Few casts are as closely associated with their characters as the actors who formed the central quartet of hobbits in “The Lord of the Rings.” Between 2001 and 2003, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd brought Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin to life across three films.

In the years since, their careers have taken them from endurance sports and wildlife expeditions to music and DJ booths. Their enduring friendship, however, recently brought all four back around the same table.

Elijah Wood Took His Love of Music Behind the DJ Booth

Wood played Frodo Baggins, the hobbit tasked with carrying the One Ring to Mordor, and his association with Middle-earth has followed him into an unexpected part of his career.

He and music supervisor Zach Cowie have spent 15 years DJing together as the vinyl-only duo Wooden Wisdom. Their sets have given Wood an outlet separate from acting, with the pair playing records rather than relying on a conventional digital DJ setup.

In 2026, that venture intersected directly with his “The Lord of the Rings” history. Wooden Wisdom was set to headline a sold-out, “The Lord of the Rings”-themed rave at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver on May 31, marking nearly 25 years since the first film and Wood’s debut as Frodo.

Denver was among several Wooden Wisdom dates announced by Wood and Cowie after launching an Instagram page for the project, although most of their other scheduled performances were not specifically tied to Middle-earth.

Despite the obvious opportunity his most famous role provides, Wood made one distinction clear during a 2016 appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” — his DJ name is not DJ Frodo.

Sean Astin Became an Ironman

Astin’s Samwise Gamgee spent much of “The Lord of the Rings” refusing to leave Frodo’s side, and the actor later demonstrated considerable endurance away from a film set.

After four months of training, he completed the 2015 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The event required the actor to swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles, and finish with a 26.2-mile marathon. Astin completed the challenge in 15 hours, 30 minutes, and 31 seconds.

His family was waiting at the finish, where spectators also greeted the “Rudy” star by chanting the name of his character from the 1993 film. Before competing, the Hollywood star opened up about why he had taken on such a demanding challenge, saying:

“This is an extraordinary challenge, and I like the idea that I am capable of leading an extraordinary life.”

The race was hardly his introduction to endurance sports. “The Lord of the Rings” star had already completed ten marathons and a half Ironman, and the World Championship did not bring his running ambitions to an end.

His athletic pursuits also supported a charitable cause. Astin raised more than $25,000 for #Run3rd, an organization supporting running programs for underserved children.

Dominic Monaghan Turned a Lifelong Interest Into ‘Wild Things’

Monaghan, who portrayed Merry Brandybuck, followed his time in Middle-earth with another major role on “Lost.” Both productions placed him in striking natural environments, but his fascination with wildlife had begun much earlier.

That interest eventually became central to “Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan,” which followed the actor around the world as he searched for unusual animals, including snakes, spiders, and other creatures that many people might prefer to observe from a distance.

For the actor, the attraction was rooted in childhood curiosity. “I can’t remember a time when I haven’t been fascinated by nature,” he said in a 2013 interview. As a child, he discovered that exploring the natural world did not require traveling very far. He further explained:

“I realized that you could just go into your garden and get a close look at insects whenever you wanted.”

His interests were not confined to insects. Monaghan also described himself as deeply interested in birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, turning a lifelong fascination into a television project that allowed him to encounter wildlife around the world.

Billy Boyd Continued Making Music With Beecake

Boyd played Peregrin “Pippin” Took, but acting was only one of his creative pursuits after the trilogy. The Scottish actor also performed with Beecake, an acoustic folk-rock band formed with longtime friends.

Rather than approaching the group as a Hollywood side project, the actor spoke about enjoying the less glamorous realities of making and performing music.

“We’re always the lowest of the low when we play festivals,” he said in 2014, describing how the group would arrive in a Transit van while other performers appeared in tour buses. “But I quite like that about us.”

At the time, Beecake was working with Scottish producer and former Delgados drummer Paul Savage, who had collaborated with acts including Mogwai and Franz Ferdinand. The band recorded its single “Perfect Time” at Chem19 studios and was preparing new material.

For Boyd, creating the music itself remained particularly important, even when promoting it did not come naturally. “In some ways, the most creatively fulfilling bit is making it, not actually pushing it,” he explained.

