THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PEOPLE
WEDNESDAY. JUNE 22, 2005
Fake reporter pranks Tom Cruise
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — The London premiere of Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" turned into a war of words after Tom Cruise was squirted in the face by a man posing as a reporter.
The 42-year-old actor was in central London's Leicester Square doing press interviews June 19 when a man squirted Cruise with a water pistol disguised as a microphone, London's Metropolitan Police said.
but then asked the prankster: "Why would you do that?"
As the man gave a barely audible excuse, Cruise said: "Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?" The prankster tried to walk away but Cruise reached across the metal barrier, held his arm and said: "Don't run away. That's incredibly rude. I'm here giving you an interview and you do that ... it's incredibly rude."
berg denies that media attention on Cruise and Katie Holmes forced a change in the publicity campaign for "War of the Worlds."
Police released the men on bail several hours later and ordered them to return to a central London police station June 20.
The actor grew increasingly irritated and told the man: "You're a jerk."
Police detained the man who squirted Cruise and also arrested three other men who filmed the incident. The four were working on a new comedy show for British TV station Channel 4 in which celebrities are the targets of practical jokes.
In an interview with Newsweek magazine, on newsstands June 20, Spiel-
"People say, 'Oh, you didn't put Tom on the poster because of what happened. No. The poster was designed in January ... and my decision with all my films has been to use iconography on the posters," Spielberg says. "Tom was fine with that. It's the first time Tom has not been on a poster in his career, by the way."
DiCaprio hit with bottle
Eric Risberg/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
People.com reported that a woman struck DiCaprio with what appeared to be a beer bottle at a party at about 4 a.m. June 17 at the home of Paris Hilton's ex-boyfriend. DiCaprio needed about a dozen stitches to close a wound near his ear.