Jennifer Connelly Says Her Top Gun: Maverick Costar Tom Cruise 'Absolutely Deserves' an Oscar Nomination

Jennifer Connelly wants Tom Cruise to be recognized by the Academy Awards. In a new interview with Variety at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday,

Connelly, 52, called 60-year-old Cruise's performance as Peter "Maverick" Mitchell in the Joseph Kosinski-directed sequel to 1986's Top Gun "extraordinary." "He does an

amazing job in the movie. He's extraordinary as a person and fantastic as an actor, and I think that he is just perfect," Connelly, who plays Penny in Top Gun: Maverick, told the

outlet. "He embodies that character so beautifully, and I think he absolutely deserves it." "I think that the film is a really well made film and it's really hard to make a

film like that," the actress continued, speaking to Cruise's efforts on the film. "Also, thinking about Tom's work, think of the things that he did for that role. Besides

all the stuff on the ground and how wonderful he is in those scenes and creating those relationships… I think the relationship he has with Miles [Teller]'s character is so

beautiful and moving." RELATED: Top Gun: Maverick Named Best Film of 2022 by National Board of Review "But the work that he did to accomplish those flying

sequences, it's something else," she added of Cruise's penchant for wild stunts, which included him and other cast members actually flying in the backseat of real F-18s for the

movie. Nominations for the Academy Awards are to be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 24. While Cruise did receive a best actor nomination for the movie at the Critics Choice

Awards, he lost out to The Whale's Brendan Fraser.