Cruise control? Apparently not

Film star Tom Cruise and film studio Paramont have been bonded together for 14 years, but not anymore. Cruise and his producer partner Paula Wagner have ankled the studio - or did the studio terminate Cruise/Wagner? Right now there's a war of the words [hey, you know that pun was coming eventually, don't roll your eyes!] as to who jilted whom.

Paramount supremo Sumner Redstone told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday the studio was ending its relationship with Wagner and Cruise because his 'recent conduct has not been acceptably'. Wagner retaliated by calling the comments 'outrageous and disrespectful'. Upshot? Cruise/Wagner is shifting its shingle to another studio.

All this seems to stem from Cruise's unusual behaviour since last summer, such as bouncing up and down on Oprah's couch declaring his love for Katie Holmes. Public perception of him appears to have switched from 'we love this guy' to a point where he's like Michael Jackson without the plastic surgery disasters.

When you get the mickey extracted from you in a Scary Movie or become the biggest joke in a trailer for a film about stupid car racing drivers, you know your public image is in the crapper. The fact Mission Impossible III only took in $393 million worldwide [only!] probably didn't help matters.

What a strange world we live in...