Brooks Barnes & Michael Cieply For one of his next roles Tom Cruise is planning to play a soldier who refights the same battle (with aliens) in an endless loop,getting better and better at it. More and more,it appears,thats the story of his life. In the latest shock to his personal and professional status,Cruise was served with divorce papers by his wife,Kate Holmes. But it only relights celebrity-media fires he has been fighting for decades. He has been savaged for his belief in Scientology. There was the National Enquirer-ready divorce from Nicole Kidman and bizarre off-screen behaviour,like jumping on Oprahs couch. And yet,he has always bounced back. Cruise,50 last week,still holds onto his superstardom. Last year Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol gave him his biggest global hit yet. That may help to explain why Hollywood so far does not seem overly concerned about Cruises latest personal troubles. If he does another Mission Impossible,no one will care one lick about the divorce, said Paul Dergarabedian,a box office analyst. Everything may change,of course,if the divorce turns into a public slugfest and if Scientology becomes a significant factor. Holmes cited irreconcilable differences and is seeking sole custody of their 6-year-old daughter,Suri,leading to speculation that Cruises plans for Suris introduction to Scientology,played a prominent role in Holmes decision. But for now studios have begun lining up behind Cruise. His next film is the drama Jack Reacher,based on a book in Lee Childs crime series. Universal Pictures,where Cruise is currently making Oblivion,a $140 million science-fiction adventure,said in a statement,Tom is a true superstar who consistently gives 150 percent to every performance. The Scientology association has also caused friction for Cruise in his profession,as when the church set up a literature-and-massage tent on the set of Paramounts War of the Worlds. In the aftermath of that incident,and the relatively soft performance of Mission: Impossible III,in 2006,Paramount ended its production deal with Cruises company. As for media speculation that Holmes filed for divorce partly because of Suris possible involvement with a Scientology group called the Sea Organization,a youth training unit,Soter,the churchs lawyer,said,No person younger than age 16 is accepted. In many ways Cruise had been winning the image war,finally leaving behind the headlines. The outsize success of Ghost Protocol helped,as did raves for his performance in the recently released Rock of Ages. Now he must navigate a celebrity gossip machine that grows ever more vigorous and now includes Twitter,where Cruise has been judged harshly in recent days. (Even Rupert Murdoch weighed in,writing on Twitter,Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy,even evil,about these people.) Cruise must tread carefully in his next moves. Any whiff of using his celebrity to bully his lesser-known wife would create trouble,Hollywood media experts say. I think the hit to his image is not lasting,not in the culture we are living in, said Michael Levine,a celebrity publicist. The problem is if the custody war becomes nuclear. Joseph Goldstein and Colin Moynihan contributed reporting.
