In front of hundreds of agents, publicists, and reporters on Tuesday, Tom Cruise did his best Sumner Redstone. It was on film, to be sure, in the black-facey fake-turned-real war movie Tropic Thunder, which was being screened by Paramount for Tinsletown's most important. (Photos of Cruise in a fat suit surfaced in November, but when Cruise's attorneys complained to agency INF, the images were pulled from distribution.)

After the Paramount boss axed Cruise in 2006 after his couch-jumping and ranting stunts, and the twosome's more recent, and widely reported, sharing of a meal, this send up is either A) an excellent, self-deprecating way to get the duo back on good terms; B) an excellent way to drum up viral support for the movie.