Featured Image Credit: TalkTV. Paramount Pictures
Topics: Celebrity, Tom Cruise, Mickey Rourke
Stewart Perrie
Topics: Celebrity, Tom Cruise, Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke has come out swinging against Tom Cruise.
While the Top Gun: Maverick star is enjoying his highly-anticipated sequel soaring in cinemas, the Iron Man 2 star has pulled him down a peg or two.
During an interview with Piers Morgan, the actor said ticket sales do not mean you're good at your craft.
The British TV host asked Rourke about how he feels about Maverick drawing in more than $1 billion at the global box office.
“That doesn’t mean s**t to me,” he told Morgan. “The guy’s been doing the same effing part for 35 years. I got no respect for that.
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“I don’t care about money and power. I care about when I watch Al Pacino work and Chris Walken and De Niro’s early work and Richard Harris’s work and Ray Winstone’s work.
“That’s the kind of actor I want to be like. Monty Clift and Brando back in the day. A lot of guys that just tried to stretch as actors.”
Morgan asked Rourke straight up whether he thought Cruise was a good actor and that's when The Wrestler star saved his most savage put down.
“I think he’s irrelevant, in my world,” he replied.
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Rourke isn't the only celebrity to rip into Cruise during his moment in the sun.
After Maverick dropped in cinemas, King of Queens star Leah Remini called him out for his 'crimes against humanity'.
Formerly a Scientologist herself until she left in 2013, Remini has always been vocal about her negative experiences with the church and now, she's shared criticism of Cruise written by Claire Headley online.
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Former Scientologists Claire and husband Marc had filed a court case against the Church of Scientology in 2009, alleging that the organisation had violated human trafficking laws and people's human rights.
Their case was dismissed after the courts decided that the Church of Scientology was protected by 'ministerial exemption', a legal doctrine in US law which protects religious institutions.
Sharing the accusations against Cruise and Scientology, Remini warned people 'don't let the movie star charm fool you'.
Remini thanked Headley for her courage in writing it and reiterated the allegation that Cruise 'knows exactly what's going on in Scientology'.
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Cruise converted to Scientology in 1986 under the influence of his first wife, Mimi Rogers, who has since left the church.