Tom Cruise gave a surprising response to the description of “the last real movie star”, pointing to his longtime friend Brad Pitt, Daily Mail reported. The 64-year-old A-list actor, who posed shirtless for an impressive photoshoot, discussed his career in a rare interview with GQ published on Tuesday.
Cruise spoke at length with the magazine’s journalist Zach Baron, who described him as “the last real movie star”. The Top Gun actor, however, rejected the label, pointing to other contemporary stars, including 62-year-old Pitt.
“There are really talented actors. You know what I mean? Brad Pitt, for example, is a great actor, a great star, with tremendous charisma, and there are many, many more like that,” Cruise said.
“When I was a young boy, I was on film sets with exceptional masters of the craft. And it’s not just about 1981, when they were there... It’s generational. As you make films, you learn from other people, and then you do it your own way. But you learn because filmmaking is a skill,” he added.
The only film in which the two actors have appeared together on the big screen is the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire. Cruise played the French vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, who draws Louis into his adventures, while Pitt portrayed Louis de Pointe du Lac, an 18th-century drunkard whom Lestat turns into a vampire. The Mission: Impossible actor has supported his friend over the years. In June 2025, he appeared alongside Pitt on the red carpet at the London premiere of F1: The Movie. Another thing the two stars have in common is that some of their children have chosen to stop using their fathers’ famous surnames.
In July, Cruise’s daughter with Katie Holmes, Suri, officially dropped her father’s surname, with whom she is estranged. The 20-year-old student changed her name from Suri Cruise to Suri Noelle, using her mother’s middle name as her surname. According to voter registration documents obtained by Daily Mail, Suri registered to vote in Pennsylvania, where she attends Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, in October 2024 under the name Suri Noelle. Pennsylvania residents are required to register to vote using their legal name. Suri registered in Allegheny County but did not file a name-change petition there, suggesting that she may have done so in New York before leaving for college, Page Six, which first reported the news, said.
Daily Mail contacted representatives for Cruise and Holmes for comment at the time of publication. According to the publication, Cruise has been completely estranged from his daughter for years, following his divorce from 47-year-old Holmes in 2012 and her decision to cut ties with Scientology. Suri is following the example of Pitt’s children with Angelina Jolie, five of whom have also filed petitions to drop their father’s famous surname amid their ongoing estrangement. Before moving to Pennsylvania, Suri lived with her mother in New York. Holmes is currently in a relationship with 39-year-old artist Bobby Wooten III. In New York, name-change records are typically sealed to protect personal privacy. Although the exact date of her legal name change remains unclear, Suri has publicly used the name Noelle for several years.
She had already used it at her high-school graduation in June 2024. Suri also chose not to use her father’s surname in the cast list for her graduating school production, the musical The Addams Family: A New Musical, Yahoo reported. Holmes married Cruise in 2006 before filing for divorce in 2012. She has had sole custody of Suri since then, and according to media reports, Suri has had no relationship with her father since 2013. For years, Suri has been the subject of intense speculation because of her estranged relationship with her famous father.
Meanwhile, Pitt’s son Maddox is the latest of his children to drop the actor’s surname. The 25-year-old Maddox officially removed “Pitt” from his name, following the example of his younger sister Shiloh, 20.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Zahara and 18-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox have informally stopped using their father’s surname and intend to make the changes legal. On Monday, a Los Angeles judge approved the name change, meaning his son’s legal name is now Maddox Chivan Jolie, Page Six reported.
“There are no objections. The petition for a name change is granted,” the court ruling reviewed by the publication stated. “The decree is signed and filed. The petitioner’s name is changed from Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt to Maddox Chivan Jolie.”
Maddox appeared remotely at the hearing at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, accompanied by his lawyer Peter Levine. Earlier this year, Maddox and Zahara published legal notices in the Los Angeles Daily Journal declaring their intention to drop their father’s surname. Zahara has a hearing on her name-change petition scheduled for 28 September. In July 2024, Shiloh’s lawyer issued a statement regarding her decision to drop her 62-year-old father’s surname. She filed the petition to change her name on her birthday in May, and the news was officially announced through a legal notice in the Los Angeles Times.
Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston from 2000 to 2005. He later began a relationship with Angelina Jolie, now 51, with whom he co-starred in Mr & Mrs Smith. The couple split in 2016 after a 12-year relationship and two years of marriage, and their divorce was finalised eight years later, in December 2024. | BGNES