The Last Movie Star: Cinema's Ticking Time Tom.
PLUS The JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH trailer we needed; THE AEGEAN's Jacob Richardson interview; CUCKOO'S NEST @ 50; first look at Renate Reinsve's latest; LILO & STITCH and BEING MARIA reviewed.
“What’s keeping me up at night? Sciatic nerve pain. But also the pressing question, “Where to next for Tom Cruise?” Which seems ridiculous, given he’s been open about a third TOP GUN movie and the maybe-maybe not sequel to DAYS OF THUNDER, but there’s actually a lot at stake. Here’s why…
I’ve argued for the best part of the last decade that Cruise is ‘The Last Movie Star’. Since 1983, when he hit the ground running (no pun intended) with RISKY BUSINESS, ALL THE RIGHT MOVES and THE OUTSIDERS, he has been one of cinema’s biggest attractions, both at home and, with increasing importance, abroad (How big? Check out these numbers). His peers were the opening weekend certainties of their day; names like Schwarzenegger, Hanks, Pfeiffer, Willis, Washington, Roberts, Foster (no relation, I think…I should check that), Gibson, Douglas, Nicholson, Ford, Ryan, Moore. Y’know, movie stars.
Then Marvel and, to a lesser extent, DC took control of the event-pic space, and Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman and Batman became the pull for audiences.
Big screen star power had lost its lustre; formerly-reliable ticket sellers like Winona Ryder, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon followed b.t.s. talent to the small screen, where Netflix, Apple and Amazon were building a new Hollywood.
Except for Tom Cruise. Alongside his MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise, he’s managed to pull in global audiences with smart, one-off hits like JERRY MAGUIRE (1995), MINORITY REPORT (2002), THE LAST SAMURAI (2003), COLLATERAL (2004), WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005) and EDGE OF TOMORROW (2014), to name a few.
But it’s been 8 years since Cruise’s last non-franchise films - Doug Liman’s entertaining romp AMERICAN MADE (which did an ok $135million globally), and Alex Kurtzman’s much-maligned THE MUMMY (which still pulled $409million). And Cruise, whether he likes/knows it or not, is ageing out of relevance when it comes to the key ticket-buying demo (much like a certain film critic…). It’s why all eyes will be on how that other sexagenarian sex symbol Brad Pitt fares with his non-franchise summer pic F1. Mr Handsome hasn’t toplined a hit film since 2022’s BULLET TRAIN ($239million, not bad in that post-COVID movie-going malaise) or 2019’s AD ASTRA (a meh $129million).
I know I’m not the first to question whether the notion of ‘The Movie Star’ is antiquated; see Aisha Harris at NPR, or Scott Campbell at Far Out, or our Substack buddies over at The Squawk.
But maybe all us doomsayers are Chicken Little-ing, decrying old-school starpower while not crediting the new breed. Timothee Chalamet, Margot Robbie, Michael B. Jordan, Ryan Gosling, Florence Pugh and Zendaya ($100million globally for a movie about tennis!) are slowly but surely pulling their small-screen obsessed fans back into multiplexes. That’s what ‘Movie Stars’ do, right?
So even if the end of Tom’s 40+ year reign as The Box Office King is looming, maybe there is a new generation to take his place. On their terms. In their time. For their audience.”
Simon Foster, Editor: SCREEN-SPACE
TRAILER 2 for JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH launches.
Full disclosure - didn’t love the first trailer for JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH. Played a bit cute, some one-liners didn’t land, some casting questions arose that I hadn’t had previously. BUT, just as I was to press ‘publish’ on this week’s newsletter, the Gareth Edwards’ dino-epic trailer that I’d been hoping for hit the internet…
The SCREEN-SPACE Interview: JACOB RICHARDSON, Dir: THE AEGEAN
THE AEGEAN tells the intertwining story of a lonely man named Hector and a Congolese immigrant named Theodore; a journey that begins mired in grief and emerges filled with hope. It’s a deeply moving narrative, all of which unfolds against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world - that of the Greek Island of Kythira.
THE AEGEAN is the debut feature for writer/director JACOB RICHARDSON, and it's a remarkably assured first work. From his home in Brisbane, Jacob spoke to SCREEN-SPACE about the deeply personal origins of his story, working with an invested leading man in Costas Mandylor and shooting on the remote Greek island.
Venue and ticketing details for THE AEGEAN here.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST at 50: MICHAEL DOUGLAS on making a New Hollywood classic.
A restored Cannes Classics screening of Milos Forman’s masterpiece has put a fresh focus on the film that has come to define Hollywood’s last great period. Producing alongside the legendary Saul Zaentz, a young Michael Douglas acted as a bridge-of-sorts, between old Hollywood (his father Kirk wanted the lead, a part that would earn Jack Nicholson his first Oscar) and the ‘70s maverick mindset that protagonist ‘Randle P. McMurphy’ has come to symbolise.
In an extensive and incisive interview with Deadline Hollywood’s Andreas Wiseman, Douglas recalls the battles, both won and lost, that brought Forman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel to life and why every year reaffirms it’s status as a timeless masterpiece. “I think the movie reflects what’s happening in America right now,” says Douglas, “A struggle that we never anticipated we would see in our country: a struggle for democracy.”
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’ NEST will be back in U.S. theatres from July 13 via Fathom Entertainment.
