Who needs the Oscars when you’ve got friends – and cake? Tom Cruise was all smiles while celebrating Sir Michael Caine turning 90 on Tuesday (Mar. 14). Tom, 60, joined the Italian Job actor at London’s River Cafe for a star-studded dinner in Michael’s honor. British comedian David Walliams shared photos from inside the intimate affair, including a few snaps of Tom with his arm around Michael’s shoulder. One of the pictures included Tom laughing while Michael looked at his birthday cake. Afterward, the Eyes Wide Shut star had an open-mouth grin as he departed the River Cafe, seemingly in a great mood after a night of food and friendship.
Tom and Michael have known each other since the 1980s since they starred in Cocktail together. The party’s guest list included Mission: Impossible writer Chris McQuarrie and Michael’s wife, Shakira Caine. All that was missing was Quincy Jones, who also turned 90 on Tuesday. Michael and the legendary producer forged a bond while working together in 1969 on The Italian Job when they realized they were both born on the same day, same year, and same hour. Both men arrived just minutes apart from each other.
“When it is real, you don’t have to try to maintain anything…it just happens,” Jones told CBS about the friendship in 2013. “I hear his name, I see his movies, I get a call from him, it always touches me from the bottom of my soul.”
Tom Cruise’s name was on everyone’s lips during the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday. The show’s host, Jimmy Kimmel, kicked off his opening monologue with a skit featuring him being ejected out of Tom’s plane in Tom Cruise: Maverick but seemed irked that Tom skipped out. “You know, Tom and James Cameron didn’t show up tonight. The two guys who insisted we go to the theatre, didn’t go to the theatre,” joked Jimmy.
Kimmel also joked about Tom’s involvement in L. Ron Hubbard’s Church of Scientology, saying, “Everyone loved Top Gun – everybody. I mean, Tom Cruise with his shirt off in that beach football scene. L. Ron hubba-hubba – you know what I’m saying?” Kimmel’s wife (and Jimmy Kimmel Live! executive producer), Molly McNearney, told Variety they would have cut the Scientology joke had Tom attended. “We had about a three-minute chunk of the monologue dedicated to Tom Cruise, honoring him and his role in reviving the movie industry,” she said. “We were so disappointed when we learned a few days before the Oscars that he wouldn’t be there. Jimmy loves him and really wanted to celebrate him.”
Top Gun: Maverick was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture, at the Oscars (it won one award for Best Sound). Though some reports claimed Tom skipped out on the ceremony to avoid a run-in with his ex, Nicole Kidman, Tom’s rep told PEOPLE that he wouldn’t attend because he’s busy filming Mission: Impossible 8 overseas.