It would be an understatement to call James Corden a polarizing personality, with the television host and occasional actor regularly coming under fire for a variety of reasons, but he’s always had one particularly strong backer in Tom Cruise.
The pair have been friends for a while, with the A-list superstar always going above and beyond for his appearances on any Corden-fronted project, although it hasn’t been confirmed whether or not the latter has been welcomed into the inner circle in an official capacity by way of the legendary cake list.
Either way, one of their most famous collaborations saw Cruise take Corden high into the sky and put him through the physical and emotional wringer as they careened around in fighter jets and did a spot of light skydiving, which led him to recall during a Q&A session at the Royal Television Society conference that the Top Gun and Mission: Impossible legend reassured him by valuing his buddy’s life higher than his own.
“A few days before I had a genuine worry. I ended up going, like, ‘He’s an actor, he’s not a pilot.’ Like, respectfully, it’s just the two of us in an airplane. If something happens then we die. And worse than my own death is my children growing up and people going ‘Their dad killed Tom Cruise.’ [He said] James, your life is more valuable than mine. You’re not in danger.”
The second part of Cruise’s statement was undoubtedly 100 percent factually accurate, but you wouldn’t have to travel too far to find somebody who disagreed with the opening.