TORONTO -- A few years back, when one or another of the blockbuster Tom Cruise movies had just been released, a group of reporters was sitting around having lunch.
One of the men looked down at a newspaper on the table that featured a big picture of the toothy movie star. "Yeah," my colleague said to no one in particular. "I would." He paused for effect. "I'd sleep with him."
There was stunned silence at the table. We all looked at each other. Was this man actually taking this moment to come out of the closet?
He studied us for a minute, like we were the crazy ones.
"C'mon, of course you'd sleep with him if you had the chance, admit it. It's TOM CRUISE, for crying out loud. Who wouldn't?" Then he laughed just to show us he wasn't serious.
While it was funny at the time, I think what he meant was that he, along with I suspect many people, would overlook practically anything just to have the chance of the tiniest taste of that royal Hollywood jelly. It is the power of pure celebrity.
And judging by the number of women who asked about him yesterday, I suspect that my male colleague is not alone. Most wanted to know whether it's really true that he is short. (Yes.) Although one was interested in touching me. But only if I had touched him at the press conference. (I hadn't.)
Certainly that yearning was alive, well and quite palpable in the ballroom of the Four Seasons yesterday as the diminutive Mr. Cruise and his equally tiny girlfriend were greeted with a standing ovation. And this was by the journalists who were there ostensibly to provide unbiased coverage of what the anointed King of Hollywood had to say for himself about his new movie.
We were all told not to ask any personal questions. So everybody asked about the film, which I can't tell you about for fear of spoiling the ending. (Even though we've seen it, it's movie etiquette not to review it until it's released. So I can't say whether it's good or bad. I will tell you it's, um, different.)
Unfortunately, all of the journalists pretty much kept to the program, so nobody asked the one question that everybody wants to know. It's this: WHATHAPPENEDWITHNICOLE? Why did you leave her? Especially since she was pregnant? And what exactly did you mean when you said: "Nic knows exactly why we're getting the divorce?"
It is somewhat embarrassing to admit to even knowing the issues, never mind the direct quotes, in the breakdown of a marriage between people you've never met. It may even say something about a paltry inner life. But I can't help it.
Why? I think it's a female thing. You wonder, is it really possible to get dumped when you're that beautiful? (It's a question we should be posing to Elizabeth Hurley these days.) And if it happens to someone like her, then how can we prevent it from happening to mere mortals like us?
The only time Nicole's name came up was when he raised it himself, and it was only in the context of answering a question about Toronto. With the doe eyes of the potential future Mrs. Cruise looking on, he mentioned that he had a fondness for this city because he was studying for his pilot's licence here while "Nic was shooting To Die For."
In the end nobody, myself included, was ill-mannered enough to ask those questions. There was no point. He had already said on this junket that he wouldn't answer them. And if you pressed it, he would simply tell you it was none of your business. Which it isn't.
There's also no way to tell whether it's true that Cruise handled the end of his marriage much like his character in Vanilla Sky. He plays a good-looking rich boy who is sexually cavalier with the wrong woman.
So what can you actually say about him with any accuracy? That he appears to be charming, funny and seems to be considerate. (He adjusted a reporter's tape, which had run out in the middle of the conference.) But then again, he's an actor and he was working, so who's to say what he's really like?
I can also report this: As he was leaving, he looked right at me and flashed his megawatt smile. He is awfully good-looking but I'd have to beg to differ with my male reporter friend.
Tom Cruise is quite alright but let's face it, he's no George Clooney.
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