In case you missed it. A couple of nights ago the Producers Guild of America (PGA) presented Tom Cruise with its top honor, The David O. Selznick Award. Cruise gave one of the most elegant acceptance speeches ever. Of course this actor/producer needs no introduction.

Tom Cruise has managed to sustain that elusive thing known as star power and in the long-awaited, Oscar-nominated sequel Top Gun: Maverick Cruise’s performance was exceptional, even though he was not nominated (again) for his acting. We’ve come to expect excellence from this man. Bravo Tom Cruise! Class never goes out of style.

Many younger folks may be unaware that Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner (formerly known as Cruise/Wagner Productions) took a minority stake in the legendary studio United Artists in late 2006. U.A was started by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith as an outlet to give actors more autonomy in a studio film. It lasted 90 years before running into serious financial trouble. Cruise/Wagner’s effort ultimately failed under the weight of its financially hobbled parent company MGM (which sold in March 2022 to Amazon Studios).

Top Gun: Maverick was sooo good, in many ways better than the original. I saw it twice on the big screen and would happily see it again. Here’s a BBC Radio 1 interview with Tom on the release of the Oscar-nominated sequel.