Years after their characters left the Shire together, however, Boyd and his three former co-stars found themselves sharing the same space once again.

The Four Hobbits Reunited Nearly 25 Years Later

On August 8, 2026, Astin shared a photo of himself alongside Wood, Monaghan, and Boyd at La Royal restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Monaghan subsequently shared another look at their night together.

“Four Halflings. Three cocktails. Two desserts. ONE great night of conversation. More to come. #becurious,” the actor wrote before adding, “Shoutout to the couple in the back. Well played.”

For fans who had first watched the four stars journey across Middle-earth beginning nearly 25 years earlier, seeing them together again prompted affectionate observations about both their friendship and their appearances.

One person commented, “It’s so good to see you guys together, like nothing has changed these past 25 years. 😍” Another agreed that time appeared to have treated the group well, writing, “Yeah, you all literally look exactly the same. Except for the feet.”

One commenter turned that observation into a reference to their famous roles, typing, “because you ARE hobbits. you have to be 200 years before any wrinkles or gray hair makes apparience 😂 [sic].” Yet their appearance was not the only part of the reunion that resonated.

Another person shared, “When y’all are together everything seems alright in the world.” For one commenter, simply seeing all four together again was enough, as they wrote, “Seeing yall [sic] together just makes me so happy, I hope you all live a long life 😭🫶✨.”

Twenty-five years after “The Lord of the Rings” first brought their hobbits together on screen, the four actors had long since built separate careers and pursued interests far removed from Middle-earth. However, their latest reunion showed that one connection from the trilogy had endured.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas became one of the most recognizable young actors of the 1990s, growing up in front of an audience as Randy Taylor on “Home Improvement.”

Between his years on the hit sitcom and his work as the voice of young Simba in “The Lion King,” the actor became a fixture of the decade’s family entertainment and teen magazines, but his relationship with fame began long before he understood how large his career would become.

Born on September 8, 1981, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Thomas moved to Sacramento, California, with his parents, Claudine and Stephen Weiss, and older brother before he was five years old.

His first steps toward entertainment came through modeling, followed by a Burger King commercial in Los Angeles when he was eight. Thomas recalled in 1994 that he found the possibility of working in show business “pretty cool” and asked his mother to enroll him in acting lessons. He explained:

“I just thought the whole idea of being on TV, being recognized, and having a good time was interesting.”

According to his mother, her son’s outgoing personality that eventually translated to the screen had been apparent much earlier, as she remembered other people noticing it when her son was still a toddler.

“Even when he was 18 months old, he seemed older than his age; and he was really outgoing,” she shared. “Everyone kept saying, ‘Wow! Why don’t you get him on television.'”

By age nine, television was becoming his everyday life. Thomas began acting on “The Bradys” in 1990 before landing the part that would follow him throughout his adolescence. In 1991, he joined Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson on “Home Improvement,” playing Randy, the middle of Tim and Jill Taylor’s three sons.

The role lasted for nearly 200 episodes and coincided with an increasingly busy stretch outside the sitcom. Thomas voiced young Simba in Disney’s “The Lion King” and took leading roles in family movies including “Man of the House” and “Tom and Huck.” His face also appeared across tween magazines such as Bop and Tiger Beat.

The attention surrounding him suggested the possibility of a long career built on the momentum of his childhood success. Thomas, however, had already spent most of his formative years working, and at 17, he left “Home Improvement.”

Looking back, he preferred to remember the experiences themselves rather than the celebrity surrounding them.

Rather than moving immediately into another long-running television role, he gradually reduced his acting commitments. By the early 2000s, the child star who had once appeared everywhere was becoming increasingly absent from Hollywood.

Years later, Thomas explained that the decision came after a childhood dominated by work. “I’d been going nonstop since I was 8 years old,” he said in 2013. “I wanted to go to school, to travel and have a bit of a break.” That break gave him experiences that had been difficult to fit around years of filming.

Thomas studied at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, embracing an academic environment that bore little resemblance to the television sets where he had spent much of his childhood.

“To sit in a big library amongst books and students, that was pretty cool,” he recalled. “It was a novel experience for me.” His interest in entertainment did not disappear entirely.

