Cuba Gooding Jr. has brought his comeback tour to Cannes.
The Oscar winner reunited with his “Jerry Maguire” co-star Tom Cruise at the latter’s “Mission Impossible” premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday. A source described their red carpet meet-up as “wonderful,” and the duo appeared chummy while posing for photos together.
Gooding has been climbing his way back into Hollywood after scandals derailed his career and A-list status in recent years.
In 2020, Gooding settled a lawsuit with a woman who accused him of rape, and in 2022 he was accused of forcibly touching a woman in a Times Square, and later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of harassment in that case.
We hear he’s in Cannes trying to sell two new films, “Quantum Supremacy” and “Line of Fire.” He’ll also be picking up awards of his own, one at the 10th Annual Cannes Fashion & Film Awards Dinner and another at the iSuccess gala.
The “Boyz n the Hood” actor brought longtime girlfriend Claudine DeNiro as his date to the festival. The duo have been keeping a relatively low profile as of late, with him trading in boozy karaoke parties for Jesus. He premiered his Christianity-based flick, “The Firing Squad,” co-starring Kevin Sorbo and James Barrington, in which he sings “Amazing Grace.”
Sources told Page Six at the time that Gooding was trying to put his sexual assault accusations behind him to focus on work and his movie star comeback. In an interview with “Extra,” he opened up about how his Christian faith got him through the dark times.
“It’s one of those things where, I know that I’m here for a reason, and I know that and as long as I do what I do, and I’m good at what I do, and I’m passionate about what I do, God’s will will be done,” he said.
