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Tom Cruise plans to film a movie in space — and could be the first civilian to do a spacewalk

By Li Cohen

October 11, 2022 / 11:57 AM EDT / CBS News

Tom Cruise's next mission could make history. If the plans for an upcoming film come through, he would fly to space to film the moment where he helps save the planet. 

Donna Langley, chairman of Universal Film Entertainment Group, told the BBC in an interview last week that the 60-year-old "Mission Impossible" and "Top Gun" actor will be "taking the world to space." 

"That's the plan. We have a great project in development with Tom that does contemplate him doing just that," she said, "taking a rocket up to the space station and shooting and hopefully being the first civilian to do a spacewalk outside of the space station." 

She said the film request came from Cruise directly and that he is in close collaboration with director Doug Liman, who previously worked with Cruise in 2014's "Edge of Tomorrow" and is also known for "The Bourne Identity" franchise, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "Jumper." 

"During the pandemic, he asked for a Zoom call with us and got onto the call and said, 'Guys, I have this great project and here it is,'" Langley recalled in the interview. 

The title and details of the film have not been announced, but Langley said the majority of the story will take place on Earth before Cruise's character "needs to go up to space to save the day." 

The project was first confirmed in 2020 by NASA's then-director Jim Bridenstine. Deadline reported at that time that Elon Musk's SpaceX was also going to collaborate on the film. 

Space Entertainment Enterprise announced in January this year that it would work with Axiom Space to build a content and entertainment studio and "multi-purpose arena" space station module. The venture, called SEE-1, is planned to launch in late 2024 and would be connected to the Axiom Station, a commercial module planned for the International Space Station. 

Last year, Russian actress Julia Peresild and filmmaker Klim Shipenko  spent 12 days aboard the International Space Station working on the first feature film shot in space , with Peresild playing s a doctor making an emergency house call in orbit.

• International Space Station

Li Cohen is a senior social media producer at CBS News. She previously wrote for amNewYork and The Seminole Tribune. She mainly covers climate, environmental and weather news.

More from CBS News

Everything to Know About Tom Cruise’s New Movie Set in Actual Space

CGI won’t be necessary when it comes to Tom Cruise’s newest project. The actor has fought aliens in robot suits, traveled to the depths of the galaxy, and has flown numerous types of planes and jets, all with the help of movie magic. But when it comes to the space walk he’s set to take for his new film with director Doug Liman, the plan is this time for it to be the real deal.

Universal Pictures is backing Cruise and Liman’s new movie, which plans to film at least some scene in actual space. Donna Langley, the chairman of Universal told the BBC that the hope is for Cruise to head up in a rocket to the International Space Station and from there, to be “the first civilian to do a spacewalk outside of the space station.”

To help with that goal, Liman and Universal have enlisted both SpaceX and NASA. Liman also reportedly has a budget of around $200 million, according to Variety . Cruise, apparently, is said to be getting anywhere from $30 to $60 million for his role as the star and producer of the film.

Cruise and Liman originally pitched the film, which doesn’t yet have a name, to Langley during the pandemic over Zoom. Langley clarified that the majority of the movie will actually take place on earth. Cruise will play “a down-on-his-luck guy who finds himself in the position of being the only person who could save Earth” and he will eventually have to “go up to space to save the day.” As of now, there isn’t much more information on the plot of the movie, or the timeline for its filming.

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

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Tom Cruise Is Making a Movie in Space With SpaceX and NASA

Greetings, earthlings. Welcome to another edition of The Monitor , WIRED’s entertainment news roundup. This time around we have news about a Labyrinth sequel (nearly 35 years later, but we’ll take it), a new pandemic-ready movie that was shot on an iPhone, and Tom Cruise's plans to film in space. Here, let us explain.

As you might recall, a few weeks ago we told you about some rumors flying around Hollywood suggesting that Tom Cruise wanted to shoot a movie in space with the help of NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX . Turns out, there was something to them after all. Per a report on Deadline , director Doug Liman, who directed Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow , is on board to helm a new action film that will enlist the help of NASA and SpaceX for at least some of the filming.