After returning to Los Angeles, Thomas concentrated on writing scripts and directing rather than rebuilding the acting schedule he had left behind. All the while, he never described leaving the height of his teen fame as a decision he wished he could reverse. He said in 2013:

“I never took the fame too seriously. It was a great period in my life, but it doesn’t define me.”

Looking back, he preferred to remember the experiences themselves rather than the celebrity surrounding them. The former child star added, “When I think back on the time, I look at it with a wink. I focus on the good moments I had, not that I was on a lot of magazine covers.”

Still, he did not completely close the door on acting. Between 2013 and 2015, Thomas made several appearances on Allen’s sitcom “Last Man Standing,” putting him back on screen with his former “Home Improvement” television father.

Patricia Richardson also appeared on the series, creating another connection to the sitcom that had brought them together decades earlier.

Afterward, public sightings remained unusual. Thomas was photographed walking his dogs in 2021, and when he was seen again in 2023, his appearance became a subject of conversation among people who remembered the fresh-faced teenager from “Home Improvement.”

In July 2026, however, another rare image surfaced, and this time he was back beside members of his television family.

For some netizens, the passage of time made the adult Thomas difficult to reconcile with the child star they remembered. One person simply commented, “No way that is him,” while another shared, “He doesn’t even remotely look like the child he was.”

Another person typed, “Damnnn [sic] I never knew he would’ve turned out looking like that.” A similarly critical reaction was considerably shorter, with one commenter writing, “Glow down.” Another person joked about his long absence from public view, saying, “No wonder he was hiding 😂.”

However, not every response was negative. One commenter still found the former teen idol attractive and compared his current appearance with another actor, sharing, “Still a babe! Looking like a hipster Val Kilmer. 🔥”

Those occasional photographs became some of the few glimpses of Thomas available to the public as he continued living largely outside the celebrity cycle that had surrounded him as a teenager. In July 2026, however, another rare image surfaced, and this time he was back beside members of his television family.

Richardson shared a photograph on Instagram on July 30, 2026, showing herself between Thomas and Taran Noah Smith, who had played the youngest brother, Mark Taylor, on “Home Improvement.” Smiling with her former on-screen sons, the actress captioned the reunion, “My other boys❤️.”

The photograph offered a new look at Thomas decades after Randy Taylor became one of his defining roles and years after he had largely withdrawn from public view. It also brought his story back to the television family with whom he had spent much of his adolescence.

The photos of Thomas from his rare appearances in recent years, including those that sparked strong reactions to how much he had changed, can be found below.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas in the 1990s

At the height of his fame, Shaun Cassidy was playing enormous arenas while young fans screamed his name — yet the life surrounding that success was quietly becoming something he did not want for himself. Decades later, his explanation for walking away makes the latest photos of the former teen idol all the more fascinating.

Shaun turned 68 on September 27, 2026, marking another chapter in a life that has taken him from teenage heartthrob to actor, television writer and producer, family patriarch and, eventually, back to the concert stage. But to understand just how much changed, it is worth going back to the years when his face seemed to be everywhere.

He Became a Teen Idol Almost Overnight

Shaun was born in Los Angeles in 1958 into an already famous entertainment family. His father was Tony Award-winning Actor Jack Cassidy, his mother is none other than Academy Award-winning Actress Shirley Jones, and his older half-brother David Cassidy became a sensation of his own through “The Partridge Family.”

According to American Songwriter’s look back at Shaun’s rise and career, Shaun formed his first band at just 11 and signed a recording contract with the Curb Records division of Warner Brothers Records before graduating from high school.

His early success initially came overseas. The 1976 single “Morning Girl” helped him gain attention in Europe, while the Eric Carmen-penned “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll” found success in Australia. Then came the record that changed everything. Shaun’s first American release, “Da Doo Ron Ron,” shot to No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart and turned the then-18-year-old into a global heartthrob almost overnight.

His self-titled debut album sold more than a million copies, climbed to No. 3 on the pop albums chart, and helped earn him a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. And the crowds kept getting bigger.

