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Tom Cruise Gets Good PR
5-May-2008
Written by: Malia Brown
According to PR experts, Tom Cruise’s interview on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” finally gave him some good PR.
On Friday, Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey took conversations to a couch, once again. But unlike his jumping appearance on Winfrey's show in 2005, this time Cruise was serious, thoughtful and self-contained.
Cruise tried to defend his recent actions and personal beliefs, without seeming overbearing, during an hour-long interview that, according to the Associated Press, several entertainment-focused public relations experts say was a “smart approach.”
“I think Tom learned his lesson. The lesson was that sometimes your personal beliefs can get in the way of the projects,” said Howard Bragman, founder of Los Angeles PR firm Fifteen Minutes. “And you don't want people to be turned off to you so that they're turned off to your projects.”
Winfrey and Cruise conducted the interview on an overstuffed couch in the Cruise family's living room.
Cruise said his couch-jumping was an authentic way of expressing his feelings for Katie Holmes, and a moment he's not sure he would take back.
Holmes, with the presence of a “first lady,” welcomed Winfrey to the couple's home at the top of the show. She then kissed Tom goodbye to take the “kids into town.”
Cruise was then left to answer questions on Katie, Suri, Brooke Shields, Matt Lauer, Scientology, and even ex-wife Nicole Kidman.
On Friday, Bragman said Cruise tried another valid tact, “He defended himself without being defensive.” He said Cruise is still a mogul with a lot of power in Hollywood and an actor who will continue to take chances.
“But I think he recognizes that on a personal front, he's going to tone down his personal life, play a little more straight and narrow, and put a little more separation between his personal and his public life,” Bragman said.
Ultimately, Tom must do what caused audiences to fall in love with him in the first place, make good, successful films.
Public relations executive David Brokaw said, “If he makes a great movie that we all feel compelled to go to, then it just makes us more interested in what Suri is going to be doing when she's 4,” he said with a laugh.
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