Tom Cruise in gradually unveiling Kaffee's potential in the film. During Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman, the couple endured a great deal of public speculation about their sex life and rumors that Cruise was gay. In 1998, he successfully sued the "Daily Express", a British tabloid which alleged that his marriage to Kidman was a sham designed to cover up his homosexuality. In May 2001, he filed a lawsuit against gay porn actor Chad Slater. Slater had allegedly told the celebrity magazine "Actustar" that he had been involved in an affair with Cruise. This claim was strongly denied by Cruise, and in
Tom Cruise Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions in 1993, and the company has since co-produced several of Cruise's films, the first being "" in 1996 which was also Cruise's first project as a producer. Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative film deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as "one of the most powerful – and richest – forces in Hollywood." Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are regarded as able to guarantee the