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HE’S JUST Tom Cruise, but she’s Barbie. Even though this Ken is a major Hollywood action star — who “saved Hollywood’s ass,” according to Steven Spielberg — he still gets giddy over all films pink and pretty. The 60-year-old actor expressed his excitement to watch Margot Robbie as the world’s famous doll, and Ryan Gosling as the world’s second-most fake tanned blonde male (Donald Trump comes takes the cake) while at the Australian premiere of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One. This follows his initial (stiletto) gushing tweet last Wednesday.

While walking the colossal red carpet at Darling Harbour’s International Convention Centre in Sydney he, yet again, spruiked to reporters: “I still go to the movies.” Tell us something, we didn’t know Tom? “I grew up seeing movies on the big screen. That’s how I make them, and I like that experience; it’s immersive, and to have that as a community and an industry, it’s important,” Cruise said.

After sharing he wants to keep making films well into his ’80s, much like fellow golden ager Harrison Ford, the four-time Oscar nominee then gave the people want they want. His preferred viewing order for this year’s biggest, most paradoxical openers — Barbie and Oppenheimer. And frankly, he’s got our tick of approval regarding timeline. “I want to see both Barbie and Oppenheimer. I’ll see them opening weekend. Friday I’ll see Oppenheimer first and then Barbie on Saturday,” he revealed. If you ask us, we’re a ‘start the day with a hazardous bang and end with a giant blow-out party.’

INSTAGRAM | @tomcruise

Cruise has been busy globally promoting his seventh Mission Impossible over the past few weeks, travelling from Rome to London, before embarking on his big mission down under. But on June 29, he took a break from his own film flexing to encourage people to hit the big-screen for ‘Barbenheimer’ (as cinefiles, have dubbed it): “This summer is full of amazing movies to see in theatres.” After giving a shout-out to Ford “on 40 years of Indy and one of the most iconic characters in history” in relation to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, he wrote: “I love a double feature, and it doesn’t get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie.” The motivational words were supported by a picture of Cruise and an unnamed executive, beaming while holding movie tickets to each film mentioned.

Hilariously, both films responded to their new famous poster boy’s cute as-a-button Insta — commenting in their signature cinematic tones. “The world will remember this day. 7 21 23,” Oppenheimer wrote, meanwhile Barbie said: “We’re in for an unforgettable summer 💕

While the Risky Business star didn’t take the the photo-opp to don his own Barbiecore ensemble — our sleuthing suggests the man hasn’t publicly worn the shade since his handprint ceremony at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre Walk of Fame back in 1993 — he has been inspiring people to return to the cinema. Famously, Cruise refused pledges for Top Gun: Maverick to debut on a streaming service in a bid to unite the world through cinema.

“They wouldn’t dare,” Cruise told an audience during a Q&A at Cannes last year, of taking Top-Gun to the home theatre. “That’s not going to happen, ever. That was never going to happen. Never. Not going to happen.”

Tom Cruise in Risky Business (1983) | Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Barbie (2023).

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