The straight story
Tom Cruise, Cameron Crowe stop in Dallas to promote Vanilla Sky
By Daniel A. Kusner
It’s not such a big deal to be in the same room as Tom Cruise. At least he’s pretty good at making it seem that way.
Last Friday, the staunch hetero and director Cameron Crowe stopped in Dallas to hold a press conference for their new film, Vanilla Sky, a remake of the 1997 Spanish romantic thriller, Abre Los Ojos.
First of all, my gaydar was not bouncing off the charts — even though Cruise was wearing a rather fetching lavender ribbed turtleneck. And he’s not the midget everyone says he is — when erect, he’s almost 5’10”.
In the looks department, Cruise is attractive enough. But frankly, he’s such a recognizable and photographed cultural figure that, in person, the surprise element of his physical presence has practically evaporated. With all the tabloid covers and billboard ads, Tom Cruise appears as common as stop signs.
He did leave one strong impression, though — the beefy laugh that Ben Stiller imitates so well. He lets one of those out every five minutes. It makes him appear jovial and pleasant, which helps detract from the fact that’s he’s essentially the most powerful actor in Hollywood.
In Vanilla Sky, Cruise plays David Ames, a studly Manhattan publishing exec. whose life takes a horrible turn after he falls for an innocent exotic babe (Penelope Cruz) while trying to cool things off with his “fuck buddy” (played by Cameron Diaz). It’s a complex story that twists and turns in many different directions, and dissecting the plot too much might spoil the film for ticket holders.
Vanilla Sky is hardly a gay film. But there are a couple queer elements that Cruise and Crowe didn’t mind talking about, and of course, the “whole gay thing” with Cruise sort-of sprung up from there.
Gay artist and native Texan Robert Rauschenberg has a meaningful part in the film. He assumes the role of David Ames’ deceased father, a tycoon who left his publishing empire to his son.
“I don’t think there aren’t any gay connotations to using Rauschenberg in the film,” says Crowe. “I saw a picture of him in W magazine, and he’s really photogenic. The picture was a close-up shot of him smiling, which I felt so comfortable looking at it. I also felt — what if this guy was one of the most legendary sharks of the New York business world? Wouldn’t it make it even more effective as a tough businessman, if he was that disarming?”
According to Crowe, when Rauschenberg heard about the project, his response was, “I get to be Tom Cruise’s father? I’m in!”
There’s a bar scene in Vanilla Sky, where an odd-looking chap (Noah Taylor, from the film Shine) tries to strike up a conversation with David Ames. Not that the matter really needed to be cleared up, David tells the guy, “Sorry, buddy, but I’m straight, okay?” Cameron Crowe admits that this scene knowingly pokes fun at Cruises response to the gay rumors in his personal life.
“Somebody asked me what I was trying to say there, because at a recent screening there was a half-second lag where nobody knew whether it was okay to laugh,” says Crowe. “The movie plays with pop culture and images. To me, Tom is pop culture. So the fact that Tom is playing a part in a movie that’s commenting on pop culture, well, it gives me a wide-open opportunity to play with the pop culture of Tom. There was a debate about that in our editing room. Like does that take you out of the movie? Does it make you think about Tom, as opposed to David Ames. But in this movie, I think it belongs there.”
For Cruise, the gay rumors haven’t always been a source of amusement. He slapped an unheard of $100 million lawsuit against gay porno “wrestler” Kyle Bradford after a French magazine spread the story that Cruise and Bradford had an affair, which led to Cruise’s divorce with actress Nicole Kidman. He then filed yet another $100 million lawsuit against a man who allegedly claimed he had a videotape supposedly proving Cruise is homosexual.
Although it might be a sore subject, Cruise makes it clear that he’s not annoyed by the attention he receives from his gay fans.
“Let me tell you something, I’m not annoyed. I’m a heterosexual, and I have nothing against homosexuality at all. But when someone says that they have mud-wrestled with me, and they’re going off creating lies and telling everyone, I find that offensive,” Cruise sternly says. “If someone said they had videotape of me mud-wrestling, and they were trying to gain a name for themselves and capitalize on a situation when they know it’s a lie. . . I think whether you’re straight or gay — if people are out there saying things that are disparaging or they’ve got videos of you in sex scenes and stuff like that. I personally, I’ve got a family to protect. And it’s untrue.”
Does he find it difficult to acknowledge his gay fans while making it absolutely clear that he is not one of them?
“Not at all. I don’t feel that way at all. I’m a heterosexual, and that is the truth. I don’t feel anything in terms of not acknowledging or isolating or being prejudiced towards anything. I don’t care,” he says. “To me, whatever anyone — whether it’s religion, they’re sexual preference — it’s their choice. It’s personal. It’s their right. I don’t have anything to judge that at all.”
When this line of questioning finally petered out, the press conference was concluded. While shaking hands with everyone at the end, I asked Cruise if had any problems with being referred to as “gay friendly.” With that, he broke out his boisterous laugh and said, “Absolutely not. You go right ahead.”
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