The Tom Cruise-Certified™ Guide To Oscars 2023's Top Guns

“It's a Tom Cruise world, you're just living in it.”
— Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise

“I do my own stunts.”
— Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise

The event: Saviour of The Film Business™ Tom Cruise presents, the 95th Academy Awards.

The site: Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles. 5.63 km from the Church of Scientology.

The host: Tom Cruise cosplayer, (not David Miscavige) Jimmy Kimmel.

— All Quiet on the Western Front
(9 nominations, including Best Picture)

War-drama, a genre close to Mr Cruise's heart, and his philosophy of dying at your job. Valkyrie, The Last Samurai, Lions for Lambs, A Few Good Men, Born on the 4th of July, Top Gun(s), and of course, Tropic Thunder. Anti-war, pro-war, field-war, courtroom-war, Mr Cruise has championed it all.

Risking life. Cruise-approved.

— Avatar: The Way of Water
(4 nominations, including Best Picture)

James Cameron and Mr Cruise once almost shot a film in space together. The two also got “snubbed” by the Oscars this year.

Mutual agony. Cruise-approved.

— The Banshees of Inisherin
(9 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor)

Back in 1992, Mr Cruise played an Irish immigrant in Ron Howard's Far and Away, along with his then-wife Nicole Kidman. Moreover, the Irish duo Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson have both had the honour of playing not-the-good-guy against forever-good-guy Mr Cruise at different points in their careers.

Across-the-pond fallouts. Cruise-approved.

— Elvis
(8 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor)

In the epic film Mission: Impossible II, Mr Crusie, who plays the role of legendary agent Ethan Hunt, outsmarts the big baddie by impersonating (by which I mean, in all sense, becoming) his right-hand man Hugh Stamp, played by Richard Roxburgh, who in turn plays Vernon Presley (Elvis Presley's father) in Elvis. So, it might as well be Mr Cruise playing that role.

Didn't see that coming. Cruise-approved.

— Everything Everywhere All at Once
(11 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress)

What Mr Cruise hopes to get out of life in the next 10 years.

Total domination. Cruise-approved.

— The Fabelmans
(7 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director)

When Steven Spielberg makes a film about his early life, he is essentially making a film about Mr Cruise's life, who starred in two of his projects later in life.

All encompassing. Cruise-approved.

— Tár
(6 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress)

Long before Tár, Cate Blanchett and Todd Field had worked together on one other project. No points for guessing the daredevil superstar who was cast in the leading role in that film.

Early pioneer. Cruise-approved.

— Top Gun: Maverick
(6 nominations, including Best Picture)

To the detractors who suggest Top Gun lacks depth — a nuanced breakdown of what it's all about by one of the industry's finest. No, really.

Cruise control. Cruise-approved.

— Triangle of Sadness
(3 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director)

What Mr Cruise calls the combined forces of ageing, fear and normalcy.

Breakdown? No, breakthrough. Cruise-approved.

— Women Talking
(2 nominations, including Best Picture)

Films based on books? No one does that better than Mr Cruise. Novels, light novels, graphic novels, classic novels, short stories, you name it.

Literary vision. Cruise-approved.

— The Whale
(3 nominations, including Best Actor)

When the time came to look for a replacement for the charismatic, comic/action wholesome star Brendan Fraser for the Mummy reboot, Mr Cruise had no competition.

Heavyweight. Cruise-approved.

— Babylon
(3 nominations, including Best Original Score)

Back in the day, when vampires used to be cool and menacing, heartthrob Brad Pitt bagged the role of Louis de Pointe du Lac in Interview with the Vampire. No one but Mr Cruise could have taken the role that he did alongside him — Brad Pitt's daddy vampire.

DILF. Cruise-approved.

— The Batman
(3 nominations, including Best Sound)

The Bruce half of Batman.

Money and influence. Cruise-approved.

— Living
(2 nominations, including Best Actor)

“Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who after receiving a grim diagnosis makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful.” A film made only to showcase (and study) the antithesis of Mr Cruise's existence.

Death Proof. Cruise-approved.

— Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
(5 nominations, including Best Supporting Actress)

The only reason Mr Cruise has never played a superhero in a film is his firm belief in separating his work life from his personal life.

Yibambe. Cruise-approved.

* By which we mean only the overachieving (hence, Cruise-approved) ones; nominated in more than one category.