Tom Cruise receives BFI Fellowship from director and collaborator Christopher McQuarrie at the BFI Chair’s Dinner
The BFI Fellowship recognises Cruise’s achievements as an extraordinary, versatile actor and his huge contribution to the UK film industry as a producer.
Tonight Tom Cruise received the BFI’s highest honour, the BFI Fellowship, at the annual BFI Chair’s Dinner, hosted by BFI Chair Jay Hunt at the Rosewood London. The BFI Fellowship was presented to Tom by his close collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, who has worked with Cruise for almost 20 years on films including Edge of Tomorrow, Jack Reacher and since 2015, the Mission: Impossible franchise.
The BFI Fellowship recognises Cruise’s achievements as an extraordinary, versatile actor and his huge contribution to the UK film industry as a producer who has chosen to shoot numerous films on location in the UK, supporting significant growth of our film industry and infrastructure, showcasing and investing in British craft expertise and bringing a huge influx of jobs, skills, and training to people across the country.
Film industry guests and famous faces in attendance with BFI Chair Jay Hunt and BFI Chief Executive Ben Roberts included Christopher McQuarrie, Angela Bassett, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Samantha Morton, Idris Elba, Jerry Bruckheimer, Hannah Waddingham, Esai Morales, Tramell Tillman, Pom Klementieff, Greg Tarzan Davis, Edgar Wright, Terry Gilliam, Graham Norton, Edith Bowman and more.
On receiving the BFI Fellowship Tom Cruise said: “The beauty of this artform is a collaboration and it tests everything we are as artists, as human beings. When we finish a film it’s never goodbye, we’ll see you again soon, so it’s been absolutely extraordinary for me to receive this BFI Fellowship, it’s been an extraordinary evening and I’m very grateful that you are all here.
“We’ve had one great adventure after another the next. I’ve loved every second, it’s an absolute privilege to be on set – people say why don’t you take a vacation but why would I take a vacation from something I absolutely love to do. This is the most fun ever. Thank you Chris [McQuarrie] for always trying to kill me, somehow we figure something out, no matter how hard you try.
“Ben Roberts you were an usher in movie theatres, Chris you were a security guard in movie theatres and I just snuck into them. The thing is we love being in movies, with an audience with popcorn, it’s just magnificent. We know how magical that is. Thank you at the BFI, you’ve worked so hard to support our industry throughout, we are all holding hands together to keep this going, to educate the next generation as best we can and I look forward to all the films they’re going to make.”
On presenting the BFI Fellowship to Tom, Christopher McQuarrie said: “With a career spanning so many eras of modern cinema, one could make the case that he is an era unto himself. In the fifth decade of his career, Tom continues to push boundaries as an actor and filmmaker. Tom Cruise is not competing with anyone but himself. And where others may compare themselves to their contemporaries, he looks again and again to the progenitors of modern cinema: the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks, Gene Kelly, Irving Thalberg — dedicated artists, devout perfectionists and unapologetic entertainers. He is unrelenting, uncompromising and undaunted.”
BFI Chair Jay Hunt said: “We are thrilled to honour Tom Cruise tonight with a BFI Fellowship. As an actor and producer he has, for over four decades, pushed the boundaries of cinema and reminded us ALL why the big screen matters. Tom has also been a truly astonishing partner to the UK industry, a filmmaker whose energy lifts every set he walks on, whose imagination fills screens across the world, and whose example shows what can happen when you put story, craft and audience first.”
The Tom Cruise season continues on big screens at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX until the end of May, screening 28 of Cruise’s films. This month’s issue of Sight and Sound magazine, which is available now, features an extensive cover interview with Tom Cruise.
Cruise joins the distinguished ranks of other BFI Fellows including David Lean, Bette Davis, Akira Kurosawa, Ousmane Sembène, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Orson Welles, Thelma Schoonmaker, Derek Jarman, Martin Scorsese, Satyajit Ray, Yasujiro Ozu and, most recently, Tilda Swinton, Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Spike Lee and Christopher Nolan.