Tom Cruise in The Amazing Ego

When I went to see Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith the other day, one of the trailers showed Tom Cruise among a group of unknown actors, getting his family out of the way before a piece of highway was torn away by some unseen force. When I saw that the trailer was for a remake of War of the Worlds, I was surprised that it didn't show any other actors. After all, a disaster movie usually has a large, star-studded cast. But then I remember the Tom Cruise Ego phenomenon.
Many years ago, a friend told me that Tom Cruise had a clause in his contract that stipulated the following:

• Any poster of a movie starring Tom Cruise should show only Tom Cruise's face.
• Any poster of a movie starring Tom Cruise should show only Tom Cruise's name.

At the time, I thought it was one of those ugly rumors about celebrities that get thrown about so easily. But when I started noticing the movie posters, the rumors were largely confirmed. Let's consider the evidence, shall we? Here are the movie posters for Cruise's 10 most recent movies.


Name: Check. Face: Nope, but no other face either.



Name: Nope, but first billed. Face: Check.



Name: Check. Face: Check.



Name: Check. Face: Check.



Name: Check (some minute faces also shown). Face: Check.



Name: Check. Face: Check.



Name: Nope, but his name is at the top --above Kubrick's! Face: Nope, but the other face is his wife's.



Name: Check. Face: Check.



Name: Check. Face: Check.



Name: First billed, above title, and in largest size. Face: Check.

I think we can safely say that Tom Cruise has an ego the size of the galaxy. He's a pretty decent actor, don't get me wrong, but this is just ridiculous. Defense rests.