but in 2016 he told ITV News: “It’s something that has helped me incredibly in my life.
“I’ve been a Scientologist for over 30 years. It’s something that is, you know … without it, I wouldn’t be where I am. So, it’s a beautiful religion. I’m incredibly proud.”
His relationship with the church has long been scrutinized alongside his estrangement from Suri, whom he has not been publicly pictured with since she was a child.
Cruise and Suri were last photographed together at Disney World in the summer of 2012, when she was 6.
Suri, now a student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, grew up in Manhattan largely shielded from the spotlight by Holmes and far removed from her father’s life in Scientology.
In July, Page Six revealed that Suri had legally changed her last name from Cruise to Noelle, her mother’s middle name.
Cruise remains close to his two adopted children with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, Isabella, 33, and Connor, 31, who are both members of the church.
Yet within Hollywood, there remains enormous affection for Cruise — not least because he was credited with helping lure audiences back into movie theaters following the pandemic.
Steven Spielberg famously thanked him for “saving Hollywood’s ass” with 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which made nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, and Cruise, in turn, has mentored a younger generation of actors, including “Top Gun” star Glen Powell.
Cruise also keeps an extraordinarily tight circle around him, including his sisters Lee Anne DeVette, who works with him, Marian Henry and Cass Capazorio.
He has spent much of the past five years living in the UK, where “Digger” was filmed at Pinewood Studios, and tightly controls when and where he is seen.
His celebrity friends include David Beckham, whom Cruise honored with a speech when the former England soccer captain received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in June.
Beckham, 51, and his sons Romeo, 24, and Cruz, 21, were also among those supporting Cruise at the “Digger” premiere in London this week.
And despite the controversies surrounding him, a well-placed Hollywood source who has met Cruise several times said the star remains extraordinarily engaging in person.
“Every time I’ve met him, he’s been super engaged, polite and incredibly interested in other people,” the source said. “He talks to you as if you’re the only person in the room.
“I’ve always found him to be utterly charming — polite, gracious and thoughtful. He seems genuinely interested in other people.”
That enduring charisma may be particularly important now.
As Birnbaum noted: “If the film’s box office disappoints, he’ll have to work even harder to win over Academy voters.”
For years, Cruise successfully reinvented himself as Hollywood’s seemingly indestructible action hero. “Digger” asks audiences to accept something rather different: a superstar disappearing beneath makeup and a fat suit in a dark satire — while campaigning for the one major accolade that has so far eluded him, a competitive Oscar.
And whatever its awards fate, the Hollywood source said Cruise deserves credit for taking the risk.
“Will it be altogether successful? Some will say yes, some will say no. But it’s an incredibly ambitious piece.”