His Fame Went Far Beyond Records

Shaun’s IMDb biography notes that after signing with Warner Brothers Records while still in high school, he went on to achieve three multi-platinum albums, multiple top ten hits, and sold-out concerts at major venues including Madison Square Garden and Houston’s Astrodome.

At nearly the same time, he was building an acting career, starring in ABC’s “The Hardy Boys Mysteries.” His second album, “Born Late,” arrived in 1977 and produced another top ten single, “Hey Deanie.” But the extraordinary run at the top of pop culture would not last forever.

“Under Wraps,” released in 1978, barely reached the top 40, while 1979’s “Room Service” also struggled to match the success of his earlier work. For his fifth and final studio album, 1980’s “Wasp,” Shaun worked with Producer Todd Rundgren and attempted to move away from his teen-idol image.

The record leaned into a different sound and included covers such as David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” and The Who’s “So Sad About Us.” His established fan base, however, did not embrace the reinvention in the same way, and the album became his second consecutive release to miss the Billboard 200. But disappointing record sales were only one piece of the story.

Circa 1970s

At 21, He Made a Decision That Changed Everything

Shaun recently revisited that turning point during a September 25, 2026 appearance on Phil Rosenthal and David Wild’s “Naked Lunch.” “I stopped touring when I was 21. Astrodome was my last show, not because I didn’t love touring; I did. I loved performing; loved singing, but I found that writing and producing TV gave me, frankly, a much better life,” Shaun revealed.

“I got to stay home; I had kids at a young age, and I love writing.” That distinction is important: Shaun did not stop because he hated performing; he had simply begun to realize that another part of the entertainment world could give him something his teen-idol existence could not.

Later in the conversation, Shaun opened up even more about the personal cost that came with becoming so recognizable at such a young age. “The most interesting part of my life, honestly, is before I became well-known. Because once you are well-known, at least in my case, I became insulated,” he said. “I couldn’t go out, you know, kind of a prisoner in your house,” Shaun continued.

For someone still barely into adulthood, that isolation became a warning about the sort of future he did not want. “It’s one of the reasons again like, ‘Hmm, I don’t wanna be Elvis,’ not that I was Elvis, but you know what I mean?” he explained. “I don’t want that life; I don’t want the Michael Jackson; isolation, it’s not healthy.”

And looking back from the other side of that choice, Shaun appears grateful he trusted those instincts. “I’m glad I made the choice I did, cause now I got a great life; I got a great family,” he swooned, before joking, “I’ve got 107 children.”

Shaun actually has seven children, something he returned to later in the interview with a distinctly parental admission: “Again, seven kids, I’m worried about them all the time.”

He Was Determined to Build His Own Identity

Shaun has spoken elsewhere about just how abruptly his first era as a touring performer ended. “I played the Houston Astrodome for 55,000 people. And I said, ‘Goodnight. See you soon.’ And I didn’t do another concert until 2020, 40 years later,” he told People in August 2026.

Instead of chasing the same type of fame, he moved more deeply into acting and eventually Broadway. Shaun starred alongside David in the musical “Blood Brothers.” It was during that period that another career began taking shape.

Shaun wrote what became the pilot for “American Gothic.” Though the CBS horror series lasted only one season, it developed a cult following and opened a new door for him as a television writer and producer.

His subsequent television credits have included “Roar,” which starred a then-unknown Heath Ledger, as well as “Cover Me,” “The Agency,” “Invasion,” “Ruby and the Rockits,” “Emerald City,” and “New Amsterdam.” He also wrote and executive produced “Hysteria” for Amazon.

“I got very fortunate, not only that I was able to do something that I aspired to do and that I love still to this day doing, but that I was able to carve out my own identity in a very public family,” Shaun once reflected on his multi-faceted career.

That quieter professional reinvention gave the one-time teen idol exactly what his younger self had been looking for: a life in entertainment without having to live every part of it under the same spotlight.

Then, After Nearly 40 Years, He Returned to Performing

Shaun did eventually reconnect with the stage. In 2020, he launched the one-man show “The Magic of a Midnight Sky,” marking his first live music performances in almost four decades. The comeback also introduced an unexpected dynamic at home.

