After watching Top Gun: Maverick soar to the top of the box office — and continue to score Tom Cruise praise during award season — a source spilled that Will Smith reached out to his old pal for help reviving his career following the infamous 2022 Oscars slap, RadarOnline.com has learned.
“Making a movie with Tom would be a major win for Will,” said the source, noting his latest project Emancipation flopped this past October. “But, apparently, Tom hasn’t returned any of his calls.”
Tom, 60, and Will, 54, were once so close that the Mission: Impossible star attended his friend’s TCL Chinese Theatre hand-and-footprint ceremony in 2007.
“Tom has been lying low in Hollywood, so he isn’t about to publicly come to anyone’s defense, even for Will,” stated the insider. “The last thing he wants is to be embroiled in that drama.”
As RadarOnline.com reported, Tom immediately pulled away from Will after the latter assaulted Chris Rock on live television after the comedian told a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Sources said Will thought his old pal could help him revive his image.
“Will has approached Tom several times, trying to reconnect and see if they can hang out and brainstorm on some projects together,” an insider shared in December. “A solid movie with Tom would guarantee Will’s comeback, or so he thinks. Will has even offered to fly to London if that’s more convenient, but Tom isn’t biting and doesn’t even write him back.”
One Tom-adjacent insider said the award-winner isn’t “stupid enough to put his neck on the line and be dragged down by association.” The source shared, “Tom is still very wary of any Hollywood friendships. He likes his reclusive lifestyle in the United Kingdom,” adding, “He doesn’t want to get sucked back into the Hollywood scene — especially by way of Will Smith. He’s still kryptonite.”
But Tom’s not the only one avoiding Will.
The embattled actor and his comeback role in Emancipation were completely snubbed as a 2023 Golden Globe nominee — and sources say Hollywood’s cold shoulder didn’t go unnoticed by Will.