Earlier this year, it was reported that Tom Cruise was in negotiations with Elon Musk and NASA to shoot his next film in space – a film which apparently will not be the next Mission: Impossible instalment. As per the 2021 space travel schedule announced via Space Shuttle Almanac, this unprecedented Hollywood stunt has been confirmed for October next year.
Wandering eyes noticed the timeline indicated a SpaceX Crew Dragon Axiom tourist flight set to be piloted by Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, joined by “Tourist 1” – Tom Cruise – and “Tourist 2” – longtime collaborator/director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow, American Made). Currently, there’s also a vacant seat for “Tourist 3”. Insert speculation here.
After a pitch to Universal Studios, Liman is reportedly in the process of writing the project’s script, working with an estimated total budget of US$200 million. Fellow longtime Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation & Fallout, Edge of Tomorrow, Top Gun: Maverick) will serve as the film’s story advisor and producer. Apart from that, not much else is known at present.
As we’ve previously mentioned, this isn’t the first time Tom Cruise has considered going to space for a production. Back in 2000 – around the same time as Mission: Impossible II’s release – James Cameron approached him for a space-oriented endeavour. An endeavour which obviously didn’t end up becoming anything.
“I had a contract with the Russians to go to the International Space Station and shoot a high-end 3D documentary there,” says Cameron.
“And I thought, ‘Shit man, we should just make a feature. I said, ‘Tom – you and I – we’ll get two seats on the Soyuz, but somebody’s gotta train us as engineers.’ Tom said, ‘No problem, I’ll train as an engineer.’ We had some ideas for the story, but it was still conceptual.”
It seems that now, a concept will become reality. Who knows, maybe he’ll even run into Vin Diesel and the Fast & Furious crew there. What a bloody interesting year this has been…
