George Clooney has defended Tom Cruise after the movie star was caught on tape blasting Mission: Impossible crew members for ignoring COVID protocols.
The action man reportedly lost his cool when he spotted two assistants huddled around a monitor, watching playback, and he fired off an angry rant threatening to fire anyone who didn’t take the health and safety rules he helped put in place seriously.
He raged, “We are the gold standard. They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us! Because they believe in us and what we’re doing!
“I’m on the phone with every f**king studio at night, insurance companies, producers, and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs you motherf**kers. I don’t ever want to see it again, ever! And if you don’t do it you’re fired, if I see you do it again you’re f**king gone.”
The audio was leaked by The Sun and now Clooney has weighed in during a chat with satellite radio host Howard Stern, insisting Tom had every right to fire off at crew members.
“He didn’t overreact because it is a problem,” George said. “I have a friend who’s an AD (assistant director) on another TV show who just had the almost exact same thing happen with not quite as far out a response.
“I wouldn’t have done it that big. I wouldn’t have, you know, pulled people out. You’re in a position of power and it’s tricky, right? You do have a responsibility for everybody else and he’s absolutely right about that. And, you know, if the production goes down, a lot of people lose their jobs. People have to understand that and have to be responsible. It’s just not my style to, you know, to take everybody to task that way… but, you know, everybody has their own style.
“I understand why he did it. He’s not wrong at all about that.”
And Whoopi Goldberg has also offered up her support to Cruise.
Speaking on her U.S. talk show The View on Wednesday (December 16, 2020), she said, “You know, some people don’t understand why he would get so angry. I get it… If he goes down with COVID, the movie’s done. You can’t get another Tom Cruise!”
“You can get a new camera operator – no disrespect to camera operators. You can get a new sound man,” she added, “but if (Cruise) is looking over and he can see you not doing what you’re supposed to be doing, it’s kind of like a little bit of a middle finger, in my opinion.”
Cruise’s seventh Mission: Impossible movie has been filming around Europe for the last few months after the production was shut down in March (2020) due to the COVID pandemic. Filming has been halted a couple of times due to coronavirus-related issues.
