DGA Awards 2023: Comedian Judd Apatow Roasts Hollywood Star Tom Cruise Over CGI
A month after Jerrod Carmichael used the Golden Globes stage to mock Tom Cruise for his involvement in the Church of Scientology, Judd Apatow got in a few similar jabs while emceeing the Directors Guild of America Awards
Hollywood star Tom Cruise recently faced a volley of jabs from American comedian Judd Apatow at the recently concluded edition of the DGA Awards. A month after Jerrod Carmichael used the Golden Globes stage to mock Tom Cruise for his involvement in the Church of Scientology, Judd Apatow got in a few similar jabs while emceeing the Directors Guild of America Awards, reports Variety. Steven Spielberg Hugs and Thanks Tom Cruise for Saving ‘Hollywood’s A**’ With Top Gun Maverick at Oscars 2023 Nominees Luncheon (Watch Video).
The jokes began with the topic of the 'Top Gun' star's height: "The special effects in 'Maverick' were so top notch, I couldn't even see the stack of phone books Tom Cruise sat on to reach the flight controls." "Remember when Tom Cruise jumped up and down on the couch and we all thought, 'What a lunatic!" Apatow said, referring to the infamous 2005 incident on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'. "And now he rides a motorcycle off a cliff and BASE jumps and we're all like, 'Tom's fine'!" Oscars 2023: Ali Fazal and Guneet Monga Meet Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg & Others at Academy Nominee Luncheon in Los Angeles (View Pics).
"Tom is not fine. Someone needs to explain to him something called CGI. You're 60. Calm down," Apatow said, quoted by Variety. "But every time he does one of these new stunts, it does feel like an ad for Scientology. I mean, is that in Dianetics? Because there's nothing about jumping off a cliff in the Torah."
But Apatow wasn't done roasting Cruise. Next, he moved onto poking fun at the actor's family life and his opinions on mental health. "The only thing he seems to be afraid of is co-parenting and antidepressants," he said. "I doubled my Prozac today just for this. I doubled it! Do you think if Tom Cruise took antidepressants, he'd be like, 'I'm not jumping out of a fucking cliff. I'm rich'!"
Variety further states that Cruise wasn't Apatow's only target. At the beginning of his speech, he called out the DGA: "People are complaining this year that all five of the best director nominees are men. But that's not true. One of the nominees is two men." He was referring to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who co-directed the A24 comedy 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.
He continued poking fun at the duo's movie and the snub of "Avatar: The Way of Water", saying: "It must be tough for James Cameron to have made yet another one of the most technically innovative films of all time, and then lose out on a DGA nomination to two guys who made a movie with a dildo punch." Both Avatar and Elvis have gotten a lot of praise this award season.
"Which is unexpected, since they were enjoyed by people and made money," Apatow added, before inciting gasps from the audience by saying, "I actually watched Elvis the same way that he died: asleep and on the toilet." About the star of the film, Apatow said: "Austin Butler is still talking like Elvis. Not a bad person to be stuck talking like. Unfortunately, his next project is 'The Jerry Lewis Story'."
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 19, 2023 09:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).