Nine Network journalist Peter Overton has come out in defence of Tom Cruise, hailing both his skills as an actors and his role in reviving cinema.
The endorsement of the Hollywood icon comes after rumours that Cruise and his team banned Overton from attending the “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” premiere in Sydney last week and from interviewing Cruise on the red carpet.
The feud reportedly stems from a 2005 “60 Minutes” interview between the two, in which tensions flare over Overton’s line of questioning about Cruise’s split from Nicole Kidman and how the two will continue to communicate and care for their children.
During the interview, which occasionally resurfaces in the tabloids and social media, Cruise told Overton he was “stepping over the line” and implored him to “take responsibility” for his line of questioning. He also told Overton to “put your manners back in”.
Overton was absent from the film’s premiere this year, which was attended by many other news anchors, entertainment reporters and media identities. His absense has given rise to a rumour that he was ‘banned’ from attending due to his conduct in 2005.
Overton has now spoken about the rumours and conceded that he was not invited.
“I wouldn’t have a clue,” he told Nova Sydney’s breakfast radio program “Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie” when asked if he was banned from the event. “No, we didn’t get an invite, but I also had another thing to do – the 6 o’clock news,” he said, in reference to his role as anchor of Nine’s nightly news bulletin.
Overton conceded that he hadn’t spoken to Cruise in the 18 years since the interview, but said he continued to admire his work and what he had achieved for cinema from a distance.
“Every now and then [the interview] pops up, but you know, I’ve always said, I like Tom. I think it’s amazing what he’s done with “Top Gun: Maverick“. I’ve seen that a couple of times. “Mission Impossible”, I can’t wait to see.
“And the bottom line is, he’s a great actor, what he’s done for Hollywood in a really tough period with COVID and so on, is he has put the big-screen movies back in the cinema in a huge way, and we’re all going to see them.”
Overton told the trio he would definitely be attending the “Mission Impossible” film and thought Cruise was fantastic to still be doing his own stunts and creating the kind of cinema he is today.
The film’s writer and director Christopher McQuarrie has been similarly impassioned about Cruise’s role in saving big cinema.
“The person I want to compliment is the person who will always dodge the compliments. It’s this man, Mr. Tom Cruise. When this whole process started four years ago, we were entering a period where it looked like this event was headed for extinction. It was a very real possibility that this medium that we loved so much was on its way out. One person said, ‘No, we’re gonna keep it going’. And that’s this man right here,” McQuarrie said.
When approached by Variety Australia, Nine denied its star presenter was banned from the premiere. Paramount Pictures, the distributor of the film, did not respond to a request for comment.
