GONE are the days of Tom Cruise as action hero. The Scientologist - once the leading man in movies like “Top Gun,” “Days of Thunder” and “The Last Samurai” - has been replaced by Angelina Jolie as the star of Columbia Pictures’ spy thriller “Edwin A. Salt,” which will now need a new title, Variety reports.

And at 46, Cruise is thought to be too old and too expensive to star in the next “Mission Impossible” sequel. “Cruise is begging for ‘MI4,’ but Paramount wants a younger, cheaper guy,” a source told Page Six. “He had a tantrum and ran out of the meeting.”

So Cruise is turning to comedy to revive his career. He plays a fat, bald studio executive in “Tropic Thunder.” [See Lou Lumenick’s review on Page 61.] Co-star Ben Stiller told Elle that Cruise was gung-ho to join the cast: “Tom said, ‘I want to play the studio guy. I want to dance, and I want to have big hands.’ Tom was doing this little dance, and I was like, ‘This is insane. If this thing was on YouTube, it would be all over the world.’ ”

Cruise is also said to be attached to “Food Fight,” a comedy about a snooty New York chef forced to cook at a school cafeteria.

After his falling-out with Paramount boss Sumner Redstone two years ago, Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner, took over United Artists, which bombed with the anti-war “Lions for Lambs.” UA’s “Valkyrie” - a $100 million drama about the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler - is also said to be a turkey, having been postponed twice and now due out in February.

“It’s assumed the UA deal with Cruise and Wagner will be coming to an end,” said our source. “They haven’t greenlit a picture other than ‘Valkyrie’ and ‘Lions for Lambs.’ ”

UA production chief Jeff Kleeman has left after only 11 months, on the heels of marketing/publicity chief Dennis Rice, who left in July. UA is down to a skeleton crew and no rep could be reached.

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Robert Downey Jr, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Tom Cruise, and Matthew McConaughey were on hand in Los Angeles for the world premiere of their new comedy Tropic Thunder.  Tom was escorted by his wife Katie Holmes and she was looking quiet nice towering over he little husband.  Still was accompanied by his gorgeous wife and co-star Christine Taylor.  The movie itself is meeting some opposition from groups representing the mentally challenged who are now calling for a nationwide boycott of the film.  Expect that to have little impact on the opening weekend which should take down Batman as the number 1 film in the country.

Photos by PR Photos

Tropic Thunder TrailerKellie Pickler at Country ThunderKim Kardashian reality show premiere partyJessica Simpson in short shorts is good CountryHilary and Haylie Duff at the Entourage PremiereAngelina splits for Beowulf London premiereCarrie shows great legs at Country ThunderHot Gossip Links May 14, 2008

Tom Cruise is named in a $250 million federal lawsuit that is using the RICO statute against the Church of Scientology. Ex-Scientologist Peter Letterese, a longtime critic of the church, filed suit in Southern District Court in Florida on July 15 alleging, among other things, that members of the church harassed him after he left.

In court papers provided to The News by investigator Paul Barresi, Letterese claims a member of the church phoned his lawyer at home, and when the lawyer’s wife answered, said he was her husband’s homosexual lover.

Barresi, who has done investigative work on behalf of Cruise, tells us: “[Letterese] is just including a celebrity name to get attention.”

Letterese calls the church a “crime syndicate” and wants it broken up under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization law, just as the feds have broken up Mafia families.

He singles out Cruise, who’s made no secret of his religion, saying that Scientology head David Miscavage is “aided and abetted by the actions of Tom Cruise, his right-hand man for foreign and domestic promotion, as well as for foreign and domestic lobbying. He has assisted the syndicate in acquiring funds and [made] his own donations of money believed to be in the multiple tens of millions of dollars.”

One of Letterese’s beefs is that the church allegedly uses a business book, “Effective Sales Closing Techniques,” as part of its teachings. He says this violates his intellectual property rights, since he bought the rights to the book from the widow of author Leslie Dane.

Cruise’s lawyer, Bert Fields, did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment.

Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology, told us: “This is a frivolous suit based on falsehoods.”

As for the Dane book, Pouw said, “Earlier this month, the federal Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit already rejected similar claims and affirmed that the church’s use of the book in question was fair use. Mr. Letterese was penalized $266,000 by a California court for refusing to provide evidence to support many of the same allegations.”

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First it was Rocky, then it was Rambo and more recently Indiana Jones, and now Tom Cruise is following the eighties remake craze by filming a Top Gun sequel.

Twenty two years after Maverick sang his way into the heart of his instructor Charlie with ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’, the fighter pilot will take to the skies again.

Movie bosses are keen to resurrect the mega-successful 1986 movie, which launched Tom onto Hollywood’s A-list and earned $350million worldwide.

Cruise, 46, is in talks with studio bosses to reprise his role as Lt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in a long-awaited follow-up.

An insider tells The Sun: ‘The idea is Maverick is at the Top Gun school as an instructor - and this time it is he who has to deal with a cocky new female pilot.’

The original Top Gun starred Cruise as an cocky aspiring pilot who falls in love with his beautiful instructor, Charlie Blackwood, played by Kelly McGillis.

If Cruise agrees to reprise his role, Top Gun II would be a surefire box office hit.

The actor’s film career has been remarkably less successful in recent years after previously dominating the highest box offices receipts since the 1980s.

His last big hit was War Of The Worlds in 2005 - which was released around the same time he started dating his now third wife Katie Holmes.

Mission: Impossible III in 2006 performed below industry expectations, taking less money than the first film in 1996, which was a huge worldwide success.

His last film, Lions For Lambs, which opened last November, failed to make an impact at the box office and was critically mauled.

