- Judd Apatow spent part of his DGA Awards monologue roasting Tom Cruise.
- The director said on Saturday that Cruise's action movie stunts feel like 'an ad for Scientology.'
Judd Apatow mocked Tom Cruise's height, stunts, and relationship with the Church of Scientology in his opening monologue of the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday.
Deadline reports Apatow told the DGA to stop recording during his speech so he could enjoy what an anonymous source called "creative freedom." The outlet notes that the director, who was hosting the event for the fourth time, made the same request in previous years.
Apatow quipped about Cruise early in the monologue, according to The Hollywood Reporter, joking that the effects in "Top Gun: Maverick" were so good that he "couldn't even see the stack of phone books Tom Cruise sat on to reach the flight controls."
"That's why he's always jumping out of tall buildings because you can't tell how short he is from a 100-story building," he said. "That's why when he's standing on a wing of an airplane he's always alone, he doesn't want anyone there next to him for scale."
The filmmaker also referenced Cruise's connection to Scientology, which elicited some gasps from the audience, per THR.
"Every time he does one of these new stunts it does feel like an ad for Scientology, it really does. I mean, is that in Dianetics because there's nothing about jumping off a cliff in the Torah? The only thing he seems to be afraid of is co-parenting and antidepressants," he said, referring to Scientology's opposition to "mind-altering medicine."
He continued: "Do you think if Tom Cruise took antidepressants he'd be like, 'I'm not jumping off of a fucking motorcycle on a cliff? Why do I even work, I'm rich.'"
Apatow seemed to take after Jerrod Carmichael, who also skewered Cruise while hosting the Golden Globe Awards in January.
"Backstage, I found the awards that Tom Cruise returned," Carmichael said after walking onstage with three Golden Globes statues. "I have a pitch. I think maybe we take these three things and exchange them for the safe return of Shelly Miscavige."
According to Insider's JP Mangalindan, Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, has rarely been seen in public since August 2007. Her whereabouts have since become the subject of speculation.
—Leah Remini (@LeahRemini) January 11, 2023
Former Scientologist and actor Leah Remini claimed in a string of tweets in November 2022 to have asked Cruise about Miscavige at his wedding to Katie Holmes, but said she was rebuffed. In response, the LAPD released a statement: "In 2014, Los Angeles Police Department detectives assigned to the Missing Persons Unit (MPU) went to Shelly Miscavige's location and personally made contact with her and her attorney. Detectives found her to be alive and safe, and subsequently closed the missing persons investigation."
Insider reached out to representatives for Cruise and Apatow, but did not immediately receive a response.