Tom Cruise: I'm Going to Make Movies 'Into My 100s'

Tom Cruise attends the "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" premiere at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival. Cruise, 62, says he intends to keep working for several decades. Ernesto

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Tom Cruise, 62, recently made a bold claim about the future of his movie career that should inspire anyone over 50. 

“I will never stop,” Cruise told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet Sunday night before the New York premiere of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, which opens worldwide on May

23. “I will never stop doing action, I will never stop doing drama, comedy films — I’m excited.”

Soon after, the superstar added some eye-popping numbers to his declaration.

“I actually said I’m going to make movies into my 80s; actually, I’m going to make them into my 100s,” Cruise said.

castmates (from left) Hayley Atwell, Greg Tarzan Davis, Angela Bassett, Pom Klementieff, Christopher McQuarrie and Simon Pegg depart the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. Gisela

Schober/Getty Images

A bit of background: In 2023, Cruise told the Sydney Morning Herald that he wanted to make Mission: Impossible films until he was in his 80s as an homage to fellow film icon Harrison Ford,

who is now 82.

“Harrison Ford is a legend; I hope to be still going; I’ve got 20 years to catch up with him,” Cruise said at the time. “I hope to keep making Mission: Impossible films until I’m his

age.”

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After THR asked Cruise about his statements from two years ago, he doubled down by adding a couple of decades to his earlier goal.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is the eighth and final installment in the Mission: Impossible film franchise, which has grossed more than $1.3 billion in U.S. box office sales

since launching in 1996, according to Box Office Mojo.

Cruise has been a box office superstar for more than four decades, starring in classic movies such as 1983’s Risky Business, 1986’s Top Gun and 1988’s Rain Man. Cruise has also earned four

Academy Award nominations during his career — three for acting and one for producing.

In 2023, Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick was named best picture at AARP’s Movies For Grownups Awards. AARP’s Movies For Grownups Awards were created in 2002 to honor movies made by or starring a

person who is 50 years of age or older.

Also in 2023, AARP ranked Top Gun: Maverick as Cruise’s best movie of all time.

eighth and final film in the franchise arrives in theaters on May 23. Paramount Pictures and Skydance

In 2022, AARP spoke with legendary film producer Jerry Bruckheimer about directing Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. When asked about whether the actor would want to slow down or retire because

of his age, Bruckheimer suggested otherwise.

“I don’t think any of us want to hang up our spurs — or our wings, as the Navy would say,” Bruckheimer said. “I think we all want to keep going as long as we possibly can.”

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Andre J. Ellington is an award-winning writer based in Michigan. His work has been featured in Newsweek, HuffPost and Yahoo News. 

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