will receive a special tribute at the upcoming 75th Cannes film festival ahead of the long-delayed : Maverick sequel to the hit 1986 action thriller.
On May 18, the actor will join journalist Didier Allouch onstage for a chat in front of an audience who will then be treated to the first screening of his highly anticipated film.
The show’s organisers said: ‘Tom Cruise will be in attendance in Cannes on May 18, 2022 for the screening of Top Gun: Maverick, scheduled for release on May 25 in France and May 27 in the US.
‘The festival will also pay a special tribute to Tom Cruise for his career.’
They added that the star will have his conversation with Didier in the afternoon and then ‘walk up the steps of the Palais des Festivals for the evening screening.’
Tom, 59, has only attended the world-renowned festival once.
He made an appearance in 1992 for a screening of Ron Howard’s Far and Away and awarded the prestigious Palme d’or to director Bille August for his film Den goda viljan (The Best Intentions).
Now 30 years later, the annual festival will pay him an ‘exceptional tribute’ for his lifetime achievements.
The delay of the Top Gun sequel, which also stars Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman and Ed Harris, has been seen as the prime example of the havoc brought on the industry by the pandemic, with the release facing numerous push backs.
Top Gun 2 , but was moved to June 26, 2020.
Then it was December 23, 2020 to July 2, 2021, followed by November 19, 2021, and now finally to its US release slated for May 27 of this year.
To bag the film’s first showing is a massive coup for Cannes, which says this year’s festival is a celebratory return to cinema after two years of theatre lockdowns.
A number of high-profile titles are also expected to launch at this year’s festival, including Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, which stars Tom Hanks, and Power of the Dog’s Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Cannes Film Festival runs from May 17-28 and Top Gun: Maverick hits UK theatres May 27.
