Tom Cruise's daring acts as Ethan Hunt in over 30 years of Mission: Impossible films made him famous. He has scaled tall buildings, leaped out of airplanes, and even hung from helicopters.
He has recently gone viral for something entirely different…eating popcorn.
Someone caught Cruise devouring popcorn furiously during a special showing of Mission: Impossible: Fallout at the BFI IMAX in London. As if it were a scene from one of his own action movies, he was filmed throwing it, one piece at a time, into his mouth.
After the video was posted online, it gained a lot of attention.
The majority of people on the internet simply wanted to discuss the popcorn moment, despite the fact that Cruise received a significant award that evening: a BFI Fellowship for his work in film.
The moment even came up on The Pat McAfee Show, where host Darius Butler confronted Cruise directly.
“Are you actually eating popcorn or are you full of it?”
Cruise laughed and confirmed, “Man, I’m eating popcorn.”
Cruise’s love of the cinema experience—the theater seats, the hush of the room as everyone watches together, and, well, the popcorn—is not new by any means.
Back in 2023, a promotional video for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning had him encouraging folks to see the movie in theaters to embrace watching films as a going-out event again. This was closer to the public health measures of COVID-19 that made many shy away from in-person theatrical releases in favor of streaming at home.
Cruise, who has notably scolded a moviegoer for finishing all his popcorn before the movie even started, would say to buy two bags, just in case some misses your face and lands on the floor.
A few commenters found his style of eating popcorn to be inspirational.
Many people found the motion familiar.
Cruise grew up in upstate New York and parts of Ottawa, but his parents were both from Kentucky.
Some could only think of the mess.
Others just found it…odd.
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning recently released in theaters to its largest opening weekend in the series.
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