Tom Cruise praises Mickey Rourke after CBB star slammed him as 'irrelevant'

Tom Cruise has praised Mickey Rourke as a 'brilliant' actor after the controversial Celebrity Big Brother star infamously slammed the Hollywood icon as 'irrelevant'.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored in July 2022, Rourke made headlines for accusing Cruise of 'doing the same effing part for 35 years', adding that he had 'no respect for that'.
When Morgan then pressed the actor and former professional boxer on whether he thought Cruise was a good actor or not, the past Oscar nominee announced Cruise was 'irrelevant in my world'.
But there appear to be no hard feelings on the part of Cruise, who appeared at BFI Southbank on Sunday for a special in conversation event to celebrate his career and new release, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, ahead of being given the organisation's highest honour, the BFI Fellowship.
The Top Gun actor and producer, 62, reflected on the busy start to his career, which saw interest 'happen fast' after the release of just his second credited role, in 1981 military cadet drama Taps.
However, he told host Edith Bowman that his 'opportunities grew' after his breakout role in Risky Business two years later, which he chose over working with Francis Ford Coppola a second time on Rumble Fish – a movie in which Rourke ended up starring alongside Matt Dillon and Dennis Hopper.
Reflecting on the whirlwind of his career during the early 80s, Cruise told the audience – including Metro – that he had undertaken workshop-style auditions and rehearsals for Coppola to work on their collaboration, The Outsiders.
And this is where Cruise remembers crossing paths with Rourke, now 72, and being impressed – even a little starstruck – by the older actor.
'We all rehearsed, and it was an amazing experience – here we are, two generations of actors and actresses are all doing workshops together, and it's an audition process. So I saw all of these incredible young actors,' Cruise recalled.
'Mickey Rourke came in. He was older than us, he was like 26, and he was, like, Mickey Rourke ! You know, Body Heat – and just a brilliant actor. Yeah, he was amazing,' the Mission: Impossible star enthused over his fellow actor.
Rourke impressed in small roles in Heaven's Gate (1980) and 1981's Body Heat, where he played a bombmaker, before winning acclaim for Diner in 1982 and bagging his first leading role in Coppola's Rumble Fish.
He didn't end up co-starring with Cruise, though, who opted to do Risky Business instead, but shared that he was still grateful to have worked with Megalopolis filmmaker Coppola so early in his career.
'I saw Francis recently again, and I – again – thanked him for that opportunity,' he added.
Elsewhere, Cruise also shared that he has been 'global' in his moviemaking approach for over 40 years – desperate to travel and work around the world.
'At that time, Hollywood was very Hollywood. It was about America, and I was very much about global – and I wanted to go to these places, you know, I wanted to work there, so I wanted to be there and watch these movies,' he explained.
He then spoke about bringing the 'Hollywood culture' to Europe and the rest of the world with red carpet premieres, a concept which predates him by decades – but with which he is credited with popularising it around the world.
His BFI Fellowship recognises Cruise's long and varied career – including films like Jerry Maguire, A Few Good Men, Rain Man and The Edge of Tomorrow – as well as his 'huge contribution to the UK film industry as a producer'.
Cruise has produced most of his recent Mission: Impossible movies among other films largely in the UK – but refused to be comment earlier this week on Donald Trump's proposed 100% tariff on non-US movies 'produced in foreign lands'.
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Rourke – whose film career stalled in the 90s before a comeback which included Sin City, Iron Man 2 and winning a Bafta and Golden Globe for his turn in 2008's The Wrestler – has recently made headlines for his stint on Celebrity Big Brother.
He is currently in his reality TV era – following an appearance in 2020 on The Masked Singer US – having appeared more in indie films and direct-to-video titles in recent years. More Trending
The Rainmaker actor was kicked off the show after less than a week – reportedly missing out on his rumoured £500,000 fee – following a series of incidents and warnings.
Rourke sparked more than 1,000 Ofcom complaints for his 'unacceptable' behaviour and language, which included displaying 'creepy' behaviour towards host AJ Odudu during the live launch show.
He then used a homophobic slur against pop star JoJo Siwa, saying: 'If I stay longer than four days, you won't be gay anymore.'
After being given a warning by Big Brother, he was then axed just a day later after his behaviour and language towards Love Island star Chris Hughes during a task were considered to be threatening and physical, though no physical altercation took place.
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