Tom is leaving his fan club in Taranaki
Tom Cruise will be backing out the Lear jet today and heading home, leaving behind a rather large fan club – pretty much the entire population of Taranaki.
After 17 weeks filming The Last Samurai in and around New Plymouth the actor has won the people over and helped inject millions of dollars into the local economy. New Plymouth Mayor Peter Tennent has vowed to organise a parade for the movie premiere in January.

Cruise, the highest paid actor in Hollywood, has made an impact with small but significant gestures – finding a little girl’s horse, stopping to help a family change their tyre. He donated $1500 to an anti-drugs group and $7000 to a school.
New Plymouth bar manager Mark Louis said about 35 per cent of his weekend custom had been Samurai cast and crew. “They were great people, a real pleasure to serve. We are really going to miss them.

Also, Tons of new pictures of the location of The Last Samurai.
Speaking of The Last Samurai, it’s getting some nice oscar buzz. Read here and Here and one more

And I really hope that none of you are forgetting to VOTE!! for Minority Report as the “best action sequence” for the MTV movie awards.

And lastly, here is a new picture of Tom and Penelope in NZ from Hola Magazine. It also appears in People Magazine, so I will try to scan the larger size.