UK minister: Cruise lacks courage
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Cruise was criticized for skipping this year's Cannes Film Festival.
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LONDON, England -- Hollywood top gun Tom Cruise lacks the "balls" to fly to Europe, Britain's culture minister said Tuesday in a scathing attack on U.S. actors.
Cruise and other stars are "too frightened" to fly for fear of a terrorist attack, Kim Howells told the Financial Times after the action hero did not travel to this year's Cannes Film Festival in southern France.
But later a spokesman for Cruise told the UK's Press Association: "Tom did not go to Cannes because he was in New Zealand making a movie. It's as simple as that."
The outspoken Howells, who is responsible for film and tourism, said the lack of U.S. tourists was hurting the British economy. The minister was traveling to the United States on Tuesday to persuade more Americans to visit the UK.
He compared "tough guy heroes of the screen" with "grannies from New York" who make the trans-Atlantic journey.
"These people portray themselves as great action heroes and although we know they use stunt men, one would assume that they would have the balls to do a simple thing like fly to Europe and set an example for the rest of the nation," he said.
Cruise -- star of blockbuster hits "Top Gun" and "Mission: Impossible" -- was absent from Cannes though his girlfriend Penelope Cruz and other A-list celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger were there.
Cruise, 40, who trained in martial arts and learned to fight on horseback for his latest film, "The Last Samurai," had earlier said work commitments kept him from Cannes.
This is not the first time that Hollywood actors have come under fire in Britain for being afraid to fly after the September 11 attacks.
British Airways chief executive Rob Eddington was forced to back down after telling the Daily Mirror newspaper: "They want everyone to see their movies and think how big and brave they are. But at the first sign of trouble they cower under their beds like gutless cowards."
Howells' comments could backfire on the culture minister. Cruise is a favorite at London movie premieres and spent more than an hour meeting fans at last year's West End premiere of "Vanilla Sky."