His seven children had always known their father worked in show business. But seeing Dad, the television producer, suddenly become Shaun Cassidy, the screaming-fans-and-rock-‘n’-roll performer, was another matter entirely. Shaun told People in July 2026 that his children had visited his sets and offices over the years, but his identity as a live performer was “sort of a new thing for them.”

“It was weird,” he admitted. “It’s like, ‘Dad is like, what? Going out and singing?’ Because there’s [sic] gold records in a closet somewhere. They’ve seen that I have this life in the past, but it was weird for them.” There was another part of the experience they needed to get used to as well.

“And women of a certain age screaming at dad [sic]. Why?” Shaun laughed, adding, “But I think they’re enjoying it now.”

His Family Became the Center of the Life He Chose

Shaun welcomed two children, Caitlin and Jake, during his first marriage to Model Ann Pennington, and he shares daughter Juliet, born in 1998, with his second wife, Susan Diol. Since 2004, Shaun has been married to Tracey Lynne Turner, and they share four children: Caleb, Roan, Lila and Mairin.

That makes seven children in all — a family life that now seems inseparable from the story of why Shaun decided so young that nonstop teen-idol fame was not the future he wanted. Today, his home has also become the gathering place for the wider Cassidy family. “I love being with my family. Our house is now the epicenter of family gatherings,” he said.

Shaun explained that his mother, Shirley, 92, lived just five minutes away, while his brothers, their wives and often their children regularly joined them. “We are the place now,” he said. The family also continues a Christmas-party tradition that Shaun said was handed down by his parents. “It’s just in me. It’s in my DNA,” he shared. “I feel grateful that I can carry that tradition, and then offer that shared experience to the audience.”

Music Still Fills His Home, Just in a Very Different Way

For all the years Shaun spent building another identity, music never disappeared from his life. He described the family home as a hub for friends, neighbors, and relatives, with a living room that is essentially a music room. “You walk in and you almost crash into a grand piano, and guitars hanging on the wall and a drum set in the corner,” he said.

Before long, people begin picking up instruments. “And that’s what the night becomes very quickly,” Shaun explained. “People just pick up instruments and start playing not only Christmas songs, but you might hear Led Zeppelin.”

Even his current performing life includes family: Shaun’s nephew Cole, the son of his brother Patrick Cassidy, plays guitar in his band. He has also incorporated memories of Rosemary Clooney, whom Shaun described as being “like my second mom,” into his holiday performances.

Shaun recalled spending Christmas Eve at Rosemary’s home when he was young, gathering around a piano that had once belonged to George Gershwin and playing both Christmas music and rock ‘n’ roll.

Even His Son’s Baseball Team Got a Surprise

One of the funnier consequences of Shaun returning to live performance came when his son Caleb brought friends to one of his father’s shows. Shaun said Caleb, 21, was a college senior, baseball player, and physics major — prompting his father to joke, “so clearly, not my gene pool.”

Caleb brought nearly his entire baseball team to see Shaun perform in Los Angeles. The players already knew him, but only as their teammate’s father. “And again, they’re like, ‘That’s just Caleb’s dad,'” Shaun recalled. Then they saw the other version.

“And suddenly, they see me up there in the rock and roll outfit, playing rock and roll songs and screaming audience,” he said. “It’s like, now they’re all very different around me. It’s funny. It was fun.”

Nearly Five Decades Separate the Teen Idol from the Man He Is Today

That may be what makes Shaun’s before-and-after story so compelling: The teenager who suddenly found himself surrounded by enormous crowds and unable to move freely through everyday life ultimately chose not to spend adulthood trying to preserve that exact version of himself.

Instead, he became a writer and producer, raised seven children, created a home centered around family and music, and eventually returned to performing on very different terms. And now, the contrast is especially visible.

Recent 2026 photos show Shaun during a chapter of his life far removed from the frenzy that greeted him when “Da Doo Ron Ron” made him a teenage sensation. One image comes from a public appearance alongside his wife, Tracey, while another offers a more casual glimpse of the couple together.

A third recent family photo brings the story even further from the days when Shaun was the teenager at the center of the frame, showing him and Tracey with two of their kids.

