Mike Fleming

BREAKING: The Film Society Of Lincoln Center has postponed tonight’s fundraiser revolving around a premiere screening of Jack Reacher, which would have featured its cast including Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie in attendance. This is being done out of deference to the massacre that took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that took the lives of 27, the majority of them small children. This follows a Paramount decision to push last weekend’s premiere scheduled to be held in Pittsburgh, PA, an event that will take this Wednesday.

I’m told that the postponement was undertaken with the feeling it is inappropriate to hold a celebration while the country is in mourning, and not because of the film’s violent subject matter. Cruise’s title character is an ex-military cop who investigates what seems like an indiscriminate shooting by a sniper who guns down five people in a public place. The film is based on Lee Child’s One Shot, written in 2006, but recent events make the timing incredibly awkward. Paramount supported the decision made this afternoon by Lincoln Center brass.

“We support Lincoln Center and their decision to postpone their fundraiser this evening,” Paramount said in a statement. “On Wednesday, Tom Cruise will be traveling to Pittsburgh to screen the film for fans in the city that so graciously hosted the production of the film. There will be no red carpet during this time and mourning. The filmmakers and Tom Cruise convey their heartfelt sadness and their deep condolences to the families during this time.”