Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography pdfdrive com

part—while the crime caper Mad Money was deemed bankrupt of humor and
made only loose change at the box office. The New York Post described her
reappearance on the big screen as “the most cringe-making return since Love
Boat—The Next Wave.”
When Katie first joined her fellow cast members for rehearsals in New York
in May, the vultures began to circle. Redoubtable theater critic Michael Riedel
predicted that the play was going to be a “resounding flop,” as the erstwhile
leading lady had failed to sell the expected number of tickets. Describing
Holmes as a “nice little actress,” he argued that she was only in the public eye
because she was Mrs. Tom Cruise and that these days that was no draw.
With every seat in the house filled, the audience at the first preview
performance seemed to think otherwise. Before the curtain opened, they were
treated to a cameo role from Tom Cruise. Flanked by two bodyguards, he
smiled, waved and posed for pictures as ushers vainly tried to stop the audience
from snapping the grinning figure. The arrival of his friend, actor Dustin
Hoffman, merely added to the buzz. It was an effortless display of star power, a
consummate ability to light up a room. As Tom soaked up the adulation, the start
of the performance was delayed by ten minutes.
The leading man, John Lithgow, caught the mood when he led the cast on
stage and asked the audience not to take pictures. “Can we take just one?” yelled
one woman from the gods. “No,” answered Lithgow firmly. Standing behind
him was the tall, slim figure of Katie Holmes, wearing a curly wig to cover her
new pixie hairstyle and a ’40s-style print dress. Was this cool, skinny, half-
smiling young woman the tyrant who had, depending on the contradictory
tabloid, tale of choice, thrown Tom’s family out of their Hollywood home,
sought a separation from her husband, been pregnant four, or was that five times,
and was so sick and wan that she had collapsed outside a Beverly Hills
restaurant?
Her life might have been turned into make-believe, but now she had to
convince the audience—and the critics—to believe in her. She had a secret
weapon. For much of the play she was effectively reprising her role of Joey
Potter, the winsome girl next door who won the nation’s hearts in the teen TV

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soap, Dawson’s Creek. Her stage character, Ann Deever, was another girl next
door. But unlike Joey, this character called for a range of emotions as dark
secrets were gradually revealed, the drama building to a tragic climax.
For the first couple of scenes, Katie was Joey redux, cute and lively, her eyes
and gestures brimming with the anticipation of a bright future. It amused some
of the audience that in the play an unseen character, a certain “Mr. Hubbard”
kept calling on the telephone, proof perhaps that even on stage Katie could not
escape the attentions of the founder of her newly chosen religion.
As the emotional mood intensified, she was less convincing; one theatergoer
compared her to “the star actress in a high-school play” who was out of her
league among the big boys—and girls—of Broadway. Of course, that was not
the way Tom saw it. As the play ended, he was true to type, jumping out of his
seat as if he were reprising his role on Oprah. After leading the standing ovation,
he described her performance as “extraordinary.”
Outside the theater, several hundred fans—including Scientologists holding
up banners saying “Well done, Katie”—waited for a glimpse of the leading lady.
So many well-wishers gathered that mounted police were called to control the
throng. Many stood out of idle curiosity, and yet the traffic-stopping scenes were
reminiscent of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
The comparisons did not end there. In the early days of Dianamania, she was
defined by her marriage, her fashions and her children, Princes William and
Harry. Her most inconsequential remark made headlines around the world.
As the new poster girl for modern celebrity, Katie Holmes seems to have,
however unconsciously, learned those lessons, a star who is both beautiful and
bland, a blank canvas for us—and especially the tabloids—to paint our fantasies.
In interviews her responses are brief, guarded and inconsequential, endlessly
repeating the numbing mantra that her life is “magical,” while dispensing trivial
details of marital bliss and motherhood. Out in public she lets her fashions do the
talking for her, sparking a craze, for example, when she started wearing rolled-
up “boyfriend” jeans to rehearsal.
It was noticeable that when her acting colleague Dianne Wiest won her third
Emmy for her role in In Treatment during the first week of the play’s run in
September, it was pictures of Tom, Katie and baby Suri that captured media
attention. What seems to be undeniable is that the new queen of bland has a
growing constituency of other girls next door who admire the fact that she has
made it and is living her dream. As she and John Lithgow emerged from the
stage door to be greeted by cheers and a halo of flashlights, her blossoming
popularity suggested that a star, if not a future Oscar-winning actress, was being
born that night.

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If so, Tom Cruise was not there to see it. For once he was waiting for her in
the shadows, happy to let his bride take a bow.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Tom Cruise is one of the best-known and intriguing celebrities in the world, a
Hollywood star as controversial as he is talented. In the writing of this biography
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to a large number of people who shared their
recollections, insights, and assessments.
Without the guidance and support of the following people, this portrait of
Tom Cruise would have been much less substantial and textured. I would in