For anyone who remembers the feathered hair, album covers and arena-sized crowds of the 1970s, the photos below offer the full-circle moment — a look at the teen idol then, followed by the husband, father and longtime television creative he became.

Now, scroll through the gallery below to follow Shaun through the different eras of his life — from his early days in the spotlight to the man he is today.

1978

Circa 1980s

1981

1985

1989

1993

1994

1998

Cruise is the cover star of GQ’s October 2026 issue, marking his first GQ cover and longform interview in 20 years. The occasion comes as Cruise prepares for the release of Digger, his upcoming film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

According to GQ’s cover announcement, the actor sat down for two rare conversations with the magazine’s Zach Baron — one alongside Iñárritu and another one-on-one.

Cruise Returns to GQ After Two Decades

The issue is also part of what GQ described as its biggest global cover ever, appearing in 20 editions around the world. For Cruise, the timing is closely connected to Digger, a project he describes as “the culmination of all my skills.”

“When I look at Digger, and finally after 25 years to be able to work with Iñárritu,” Cruise says, “everything’s led to this.”

The film represents a notable turn for an actor who has become synonymous with action franchises. Digger is Cruise’s first non-action, non-franchise movie since American Made in 2017, according to The Daily Beast.

The Movie Behind the Big Comeback

In Digger, Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a fictional billionaire oil tycoon whose project sets off a global disaster. The character is a considerable departure from the near-indestructible heroes Cruise has played in recent years.

Rather than another physically unstoppable leading man, Digger Rockwell is portrayed as a flawed billionaire with a potbelly and receding hairline, adding another unexpected dimension to Cruise’s return to more unconventional material.

The contrast is particularly striking because Cruise has spent the last decade-plus cementing his modern action-star image through movies such as Mission: Impossible, Edge of Tomorrow and Top Gun: Maverick.

GQ’s profile places that evolution in a much broader context, pointing back to Cruise’s work with filmmakers including Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and Francis Ford Coppola.

Cruise has described filmmaking as something much deeper than a job. “Making films is not what I do. It is who I am.”

That commitment is evident throughout his conversation with Baron, who spent time with the actor on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, where Cruise spoke enthusiastically about everything from set construction to lighting, lenses, and the people working behind the scenes.

He Still Talks About Movies Like He Just Started

At 64, Cruise told GQ that he has lost none of his fascination with the mechanics of filmmaking. He recalled arriving in Hollywood as a young actor and studying everything around him, from individual departments on movie sets to the way people responded to one another.

“I was always moving around. So I saw different cultures, even within America and Canada where I lived. And you could see people, how they reacted, and why did they react that way?”

Cruise also reflected on growing up moving between schools and said those experiences shaped the way he observes people and approaches his work. “I had a secret thing I had for myself, which was always: Leave something better.”

That philosophy, he said, extended beyond his career and into the way he approached rented homes, classrooms and eventually movie sets. His career may have become defined by enormous productions, but Cruise insisted that his choices have always been deliberate.

“It’s always an evolution. And for me, it’s been something where it’s a constant challenge of one step to the next.”

‘Digger’ Took Years to Reach the Screen

The new film has also been a long time coming. Cruise said he and Iñárritu had been talking about the project since 2018 or 2019, while Iñárritu spent roughly a decade preparing it.

That lengthy preparation fits Cruise’s own description of how he spends his time away from cameras. When asked what he does on a random Tuesday when he is not filming, Cruise gave an answer that was very much on brand:

“You know what? I’m preparing for the next. I’m always studying something. I’m always learning something, always.”

He also revealed that his phone is generally kept as far away from him as possible, saying he prefers talking to people directly rather than communicating through lengthy emails. “I like to talk to people.”

The actor’s intense approach to filmmaking was something Iñárritu experienced firsthand while making Digger. The director described Cruise as the center of a complicated cinematic “ballet,” explaining how a scene involving Cruise, Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed, and hundreds of extras required extraordinary precision.

Iñárritu recalled giving Cruise seven notes after a difficult sequence and watching him absorb them before immediately returning to the scene. “And then he said, ‘Yes, I got it.’ ‘Are you sure?’ ‘I got it.’ ‘[expletive] camera!’ And then, ‘Take!'”

