TOM CRUISE - REDSTONE IN YET ANOTHER BLAST AT CRUISE

REDSTONE IN YET ANOTHER BLAST AT CRUISE

Sumner Redstone has resumed his attack on Tom Cruise, charging in an interview with Vanity Fair that Cruise "was embarrassing the studio. And he was costing us a lot of money." The Viacom chairman peremptorily cut off ties between his Paramount studios and Cruise's production company last August without apparently discussing his decision to do so with then-Viacom chief Tom Freston or Paramount Chairman Brad Grey. However, according to the Vanity Fair interview, he did consult with his wife Paula. "Paula, like women everywhere, had come to hate him. The truth of the matter is, I did listen to her," he said. "His behavior was entirely unacceptable to Paula and to the rest of the world. He just didn't turn one [woman] off. He turned off all women, and a lot of men." Redstone estimated that Cruise's controversial appearances on the Today show, when he chastised interviewer Matt Lauer for being "glib" and on Oprah, when he jumped on Winfrey's couch, cost Paramount "$100 million, $150 million on Mission: Impossible III. It was the best picture of the three, and it did the worst." Redstone concluded that his decision to axe Cruise "sent a message to the rest of the world that the time of the big star getting all this money is over. And it is! I would like to think that what I did, or what we did, has had a salutary effect on the rest of the industry."

31/10/2006