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Tattle: Is Tom Cruise dusting off 'Top Gun' role?
By ED WEINER
weinere@yahoo.com
Aug 04, 2008
SO WHY, if the unsubstantiated reports are indeed true, would Tom Cruise want to do a sequel, now, to his 1986 hit "Top Gun"? Let us deconstruct the possible ways:
1. He wants to show the world he's still buff. Don't underestimate this shallow motivation. Hollywood stars are fueled by vanity. He's 46, an age when a lot of those hot male stars begin to find good roles harder to get, even if he is part owner of his own studio. (By that age, women are already playing grandmothers . . . if they can get any work at all.)
2. He needs to defuse that Scientology thing with an echo from his past. Could be. His excessive pro-Scientology zeal - attacking a postpartum-depression-suffering Brooke Shields . . . come on , pal - hurt him in the eyes of the public. Revisiting one of his most famous roles and the good feeling that might slop over from that would go a long way to rehabilitating him.
3. At the moment, he's Mister Katie Holmes. She's been getting more roles, she's the one who's getting snapped a lot by the paparazzi, she's the one who's got the good hair. Right now, she's getting better press than he is. He probably doesn't like that.
4. Hollywood makes only sequels. That's only 80 percent true. They also make prequels.
5. He needs a hit - bad. This is probably the No. 1 reason for doing a "Top Gun" sequel, if indeed he is going to. It's three years since his last moneymaker, "War of the Worlds." His franchise, the "Mission: Impossible" flicks, seem to have played themselves out and self-destructed. His last outing, "Lions for Lambs," didn't do him any good. He could use a big, multi-hundred-million-dollar blockbuster right about now to prove that he's still got it, that he can still open a movie. Playing Pete "Maverick" Mitchell again would probably ensure a $100 million first-week gross from curiosity value alone.
Reports from several European news services say that the plot being bandied about for the sequel is a complete flip from the original: In the first, Maverick fell for his female flight instructor; in this one, Maverick would be the flight instructor who falls for a young, female top gun. If that sounds insipid and pat, it's probably true. Except for one thing: in regard to guns or anything else, TomTom likes to be on top.
Two thumbs hammered
It's tough to have a series called "At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper" when neither one is involved. And that's the way it looks right now.
The venerable movie-review show started 33 years ago as a public-television series with Chicago reviewers Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel . On Siskel's death, Ebert went hunting and, in 2000, tapped Richard Roeper . Then Ebert suffered from multiple surgeries for salivary-gland cancer and from surgeries to repair the first surgeries. This time, Roeper took the aisle seat, trading lightweight insights with a list of other reviewers.
Roeper released a statement over the weekend saying that "At the Movies" producer Disney-ABC and he have been unable to come to terms and he's taking his sticky feet elsewhere.
Meanwhile, yesterday, Ebert, still actively involved with the show behind the scenes, said he, too, is leaving. At 66 and unable to speak, the guess is he'll stick to his movie writing.
Whether or not Roeper finds somebody else to keep him in Jujubes in some other TV venue remains to be seen. The Chicago Tribune reports that Disney is thinking hard about killing the show's format and turning it into something more like "Entertainment Tonight." Like we need another one . . . or even the original one.
Miley Cyrus Overblown Ego Quote of the Day
"I have a lot for the world to know and take away from what my life experiences have been." - to an Associated Press interviewer, concerning her new album.
Tattbits
_ Amy Winehouse , who either is or isn't dying so slowly of emphysema that an overdose will get her first, will be without hubby Blake Fielder-Civil for the next 27 months. He'll be in jail for trial-fixing and beating up a former pub landlord. Nice couple. And you thought you had lousy next-door neighbors. Winehouse didn't show up in court to hear the verdict. Anyway, hearing and comprehending are different things. Let's see if she's there to greet him on his release.
_ After running into resistance from French-Canadian nationalists who felt it wasn't right for a Brit to take center stage in celebrations for Quebec's 400th birthday, Sir Paul McCartney gave a smash outdoor concert for 200,000 of his best Quebecois friends on Sunday. To assuage the critics, he even spoke some French. Of course, speaking French isn't new for McCartney. Remember the Beatles' "Michelle"? Those words he said after "Michelle, ma belle" - that was almost French.
_ Also allegedly from the world of music, multi-untalented Jessica Simpson
gave her first country concert Saturday at the Country Thunder USA festival in Randall, Wis. She got booed. She told the crowd, "I don't know what your perception is of Jessica Simpson or what tabloid you buy, but I just want you to know that I'm just a girl from Texas. I'm just like you. I'm doing what I love and dating a boy." Not exactly just like us, actually.
_ City officials say that Bill Murray will be skydiving as part of a special appearance at the Chicago Air and Water Show next month. Murray will be jumping on behalf of USO of Illinois. Chicago native Murray will tandem-jump with the Golden Knights skydiving team onto North Avenue Beach on Aug. 15.
_ Jay Leno 's last "Tonight Show" will be May 29, 2009, it was announced yesterday. Conan O'Brien 's first "Tonight Show" will be June 1. Leno's first show on ABC will be . . . ? *
Daily News wire services contributed to this report.
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