Ana de Armas reportedly ‘sees Tom Cruise as a dear friend, mentor’

Ana de Armas calls Tom Cruise a dear friend and mentor, denying dating rumors. She champions original female-led action films over gender-swapped roles, promoting *Ballerina* at CinemaCon, and reflects on her standout Bond role as Paloma in 'No Time to Die'

Los Angeles: Actress Ana de Armas considers superstar Tom Cruise, with whom she has been romantically linked, a ‘dear friend and mentor.’

A source told people.com: “She’s single, though, and has been for a while. She stays in touch with Tom and they still have an upcoming movie project that she’s looking forward to.” Armas, who previously dated movie star Ben Affleck, “very much enjoys spending time” with Cruise.

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However, they’re nothing more than friends for the time being, according to the insider, reports femalefirst.co.uk. The duo were actually spotted together in Vermont back in July, but they never publicly confirmed that they were dating.

In April, Armas dismissed the idea of gender-swapping of iconic characters and was not in favour of gender-swapping in legacy titles like ‘James Bond.’ The actress feels there should be more films like her forthcoming bare-knuckle action project ‘Ballerina,’ rather than tinkering with gender-swapping legacy characters like James Bond, reports ‘Variety.’

The actress is on the ground at CinemaCon, promoting her ‘John Wick’ spinoff from Lionsgate, where she had a discourse prompted this week by actor Helen Mirren. As per Variety, the dame and screen legend recently told the UK’s Guardian that she “never liked the way women were in James Bond,” and that the concept around the billion-dollar spy franchise “is drenched and born out of profound sexism.”

Armas made a triumphant debut in the 2021 Bond film ‘No Time to Die,’ where her character Paloma was praised for breaking with Bond Girl tradition. The character not only got the movie’s biggest laughs, she held her own in gun and hand combat alongside Daniel Craig, saving his Tom Ford-suited ass in their scenes together. “Why don’t we have more movies about Paloma? Let James be James and John Wick be John Wick.” “We’ll do our thing,” the actress said during an appearance at The John Wick Experience, a multi-room immersive pop-up, where fans can check into the notorious Continental Hotel featured in the Keanu Reeves films.

She shared, “When you get a woman fighting, you’ll be surprised by the things she can pull off.”