Paramount Severs Ties With Tom Cruise Over Star’s ‘Conduct’

It seems Tom Cruise’s couch-jumping, Scientology-spouting antics have finally caught up with him.

Despite the fact that the star’s last seven films have each generated more than $100 million, Paramount Pictures announced it’s severing ties with him over “recent conduct.”

The chairman of Viacom, Inc., which owns the studio, said Paramount wouldn’t continue its relationship with the Mission Impossible star’s production company Cruise/Wagner Productions. Sumner Redstone told the media Cruise’s “recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”

“As much as we like him personally,” the executive was quoted saying, “we thought it was wrong to renew his deal.”

Paula Wagner, Cruise’s producing partner, has a different story. She claims it was their production company that left Paramount, securing independent financing and eliminating the need for a contract renewal.

“For some reason, Paramount has chosen to negotiate in the press,” Wagner said, calling Redstone’s announcement “surprising.”

“It’s not really the most businesslike approach. … We’ve had virtually no dealings with Mr. Redstone.”

Cruise has been the subject of much tabloid fodder over the past year – beginning with a bizarre incident on the Oprah Winfrey show in which he hopped on a couch to profess his love for Katie Holmes.

The two have since become engaged and had a child, daughter Suri, together. Suri hasn’t been seen in pictures yet, and tabloid reports claim anyone visiting her has to follow strict rules.

Cruise also made headlines for his criticism of the use of anti-depressants and claim that postpartum depression doesn’t exist – statements that prompted an angry response from Brooke Shields, who admitted to taking medication for the condition.

The star engaged in an angry exchange on the Today show with Matt Lauer in defending his views.

Cruise/Wagner Productions has been based on the Paramount lot since 1992, though that will no doubt change given the breakdown in their relationship.

“We viewed ourselves as partners with Paramount,” Wagner said, adding the collaboration has brought in an estimated $2.5 billion.

This year alone Cruise’s two films – War of the Worlds and Mission: Impossible 3 – brought in nearly $1 billion for the studio.

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