Tom Cruise will finally receive an Academy Award as he has been selected to receive an honorary Oscar this year for lifetime achievements.
The actor, 62, was selected for his decades of work in Risky Business, two Top Gun movies and several other films like the Mission: Impossible franchise.
He was nominated for best actor twice, for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire as well as best supporting actor for Magnolia.
‘Tom Cruise’s incredible commitment to our filmmaking community, to the theatrical experience, and to the stunts community has inspired us all,’ Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement.
Dolly Parton has also been selected to receive an honorary Oscar this year.
Tom Cruise will finally receive an Academy Award as he has been selected to receive an honorary Oscar this year for lifetime achievements (pictured in May 2025)
The country music singer and star of movies including Steel Magnolias and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her charitable efforts.
Dolly’s Imagination Library has provided more than 284 million free books to children over 30 years, according to the organization’s website.
She received two Oscar nominations for best song, for the films 9 to 5 and Transamerica.
The honorees will receive their Oscar statuettes at the annual Governors Awards gala in November.
Several other film stars including Cary Grant, Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo received honorary Oscars during their careers.
These awards often celebrate an individual’s overall impact, which may include work not recognized in competitive categories, contributions beyond acting (e.g., directing, producing), or humanitarian efforts.
It comes after Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie, who had a writing credit on Top Gun: Maverick, said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Top Gun 3 is far along.
‘It’s already in the bag. I already know what it is. It wasn’t hard,’ said the director. ‘I thought it would be, and that’s a good place to walk from.’
He was nominated for best actor twice, for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire as well as best supporting actor for Magnolia (pictured in Jerry Maguire)
He added, ‘You walk into the room going, “Come on, what are we going to do?” and Ehren Kruger [Top Gun: Maverick co-writer] pitched something, and we had one conversation about it. The framework is there, so it’s not hard to crack [it].’
McQuarrie also said that he does not know who will direct the film.
In an interview in May, Tom made it seem as if TP3 was far off.
He revealed he and the Top Gun: Maverick team are ‘thinking and talking about many different stories’ for the sequel.
The 62-year-old actor is set to reprise his role as pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the upcoming follow-up to the 2022 blockbuster, and has now shared he and the creative team are currently exploring different avenues of where to take the Top Gun story next.
During an appearance on the Australian ‘Today’ show, Cruise said: ‘Yeah, we’re thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what’s possible.
Dolly Parton has also been selected to receive an honorary Oscar this year
The country music singer and star of movies such as Steel Magnolia will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her charitable efforts (pictured with Olympia Dukakis)
‘It took me 35 years to figure out Top Gun: Maverick so all of these things we’re working on, we’re discussing Days of Thunder and Top Gun: Maverick.’
The star added he was working on ‘numerous other films’ at the moment, including Alejandro Iñárritu’s first English language movie since 2015’s The Revenant, and other projects with McQuarrie.
He said: ‘There’s numerous other films that we’re actively working on right now. I’m always shooting a film, prepping a film, posting a film.
‘I just finished a film with Alejandro Iñárritu too, who did The Revenant, that was an extraordinary experience and McQuarrie and I are always working on several different films.’
