Tom Cruise returned to the cover of GQ after a 20-year gap, and the photos have become the story. The 64-year-old actor poses in everything from tailored jackets to western wear, with several shirtless portraits in the mix. The reaction was immediate: some people called the shoot awkward, while others wondered why an older movie star showing some skin should be controversial at all.
There is an actual interview behind the pictures, too. Cruise talks about how he works, how he sees his age and why he agreed to sit down for a rare, lengthy conversation. The photos may have started the argument, but his answers make it more interesting.
What is in the GQ shoot?
Photographer Mario Sorrenti shot the October 2026 cover package. GQ pairs close-up portraits with outdoor street scenes, a motorcycle, western styling and bare-chested poses. It is a much looser, stranger collection than a standard movie-star cover. That variety is part of why people cannot seem to agree on it.
This is Cruise’s first GQ cover in two decades. The publisher says the project is rolling out across 20 international markets, so the images were made for a major global moment—not a casual set of behind-the-scenes snaps.
Why are people making fun of the photos?
Some fans criticized the photos themselves. In a Reddit discussion, one commenter said the shots looked surprisingly poor for a GQ shoot with Cruise. Another thought the street photos looked worse than iPhone pictures. A third said some poses looked goofy for a man his age.
The shirtless shots drew a different kind of complaint. One person said they were “a bit too much” for a 64-year-old, then added that Cruise clearly had confidence. The exchange turned into a debate about whether age should decide who gets to pose that way.
Some fans pushed back on the age jokes
Other readers pushed back. One said people still expect Cruise to look like he did in the 1990s and are too hard on him for aging. Another liked seeing him look like a real person getting older. A reply to the shirtless-photo criticism asked whether people would say the same thing about a woman in a revealing shoot.
The thread mixed specific complaints about the lighting and poses with broader comments about Cruise’s age. Fans who defended the shoot were often responding to the age jokes, not claiming every photo was perfect.
Cruise was asked about turning 64
Age came up in the interview itself. Asked what turning 64 meant to him, Cruise answered, “It means I’m 64.” When pressed on whether it had changed his outlook, he said it had not. He was more interested in the work still ahead of him than in giving the question a dramatic answer.
That contrast is hard to miss. Online, people are debating whether he should pose like this at 64. In the interview, Cruise does not seem particularly interested in acting as if the number has imposed new rules on him.
The interview is more than a photoshoot
Cruise also talks about his reputation for intensity on set. He says he expects a lot from collaborators and is upfront about it. When asked what he does away from a film, his answer comes back to preparing for the next one. This is a movie star who can make even a question about time off sound like a conversation about filmmaking.
GQ spoke with Cruise twice: once alongside director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and once alone. It is an unusually long conversation for an actor who has not given many interviews like this in recent years. Readers who only saw the most mocked photo have missed the other half of the cover story.
What comes next for Cruise
The interview arrives as Cruise prepares for Digger, his film with Iñárritu. In GQ, he calls the role his most challenging. The new character is a long way from the clean-cut action hero audiences know from Top Gun and Mission: Impossible, which makes this unusual cover feel especially timely.
The photos are worth seeing beyond the jokes
You can find a particular pose ridiculous, like a different image and still appreciate the interview. The shoot has provoked all three reactions. What is clear is that Cruise has people talking about a magazine cover in the same way they talk about one of his movies: arguing over what he is trying to do next.
