The marriage of convenience that joins actor Tom Cruise with NVR’s chief executive Dwight Schar forms an alliance that’s odd even by Hollywood’s standards.
After failing to renew its 14-year-long relationship with Paramount Pictures, Cruise’s production company, Cruise/Wagner, signed a two-year pact with First and Goal, an investment group comprised of Dan Snyder, who owns the Washington Redskins; Schar, a longtime friend of Snyder’s; and Mark Shapiro, CEO of theme park operator Six Flags, whose majority shareholders are Snyder and Schar. First and Goal will provide about $2.5 million annually to Cruise/Wagner for overhead and development, according to the Hollywood Reporter, and has an option to extend the deal.
Snyder reportedly wants to expand his empire into film production. And Cruise remains one of the industry’s most bankable commodities. But that’s where the similarities diverge. Cruise is a publicity magnet, whereas Schar (and NVR) seem allergic to the press. Cruise and Paula Wagner, his producing partner, are prominent Democrats, while Schar and Snyder, according to FoxNews, support President Bush and have donated cash to Republicans around the country.
Then again, Schar and Cruise might find common ground in their mutual friendship with bond trader Joe Feshbach and his daughter Jessica, reportedly major financial supporters of the Church of Scientology, whose most visible acolyte is Cruise himself.
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