Universal Filmed Entertainment Group Chairman Donna Langley has stated that the company is working on launch Tom Cruise into space to film a movie. The actor would only shoot part of the film while weightless aboard the International Space Station. The project is still in the early stages of development and no release date or launch date has been announced yet, although it is said to reunite Cruise with Doug Liman, who previously directed the Oscar nominee in 2014. Edge of tomorrow and 2017 American made.
Cruise is a certified skydiver, helicopter pilot and world-acclaimed daredevil. Cruise is known for using no stuntman or CGI alternatives and capturing the high-flying action herself. He famously tied himself to the side of a plane soaring for a scene Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation and drove fighter jets while filming Top Gun: Maverick. But breaking Earth’s gravity and filming in space would be a first for Cruise, 60. The space-based project is tentatively in partnership with Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company SpaceX, which has piloted several manned missions to the International Space Station.
In a taped interview with BBCLangley explained that most of Tom Cruise’s untitled space movie is set on Earth, but Cruise’s character aboard the International Space Station is needed for some late-stage heroism. The concept was first pitched in 2020 by Cruise and his Edge of tomorrow director Doug Liman, and it seems to be winning legs two years later. Read Langley’s full comments below:
“Tom Cruise is taking us to space. He’s taking the world to space. That’s the plan. We have a great project in development with Tom that is considering him doing just that. Take a rocket to the space station and shoot and hopefully be the first civilian to take a spacewalk outside the space station.”
How Tom Cruise’s Space Movie Would Change Filmmaking
Preparation, launch, detachment from the booster phases, docking, and return to Earth are all extremely high-stakes phases of any spaceflight, normally staffed by astronauts who have devoted their lives to planetary science. But space tourism is becoming more accessible as rockets are streamlined and private space companies overtake NASA as the main source of launches. Civilians have flown into space with limited capacity, including: Star Trek actor William Shatner, but Cruise would be the first to film a Hollywood movie in space. Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine expressed his approval for the film’s concept and believes a Tom Cruise-led space movie shot in space would inspire the next generation of engineers and scientific minds.
While the film, if actually shot in space, would be a huge achievement for Hollywood, Tom Cruise himself, and NASA, it wouldn’t be the first feature film to be filmed in space. In 2021, two Russian actors were launched on board to the International Space Station and shot a movie there about a surgeon who must operate on his fellow cosmonaut before returning to Earth. The Russian movie called The challenge, completed filming his slice in space in just 12 days, but a typical stay aboard the International Space Station actually lasts about six months. It’s unclear if there would be a return flight planned especially for Cruise or if he would live among the astronauts for a few months, but Langley’s update makes it clear that the film is moving forward to some degree in the near future.
Source: BBC