FILM REVIEWS
LILO & STITCH (Dir: Dean Fleischer Camp; starring Maia Kealoha, Sydney Elizabeth Agudong, Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, Tia Carrere, Amy Hill and Zach Galifianakis) Having conjured real-life emotion into his story of a shell named Marcel, director Dean Fleischer Camp melds comfortably with The Walt Disney Company’s latest photorealistic rebirthing of a beloved property. LILO & STITCH faithfully reanimates the 2002 animated hit, most crucially capturing the sororal bond between Lilo (Maia Kealoha) and Nani (a captivating Sydney Elizabeth Agudong); together, they provide all the ‘ohana’ the film requires. Which means ‘Stitch’ (voiced once again by creator Chris Sanders) is leant on for anarchy and comedy, two elements which don’t work quite as well in a live-action setting as they did as 2D animation. That said, LILO & STITCH 2.0 ranks amongst the best of the otherwise wildly erratic Disney catalogue remakes; big plusses are Billy Magnussen as Pleakley and Zach Galifianakis as Jumba (though his third-act pivot into all-out villainy sent some tots around me scurrying for their parent’s embrace). ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
BEING MARIA (Dir: Jessica Palud; starring Anamaria Vartolomei, Matt Dillon, Giuseppe Maggio, Céleste Brunnquell and Yvan Attal) The abuse that actress Maria Schneider experienced on the set of LAST TANGO IN PARIS at the hands of Marlon Brando and overseen and endorsed by director Bernardo Bertolucci marks a pivotal (and hard to watch) moment in Jessica Palud’s understated, potent biopic. But it by no means defines one of international cinema’s most enigmatic stars. With the luminous Anamaria Vartolomei embodying the fierce spirit of the damaged but determined Schneider, BEING MARIA both honours and unravels an ahead-of-her-moment icon that suffered through and overcame systemic exploitation and trauma-stifling addiction, only emerging as #MeToo heroine posthumously (she died in 2011). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
HEADLINE MAKERS
FIRST-LOOK! RENATE REINSVE IN JOACHIM TRIER’S SENTIMENTAL VALUE: Ahead of the Festival de Cannes premiere, MK2 Films have dropped a scene clip from SENTIMENTAL VALUE, the reteaming of the creative forces behind THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD.
SERBIAN POST-APOCALYPTIC FANTASY EPIC MAKING INROADS GLOBALLY: UK-based Jinga Films are forging the international rollout for SWORD OF VENGEANCE, a thunderous Serbian action pic already a hit in its homeland. (READ: Film News Europe)
DAVID AND MARGARET FIRST CRITICS ON AUSSIE STAR SIDEWALK: Australia’s most iconic film critics, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, will be inducted into the Australian Film Walk of Fame, the first non-actors – and the first pair – to receive the honour. (READ: Screen Hub)
VALERIA GOLINO CHANNELS GOLIARDA SAPIENZA IN CANNES HIT, FUORI: The ‘90s ‘It-Girl’-turned-actress activist has found her finest role - as the acclaimed feminist author in Mario Martone’s ‘80s-set biopic drama. (READ: Variety)
PREVIEW | 2025 HSBC SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL: One of the largest celebrations of Spanish language cinema in the world will tour Australia this June with a curated selection of thirty films from Spain and Latin America. (READ: Screen-Space)
LATEST TRAILERS: CANNES BUZZIEST TITLES
Some of the films that left a lasting impression on festival goers after Week 1 on The Croisette…
NOUVELLE VAGUE (Dir: Richard Linklater; starring Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin, Adrien Rouyard and Jodie Ruth-Forest) Richard Linklater retraces the filming of À BOUT DE SOUFFLE (Breathless), Jean-Luc Godard’s first feature film made during the summer of 1959.
SLAUSON REC (Dir: Leo Lewis O’Neil) In 2018, Shia LaBeouf launched a free theatre school at the Slauson Recreation Centre in South Central, Los Angeles. What started as an open, egalitarian workshop quickly devolved into intense daily rehearsals led by Shia, pushing participants to their limits.
ALPHA (Dir: Julia Ducornau; starring Tahar Rahim, Golshifteh Farahani, Emma Mackey and Mélissa Boros) Alpha is a troubled teenager who lives alone with her mother. Their world comes crashing down the day she comes home from school with a tattoo on her arm at the height of the AIDS crisis.
SIRAT (Dir: Oliver Laxe; starring Sergi López, Bruno Núñez Arjona and Stefania Gadda) A father and son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco, searching for a daughter and sister who vanished months ago at one of the endless, sleepless dance parties.
WHY WE LOVE MOVIES…
“Books” - THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES (1969)
Described by the New York Times as ‘Cinema of The Cryptic’, Sergei Parajanov’s lyrical treatment of the life of 18th-century Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat-Nova reveals a life visually and poetically, rather than literally. The film is presented with little dialogue using active tableaux, which depict the poet's life in chapters.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
And if SCREEN-SPACE isn’t enough Simon for you…:
LISTEN to me co-host the weekly film and TV podcast SCREEN WATCHING with Dan Barrett, of Always Be Watching notoriety;
WATCH/LISTEN Dan and I reflect on the films of 1987 in our fun retro-podcast, BEST MOVIE YEAR (available to watch on our YouTube channel)
FOLLOW my curatorial efforts as Festival Director of the SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL.