From the Official www.TomCruise.com:

Marc Blucas, who’s set to star alongside Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in the summer action comedy Knight and Day, will also be starring on the small screen this fall in a new television pilot from ABC!

According to the L.A. Times, Blucas is part of the cast of True Blue, a detective drama that “centers on a group of San Francisco homicide detectives reunited to solve the murder of one of their own.” True Blue also stars Poppy Montgomery (Without a Trace), Malcolm Jamal Warner (The Cosby Show), Eric Lange (Lost), and Rachel Carpani (McLeod’s Daughters). and was written by Jon Harmon Feldman (Dirty Sexy Money), Chris Brancato and Bret Salke.

This would mark Blucas’ return to TV — he played Riley Finn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. When Knight and Day is released, you’ll see Marc play the ex-boyfriend of co-star Cameron Diaz, who’s still in love with her. Check him out talking to Cameron in the movie trailer:

Happy to see Marc star in a new TV show? Excited to see him on the silver screen with Tom and Cameron? Sound off in the comments below!

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From the Official www.TomCruise.com:

Time to change your calendars — Tom Cruise’s latest movie, the action comedy Knight and Day starring Cameron Diaz, is being released nationwide on June 25, 2010!

The film was originally slated to show in theaters on July 2, 2010, but its release has been moved up a week. So get ready for June 25th, 2010 — that’s when Tom and Cameron will trot the globe as fugivitives, protecting a powerful yet dangerous new technology source. Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, Olivier Martinez, Maggie Grace, and Marc Blucas are also set to star in the James Mangold-directed film. Watch the Knight and Day movie trailer below:

By the way, did you know TomCruise.com has a Knight and Day fan page? We’ve compiled videos, photos, tweets, Facebook messages, blog posts, and more — all created by YOU guys — so you can discover the latest buzz all in one convenient place! Take a look around and use the widgets to share and embed them on any Facebook page, Twitter account, blog or web page.

Does the new release date fit in nicely with your summer plans? Excited to see Tom and Cameron in theaters sooner than later? Sound off in the comments below!

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From the Official www.TomCruise.com:

Michael Giacchino, the composer for the Tom Cruise movie Mission: Impossible III, won an Oscar last night for Best Original Score for his beautifully nostalgic composition in the animated film Up!

Giacchino thanked his family and the people in his life who encouraged his creativity, and offered words of inspiration for audience members at home: “If you’re out there and you’re listening, listen to me. If you want to be creative, get out there and do it. It’s not a waste of time. Do it.” Click on the picture to see Giacchino’s acceptance speech:

Since the Academy Awards tend to run overtime, a special “thank you” camera was set up in the back so that award winners could continue thanking others. Here’s Giacchino’s Oscar Thank You Cam speech:

Congratulations, Michael! We can’t wait to hear your next score! (Hopefully for Mission: Impossible IV?)

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From the Official www.TomCruise.com:

Cameron Diaz, co-star of the new Tom Cruise movie Knight and Day, was on the red carpet at the Academy Awards! She was one of the evening’s Oscar presenters.

When asked to choose her pick for Best Picture, she answered, “I just think…all of them are so wonderful. I loved Avatar, but I loved Hurt Locker…”

Find out Cameron’s favorite part about being on the red carpet by watching the video below:

During the ceremony, she helped present the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature with comedian Steve Carell. In their segment, Carell talked about how difficult it was for both him and Diaz as “beautiful people” to star in films where you couldn’t see their faces. “Or bodies,” quipped Diaz. But, according to Diaz, the script was originally written for Diaz and Jude Law to present. Carell offers that he stepped in at the last minute to help out.

Take a look at a short clip of their presentation by clicking on the picture below (jump to 1:03):

We can’t wait to see Diaz shine on another red carpet at the premiere of Knight and Day! The film is set for a release date of July 2, 2010 — are you excited about seeing Cameron on the big screen? Liked her presentation during the Oscars? Sound off in the comments below!

Related Film Facts:
Both Cameron Diaz and Steve Carell have lent their voices to animated films — Diaz for the Shrek movies, and Carell for Horton Hears a Who!

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The 82nd Academy Awards will crown a new Oscar winner for Best Picture, as well as hand out statues for achievements in film direction, acting, writing, animation, cinematography, art direction, costume design, editing, makeup, sound editing, visual effects and more.

But how are these winners decided? How do the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences choose which film they felt was exemplary?

The L.A. Times discusses the anatomy of the Oscar race, stating that the Academy uses the system of preferential voting, and has done so since 1934. Let’s examine the voting process for best picture…

Each ballot asks voters to choose their picks in descending order, so placing the best film at number one, the next best at number two, and so on. If the votes tally up to 50.1% of the vote, then that particular film is declared the winner. However, a majority win like that is hard to come by, so the next step is to take the film in last place (with the smallest number of ballots) and redistribute them according to the second choice film. This eliminates the film in last place from the race. Then the votes are counted again to see if there’s the possibility of a 50.1% winner. This process continues until there’s one film with the majority.

So what happens once voting is over? Newsweek explain how accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers counts and determines a winner in each category  counting and declaring a winner once the Academy members have voted:

• Four accountants and two ballot leaders being tallying the votes. The room they count the votes in has one door and no windows. Each ballot is counted by hand to ensure accuracy.
• During this time, an assistant types the names of all the nominees in each Oscar category on two sets of notecards. These are given to the ballot leaders, who will select the winner from the stack of cards and place the names in envelopes.
• Once the ballots are finally counted, the final results (and envelopes) are locked in a safe. Only the ballot leaders know who the winners are before they are announced during the ceremony.
• On the day of the show, the accountants who locked up the winners place the envelopes in identical black briefcases. Each person takes a different route to the Kodak Theater (where the Oscars are held), arriving two and a half hours before the ceremony.
• During the ceremony, each accountant is stationed at one end of the stage. Presenters receive envelopes from one or the other. Neither accountant can leave during the telecast. They also have all the winner’s names memorized, in case the wrong names is announced.

Who will you be rooting for to win this year’s Oscar? Tell us your Academy Award winner predictions in the comments below!

Related Film Fact:

Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1988.

From the Official www.TomCruise.com:

On Oscar night, the people who tend to receive the most attention are the stars of the films. However, an often overlooked category of the Academy Awards is one that brings a film to life through music: Original Score.

There’s so many great themes crafted by composers: think of the iconic John Williams score for Star Wars, Bernard Hermann’s terrifying strings during the shower scene from Psycho, or Henry Mancini’s jazzy theme for The Pink Panther.

And, of course, there’s the Mission: Impossible theme: dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun…(you get the idea). Although the main theme was originally composed by Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, Michael Giacchino reinvented the theme to make it his own for Mission: Impossible III. Check out Giacchino’s music used during the movie trailer:

Now, Giacchino may win his first Oscar at the 82nd Academy Awards for Pixar’s animated film Up. The Hollywood Reporter offers their reasons why Giacchino could win, particularly for his use of music during the opening montage of the character’s romantic relationship. From childhood to old age, Giacchino’s nostalgic theme plays over the course of the lives of Carl and Elle Frederickson. The question is, will Giacchino’s score beat out other musical contenders? See for yourself with a clip from Up:

Did you love the music from Mission: Impossible III and Up? Are you rooting for Giacchino to win an Academy Award? Sound off in the comments below!

Related Film Facts:
Michael Giacchino has worked extensively with MI:3 director J.J. Abrams, creating the soundtracks and themes for other TV and film projects, including Alias, Lost, Fringe, Cloverfield and Star Trek.

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From the Official www.TomCruise.com:

Peter Sarsgaard, one of Tom Cruise’s co-stars in the upcoming action comedy Knight and Day,  stars in a movie nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture!

This year’s Oscars include 10 nominations (in previous years, there have been only 5 nominated films) for Best Picture, with Sarsgaard’s An Education among the nominees. Based on a memoir by Lynn Barber and adapted for the screen by British novelist Nick Hornby, An Education is the story of a young woman, Jenny (Carey Mulligan) who falls in love with an older man in 1961 suburban London.

Sarsgaard stars as David, the older man who seduces  Jenny with his sophisticated charm and suave manners, showing her a world far removed from her own. As Sarsgaard stated in a video about his role with The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s not sexual, the relationship, particularly, it really is about something else, it’s about recapturing youth, it’s about wanting to be sixteen, yourself.”

Directed by Lone Scherfig and starring Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour, Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson, Dominic Cooper, and Rosamund Pike, An Education is also nominated for two other Academy Awards: Carey Mulligan for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Nick Hornby for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Watch the trailer for An Education:

What’s Sarsgaard doing in the movie Knight and Day? He’ll be playing the role of a federal agent who chases fugitives Tom Cruise and co-star Cameron Diaz on a whirlwind journey across the globe.

Which movie do you think should win the Academy Award?  Are you hoping that An Education wins in one, if not all three, of its nominated categories? Sound off in the comments below!

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From the Official www.TomCruise.com:

We all know Tom Cruise as the leading action hero of the Mission: Impossible movie franchise. Whether he’s disguising himself as a priest to get into the Vatican or holding to dear life on top of a moving train, super spy Ethan Hunt makes every mission count.

But what about the women involved in each of Hunt’s critical missions? With the news that Cruise will gear up to star in a fourth Mission: Impossible (executive produced by himself and Mission: Impossible 3 director J.J. Abrams), we decided to look back on the leading ladies of those three movies:

Mission: Impossible: Emmanuelle Béart

French actress Emmanuelle Béart is best known for her roles in mostly French films such as Love on the Quiet, Children of Chaos, and L’Enfer. In the first Mission: Impossible movie, she plays the role of Claire Phelps, a fellow Impossible Missions Force (IMF) agent who survives a botched mission. She joins Hunt as he assembles a team of agent to infiltrate CIA headquarters.

Mission: Impossible II: Thandie Newton

Thandie Newton (who hails from across the pond in Britain) has starred in Crash, Beloved, and The Truth About Charlie, but in MI:2, she plays Nyah Nordoff-Hall, a professional thief who works with Hunt to steal Chimera, a deadly virus designed to create a worldwide pandemic. When Nyah herself is inject with Chimera, Hunt is forced to stop the villainous Sean Ambrose and save her life.

Mission: Impossible III: Michelle Monaghan

American actress Michelle Monaghan has been seen in Gone Baby Gone, The Bourne Supremacy, and Eagle Eye, so she’s no stranger when it comes to action scenes and gunplay. In the third movie, Hunt has finally settled down and married Monaghan’s character Julia, who is clueless about Hunt’s illustrious spy career. Yet when she’s taken hostage by ruthless Owen Davian, Hunt must once again find a way to save the love of his life and nail the bad guy.

So who will be the lucky lady starring opposite Cruise in the fourth Mission: Impossible? For those familiar with Abrams’ work, you’ll know he tends to choose actors he’s worked with before (such as Keri Russell, who was in MI:3 and Felicity, the TV show created by Abrams). But of course, that is purely speculative. For now, stay tuned to find out more about the next mission (should you choose to accept it) by checking back here regularly!

Who do you think should star with Tom? Have a favorite leading lady of your own? Sound off in the comments below!

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From the Official http://www.TomCruise.com Blog:

g-speak overview from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

The days when you can surf the web, browse through photos, and edit your latest short film with a wave of your hand like Tom in “Minority Report” may not be far off.

Just such technology was on display at the annual TED conference in Long Beach, CA. Crowds oohed and aahed as demonstrators wearing special gloves – just like Tom – copied images and film from wall-size screens and plunked them down on a smaller desktop.

John Underkoffler, the technology whiz who helped create the interface that Tom Cruise used in “Minority Report“, was on hand to showcase this quantum leap in computing.

Underkoffler predicts that in five years, gesture-based computing, as it’s known, will be the way people interact with computers, sound systems and other electronics. Want to flip TV channels? Just wave your arm. Want to fast forward the movie you’re watching? Try a flick of the wrist.

It won’t be long before you can throw away the mouse.

In case you’re wondering, the data you see Tom whipping around on transparent screens in “Minority Report” was created after filming ended. Tom and the other actors were mostly miming the action, which the talented special effects team made seem entirely real in post production.

Pretty soon, though, scenes like these will look like real life, rather than science fiction!

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From the Official www.TomCruise.com Blog:

Tom Leaps Off the Long Beach, CA, Pier while filming for "Knight and Day"

We recently caught Tom Cruise shooting on-site in Long Beach, CA, for the upcoming “Knight and Day” film. Throughout his career, Tom has always preferred to do his own stunts. From the ‘Mission Impossible’ series to ‘The Last Samurai’ movie, Tom’s hair-raising stunts have defied Hollywood’s notion that stars must use stunt doubles. The “Knight and Day” film co-starring Cameron Diaz is no exception.

“Knight and Day” filming has seen Tom jump from rooftops in Vienna, ride atop speeding cars in Boston, and now jump off a pier in Los Angeles! This international man of action contributes a sense of authenticity to his films that cannot be replaced by stunt doubles. In his most recent stunt, Tom sprints the length of a pier, takes a huge leap onto a boat’s rigging and swings to a safe landing on the deck below. After a few practice runs, Tom delivers an excellent execution of the stunt and shooting wraps. This is definitely going to make the final cut!

Take a look at these action packed pics!

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