Meanwhile, Tom took time out of his acting career to enjoy a day at the race track with wife Katie.

The couple left the kids at home for the day as they stepped out at the Red Bull US MotoGP World Championship in Monterey, California.

Dressed down in jeans, sunglasses and leather jackets, the couple walked in sync around the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca as they talked to drivers and officials in between races.

The couple were given pole position as they watched the races from the pit lane wall.

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It looks like there’s a snag in Tom Cruise’s big career comeback film. According to sources, Cruise is probably not going to be playing the role of Edwin A. Salt, a fictional CIA officer who is outed as a spy.

“Edwin A. Salt,” which is set at Columbia Pictures, has had a rocky road. First Terry George was set to direct. He left and was replaced by Philip Noyce.

But now Cruise is out, and I’m told it’s because of money. Apparently, Tom is unaware of the change in his status in the Hollywood community. Where once he was the top-paid star, Cruise now is in a position where a $20 million salary is not possible. I’m told an internal memo went around among the film’s producers and top creators in which the Cruise situation was discussed and names were gathered for a replacement.

The reasons for Cruise’s departure are not just his diminished popularity, negative public opinion and Scientology — although those would be good enough. It’s also just generational. Cruise is 45. His heyday as a box office star — if he ever had one — is over.

Like past huge leading action stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cruise must face the brutal facts of aging. Ironically, he’s been replaced by Will Smith, whom Cruise has courted for Scientology. Talk about rubbing “Salt” in a wound!

Of course, it doesn’t help that his last big feature, “Mission: Impossible 3,” was eons ago, in Hollywood terms — 2006. On top of that, even a film shot now and released next summer would have to erase in the audience’s mind Cruise’s upcoming release, “Valkyrie,” aka The Nazi Movie, due next February.

And still, “Salt” was not even going to be released by United Artists, the studio where Cruise has a financial interest. With “Salt” back in the shaker, maybe he can concentrate on projects with partner Paula Wagner at UA, instead.

Meantime, Cruise remains at the center of the mystery concerning his kids Isabella and Connor’s continued absence from their mother, Nicole Kidman. The kids, I’m told, still have not visited Kidman in Tennessee nor met their new half-sister, Sunday Rose. This kind of thing, Cruise doesn’t seem to comprehend, only adds to his career predicament.

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Tom Cruise to hills little girl Suri to visit mommy on the set of “Eli Stone” at historic Union Station in Los Angeles.   After spending time with Katie Tom left with his little lady, but did come back to later on to pick up his wife.  Tom was seen carrying Suri’s doll which we assume she forgot on the set and wasn’t Suri turned into a doll by some crazy Scientology witchcraft.

source: mavrixonline.com

Tom Cruise to hills little girl Suri to visit mommy on the set of “Eli Stone” at historic Union Station in Los Angeles.   After spending time with Katie Tom left with his little lady, but did come back to later on to pick up his wife.  Tom was seen carrying Suri’s doll which we assume she forgot on the set and wasn’t Suri turned into a doll by some crazy Scientology witchcraft.

source: mavrixonline.com

The Cruise family has sent along a present to welcome little Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, PEOPLE has learned.

Contrary to some reports that Tom Cruise gave ex-wife Nicole Kidman a “room full of flowers,” the actor and his family – including Cruise’s children with Kidman, Bella, 15, and Connor, 13 – actually sent a huge baby basket to Nashville.

The high-end gift included chenille Giraffe baby blankets, items from the Hermes baby line and other newborn necessities.

Kidman, 41, gave birth to Sunday Rose at a Nashville hospital on Monday morning, with husband Keith Urban, 40, by her side for the smooth delivery.

“We feel immensely blessed and grateful to be given this beautiful baby girl,” the happy couple said in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE. “She’s an absolute delight.”

(source)

Critics of Scientology say they plan another theatrical protest against the church - this time targeting its intelligence division.

The anti-Scientology group known as Anonymous says its July 12 “Spy vs. Sci” demonstration will be held in “cities all around the world,” according to a press release.

Anonymous members - who include former Scientologists - are focusing on alleged “abuses” of the church’s intelligence agency, known as the Office of Special Affairs (OSA), says the release. It asks, “Why does something that describes itself as a religion need an intelligence agency that aggressively persecutes critics?”

According to the group, the OSA is charged with administering “justice and punishment” for the controversial faith, whose members include Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. The group charges that critics are “targeted, harassed, threatened and intimidated in an attempt to silence or punish them.”
“Most Scientologists are unaware of the functions of the OSA and accept what their leaders tell them about it,” says the release. “However, there is a growing body of evidence that OSA agents operate to attack perceived enemies by using infiltration, bribery, burglary and blackmail, in addition to threats, intimidation, assaults and worse.”

Due to fear of reprisals, Anonymous members are reluctant to give their names. One organizer, who goes by the nom de guerre of “93,” tells us the church has sent warning letters to “our more public members” calling them “‘terrorists.’ They’re attempting to stamp out our constitutional right to free speech.”
Scientology critic Mark Ebner charges that “armed private detectives hired by Scientology have invaded peaceful rallies.” A spokeswoman for the church didn’t return an e-mail seeking comment.

Last month in London, Sydney, Toronto and New York, Anonymous sponsored a pirate-theme protest that parodied Scientology’s private navy, the Sea Org. Or, as the demonstrators, called it, “Sea Aaargh.”

According to 93, protesters at the “Spy vs. Sci” rally will don costumes of characters like Austin Powers, James Bond and Modesty Blaise. What about that actor who starred in the “Mission: Impossible” movies?

“Nobody wants to be Tom Cruise,” she says.

(source)