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Perhaps the only person who's been more suspiciously silent than Tom Cruise himself in the wake of the once-cherished Viacom son being left to die of exposure at the base of Mt. Paramount by displeased corporate parent Sumner Redstone is Brad Grey, the studio head who might be expected to have a say on such crucial talent decisions. It seems that Grey quickly tired of instructing his assistant to tell any quote-hungry reporters that he was unavailable for comment due to a weeklong sensory deprivation tank retreat, as the Paramount boss finally offered up a soundbite on the Cruise controversy:

"The reason we made Mission is that Tom is clearly the most profitable and substantial movie star in the world. We made $118 (million) worldwide. I don't know, but where I come from, that is a lot of money. If Tom Cruise is doing a picture, I want to talk about it. I would absolutely make a fourth Mission."

Oops, silly us. That's the vote-of-confidence Grey provided following M:i:III's underwhelming opening weekend, assuring the world that the "most profitable and substantial movie star" in the Paramount stable had a secure future at their studio. We hope the events of the last couple of days don't imperil Grey's M:i:IV pet project.

Amusing strolls down Ironic Soundbite Lane aside, Grey did finally stick up for himself, telling Patrick Goldstein of the LAT that the clusterfucky way his operation seems to be run is the secret sauce of Paramount's success:

Grey says too much attention has focused on style over content. "My feeling is — look at the movies, look at the decisions we're making," he told me Thursday. "We should be defined by our pictures, not by our process. There hasn't been a picture that we've put out that hasn't been profitable."

As for criticism from CAA, he said, "Tom's representatives are entitled to be emotional, but we're doing business with CAA today and tomorrow and expect to for many years to come."

Grey's rebuttal to CAA does calmly acknowledge the inherent fucking-or-fighting tension between studios and agents, but given the emotions on both sides, he probably could've gotten away with something in a more defiant, "I don't go down to Wilshire Boulevard and slap the delicious babies out of their mouths, so they shouldn't tell me how to do my job" vein without doing any long-term damage to their beautiful, mutually exploitative relationship.