Cruise’s Aberdeen visit likely to be sans stunts

ABERDEEN, Wash. – Tom Cruise’s visit to this timber town of less than 17,000 people in Western Washington will focus on the fans, the press and contest winner Kevin McCoy, a Paramount Pictures spokeswoman said.

Depending on the size of his jet and his entourage, Tom Cruise will fly into either Bowerman Field in Hoquiam or one of several airports near Olympia on Tuesday, said the Paramount spokeswoman, who asked that the Aberdeen Daily World not publish her name to protect her sanity.

She quashed rumors that Cruise would fly to Aberdeen in a chopper and shimmy down a rope to his adoring fans. He’s tentatively scheduled to arrive at SouthShore Mall in South Aberdeen around 6 p.m. He’ll probably spend about 45 minutes on the red carpet leading to the theater entrance, schmoozing with fans.

“He’s here to greet the fans and meet Kevin,” said the spokeswoman Saturday. “It’s all about the fans. We encourage everyone to come down. This is your chance to meet Tom Cruise.”

McCoy and around 150 friends and family members will walk down the red carpet on their way to enjoy a private screening of “Mission: Impossible III.” The show is tentatively scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

A few weeks ago, McCoy entered an e-mail contest sponsored by Paramount Pictures and Yahoo. He was randomly selected after answering five questions about Cruise.

The theater will be closed to everyone but McCoy’s guests and, of course, Cruise. It’s unclear if the actor will actually stay for the movie, which he has watched at least five times in the last few weeks during premieres in London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome.

“He probably needs to get home to his brand new child and girlfriend,” said mall General Manager Nina Morean.

She is hoping thousands of fans fill the parking lot. Radio stations from Seattle and Portland are busing people in.

“We have certainly never planned for welcoming a world-famous person to our property, so that will be a first,” she said. “There aren’t many people in this world that trump an appearance by Tom Cruise.”

Morean doesn’t know if she’ll get to meet the actor.

“A lot of people think that might be a possibility, but I have no idea,” she said. “This is an event scheduled by Paramount and they are in charge of what and who he gets to visit with. I would certainly love the opportunity, but it’s a call by Paramount.”