The legendary action star Tom Cruise was not present at the Oscars. ET confirmed that the Top Gun: Maverick star’s absence is due to him already being back on set overseas for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part II in the United Kingdom. Top Gun: Maverick is nominated for six Oscars.
Besides Best Picture, the film was also nominated for Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Film Editing, Sound, Music (Original Song) and Visual Effects. News that Cruise would not be in Hollywood for the event came in just hours after it was revealed Lady Gaga would, in fact, perform her Oscar-nominated Top Gun: Maverick single, “Hold My Hand.”
It had previously been reported she would not be able to make the event, but plans changed and she’ll now not only attend but also perform her hit song. Initially, Oscars producer Glen Weiss said Gaga was invited to perform but was unable to make the commitment at the time.
It is because she’s in the middle of shooting a new movie, Weiss said Gaga didn’t feel like she could deliver a performance at the caliber that she’s used to doing at the annual awards show. That movie, of course, is Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to 2019’s Joker, which started production at the end of 2022.
Jay Ellis recently spoke with ET and reflected on the film’s massive success at the box office and the opportunity to work with Hollywood royalty.
“It’s wild, man. It’s wild,” Ellis said at the premiere of his new film, Somebody I Used to Know, explaining that when they all first started working on the sequel four years ago, “We just wanted people to go see it. We just wanted to work with Tom Cruise. We just wanted to work with [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer and [director] Joe Kosinski.”
He added, “This is a dream.”
