Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, not to mention the single most commercially successful, with the bearded legend the only person to boast a filmography that’s earned over $10 billion at the box office. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise has been one of the Hollywood’s marquee stars for 35 years, so it was almost inevitable that any collaborations between the two would yield spectacular results.
Indeed, Minority Report is one of the 21st Century’s best sci-fi movies, while War of the Worlds was a massive hit that reinvented the classic story for the modern era, and it remains the biggest earner of Cruise’s career that isn’t part of the Mission: Impossible franchise. Having turned out two high quality crowd-pleasers in the space of just three years, then, it looked as though a fruitful partnership was in the works, but they haven’t worked together since.
Insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that’s because Spielberg has no interest in reuniting with the action icon, despite Cruise reportedly looking to set up for another movie for them. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get into specifics, but notes that “[the director] doesn’t wanna work with Cruise.”
There were reports making the rounds that the A-lister’s staunch belief in Scientology created tension on the set of War of the Worlds, and his public profile certainly took a hit after his infamous couch-jumping on Oprah, but he’s long since reclaimed his status as one of the industry’s biggest and most consistent draws, while Spielberg continues to churn out a reliable mix of prestige dramas and big budget blockbusters. With nine of the actor’s last twelve projects having involved Christopher McQuarrie in some capacity, though, it looks as if he’s found a new BFF anyway, even if he’s fallen out of Spielberg’s favor.