Iñárritu said he was struck by Cruise’s ability to understand the physical space, silence, dialogue, movement, and emotional demands of the scene simultaneously.

Cruise Doesn’t See Himself as the ‘Last Movie Star’

GQ also addressed the familiar description of Cruise as “the last movie star.” Cruise did not embrace the label. Instead, he pointed to other actors, including Brad Pitt, whom he praised as a “great actor, great star, great charisma.”

He also emphasized how much he has learned from other filmmakers and performers throughout his career, describing cinema as a generational exchange of knowledge.

That philosophy extends to his relationship with younger actors. Cruise said he has tried to help younger performers understand the technical side of filmmaking, including lenses, framing, and the relationship between an actor and the camera.

He said his approach when mentoring someone is to listen first. “What do they want? It’s not me. I’m more interested in: What are their goals? What do they want?”

Cruise also spoke about actor Glen Powell, who has previously discussed watching a lengthy instructional video Cruise made about screen acting. According to Cruise, the material was designed to give actors a basic understanding of how lenses and frames work so they could eventually stop thinking about the mechanics and concentrate on the performance.

His Approach to Risk Hasn’t Changed

Naturally, a conversation with Cruise eventually returned to risk. After years of performing notoriously dangerous stunts, including riding a motorcycle off a cliff and hanging from aircraft, Cruise was asked directly whether he fears death.

His answer was characteristically straightforward. “Do I fear death? No. I don’t.” Cruise clarified that this does not mean he is incapable of fear. Instead, he said he is comfortable confronting it.

“There’s stuff where you want to feel that. You want to feel that uncertainty. But I’m not afraid to feel afraid. I don’t know how else to say it. I’m not afraid to go, ‘Okay, I know this is a leap, and let’s take the jump. Let’s go.’ And I try to recognize things that I don’t know, and I don’t pretend to know things that I know and things that I don’t know. So that’s how I feel about it.”

For Cruise, uncertainty appears to be part of the attraction. “I like standing on the edge of a cliff physically and metaphorically.” Iñárritu, meanwhile, compared Cruise’s role in Digger to the central force around which an entire production revolves, saying that when Cruise is performing, “if Tom fails, everything collapses.”

Cruise’s response to that pressure is essentially to embrace the challenge. “It’s just who I am. That’s my theory.”

Turning 64 Didn’t Change His Outlook

Cruise turned 64 shortly before the interview, but he wasn’t particularly interested in treating the milestone as a major turning point. When Baron asked what being 64 meant to him, Cruise answered: “It means I’m 64,” he said with a laugh.

He laughed when Baron pressed him on whether the birthday had changed the way he thought about his career. “Zach! It’s just like: No! [Laughs.] Zach’s like, ‘Does it change anything? When you’re looking at this, does it, like….’ Man, I’m just saying: It doesn’t at all. What changes things is I love seeing people do well.”

Instead, Cruise said he remains focused on new dreams, new skills, and what comes next. “I’m an all-in kind of guy, Zach. I don’t know what to say. Life, I’m coming right at it. It’s coming at me, and I’m coming right at it.”

The interview may have been about filmmaking, Digger and Cruise’s enduring relationship with cinema, but the photoshoot had a very different effect online.

Then Came the Cover That Stopped the Scroll

Photographed by Mario Sorrenti and styled by George Cortina, Cruise appears in a striking black-and-white image that immediately became the focus of the conversation surrounding the issue.

And yes, the 64-year-old actor is showing considerably more skin than fans may have expected from a GQ cover. The reaction was immediate and sharply divided. Some viewers were impressed by Cruise’s appearance, while others were far less comfortable with the pose.

One commenter said, “The way I stopped scrolling! 🔥🔥🔥” Another viewer remarked, “He looks like he’s in his 40s.” A third commenter admitted, “I’m uncomfy.” Another person asked, “What are you doing? 😂.” One viewer went even further, saying, “This makes me very uncomfortable.” There was also a more approving reaction, with one commenter declaring, “Unc still got it.”

Another person simply reacted, “Unrecognizable!” And one particularly curious viewer focused on a very specific detail, asking, “What happened to his belly button?”