Tom Cruise won the Best Performance in a Movie award at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards on 7 March, but it was his acceptance speech from a fighter aircraft that was the highlight of the night.

The 60-year-old was awarded for his performance in the 2022 Hollywood blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to Cruise’s 1986 film Top Gun. In the film, Cruise plays the role of US Navy fighter pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell.

Cruise was nominated alongside Oscar-nominee Austin Butler for Elvis, Michael B. Jordan for Creed III, Keke Palmer for Nope and Florence Pugh for Don’t Worry Darling.

Tom Cruise in a fighter aircraft

“I make these films for you”

In a clip that was aired at the ceremony, Cruise is seen holding the golden popcorn trophy that is given to the winners inside the cockpit of the vintage P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft.

“Thank you so much for this award,” he said into the headset, while being recorded from another aircraft.

“I make these films for you. I love you. I love entertaining you. To know how much you enjoy it, how much you appreciate it, there’s just no better feeling,” he added.

Cruise, who is known for doing death-defying stunts in his action films, also talked about his upcoming movie Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. He invited audiences to come to the theatres to watch the “wild ride” upon its release on 12 July.

“You have a wonderful summer. Thank you again for letting me entertain you. It’s an absolute privilege. We’ll see you at the movies,” he said before flying away from the aircraft recording him.

Other winners at 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards

The 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards was scheduled to take place as a live event at the Barker Hangar in Los Angeles, California. But the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike led to a change in the format as host Drew Barrymore decided to back out in solidarity with the writers.

Thus, pre-recorded speeches of the winners were shown. Among them was Pedro Pascal, who won Best Hero award for the series The Last of Us — which itself won the Best Show award among other honours.

Scream VI was the winner of Best Movie award beating out other nominees Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Elvis, Nope, Smile and Top Gun: Maverick.

Oscar-winning song “Naatu Naatu” from India’s Telugu-language film RRR was in the running for Best Musical Moment award with 15 other nominees. The award went to Sofia Carson’s “Come Back Home” from the Netflix film Purple Hearts.

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(Hero and Featured images: Movie & TV Awards/@MTVAwards/Twitter)