PGAS honor Cruise’s career
Tom Cruise was honored for his nearly three decades of work as a producer, and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” solidified its status as the frontrunner for the best picture Oscar by taking the top prize at Saturday night’s Producers Guild of America Awards.
“We love you! We love you!” another Oscar favorite and one of the film’s stars, Ke Huy Quan, shouted gleefully from the stage as Jonathan Wang and the other producers of the multiversal dramedy accepted the award for best theatrical motion picture.
The award has proven to be perhaps the best indicator for what will win the top honor at the Oscars, with four of the past five and 11 of the past 14 PGA winners going on to win best picture.
Cruise caused a stir inside and outside with his presence at the show at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, but his producing career beginning in 1996 with “Mission: Impossible” earned him the David O. Selznick Award at the PGAS, a life achievement honor previously bestowed on Steven Spielberg, Kevin Feige, Mary Parent and Brian Grazer.
“My whole life I wanted to make movies,” Cruise said. “I wanted to travel the world, and have adventure.”
Cruise talked about making his film debut in 1981’s “Taps” at age 18 and how producer Stanley Jaffe let him in on every part of the process.
Cruise thanked Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the original 1986 “Top Gun” and his producing partner on last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which is up for the best picture Oscar.
“You opened the door for me,” Cruise told Bruckheimer. “You welcomed me in and I will be grateful forever.”
He paid tribute in his acceptance to many other mentors and partners including Spielberg and former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing, who presented the award.
Mindy Kaling received the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television for her work producing shows including “The Mindy Project,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” “Never Have I Ever,” “Velma” and “The Office.”
B.J. Novak, her former “Office” co-writer and co-star, presented Kaling with the award, saying she “cared about characters other people hadn’t cared about enough to put on TV.”