Little is known about the plot, but Deadline’s report notes that Liman wrote the first draft of the script and Cruise is a producer on the film. Given the current pandemic and the training Cruise and others will likely have to go through, there’s no telling exactly when the film could start production, but it looks like this one might actually happen. Let’s see if we can get #SendTomCruiseToSpace trending.

Speaking of surprising news, Labyrinth is getting a sequel. Deadline is reporting that Scott Derrickson will direct the follow-up to the 1986 Jim Henson classic. The movie, which has the backing of the Jim Henson Company, will be written by Maggie Levin, who wrote and directed the “My Valentine” installment of Hulu’s Into the Dark . Derrickson recently stepped away from the sequel to his Marvel film Doctor Strange over creative differences.

If there’s one movie that encompasses Right Now, it might be IWeirDo . The rom-com and debut feature from Taiwan’s Liao Ming-Yi was filmed entirely using an iPhone XS and features two soulmates—a girl who is a germophobe and a guy who is almost constantly washing his hands. Oh, also you’ll be able to watch its premiere online due to the coronavirus . The film is opening the Far East Film Festival , which typically takes place in Udine, Italy, but this year is happening online as that country continues to deal with Covid-19. The festival will take place June 26 to July 4, and IWeirDo will premiere on Italian site MyMovies .

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Tom Cruise and NASA are officially shooting a movie in space

For his next stunt, Tom Cruise is heading to space.

On Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the organization is collaborating with Tom Cruise on a movie filmed aboard the space station.

"NASA is excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality," he tweeted.

This follows Deadline's reporting on Monday that Cruise, Elon Musk's SpaceX, and NASA are working on the first narrative feature film to be shot in space. It's not part of the Mission: Impossible franchise and no studio has been attached at this time, according to the report.

Given that Cruise has executed endless stunts and sustained numerous injuries throughout his career, it makes sense his next adventure would even more thrilling than the last. However, it's not yet clear what role he'll be playing in the production. EW has reached out to representatives for NASA, Cruise, and SpaceX for further comment.

In February, Cruise's latest Mission Impossible movie became one of the first to halt production due to COVID-19. Mission: Impossible 7 was filming in Italy, the epicenter for the coronavirus outside of Asia.

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Tom Cruise to Film a Movie in Space, NASA and Elon Musk Confirm: 'Should Be a Lot of Fun!'

Tom Cruise partnered up with NASA and SpaceX founder Elon Musk to take his next movie to the International Space Station

Looks like Tom Cruise is getting his wish.

Days after a report claimed the actor was looking to take his next movie to space, NASA director Jim Bridenstine confirmed the exciting news on Twitter. Cruise will film on the International Space Station and the movie will also be aided by SpaceX founder Elon Musk .

"NASA is excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality," he tweeted alongside a picture of the International Space Station.

"Should be a lot of fun!" Musk replied in a tweet.

According to Deadline , the movie is set to be an action adventure, but the outlet reports it will not be the next installment in Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise.

Cruise, 57, is known for his boundary-pushing stunts in his action movies, which he often does himself. The last Mission: Impossible movie, 2018's Fallout , even had to take a break from filming after Cruise broke his ankle while jumping from one rooftop to another.

WATCH: Tom Cruise Opens Up About Recovering From His 'Mission: Impossible' Ankle Injury and How He Spent His Down Time

Musk, 48, is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, the aerospace company that has taken over much of NASA's work and is set to send its first manned mission into space in May 27. It will be the first time astronauts fly to the International Space Station from U.S. soil since 2011, when NASA ended its Space Shuttle Program.

SpaceX is the first company to develop a new spacecraft for manned missions since 1981. The company was originally founded in 2002 with Musk's goal of eventually colonizing Mars. Musk has since gone on to found other companies like Tesla, the leading manufacturer of electric cars.

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UK company behind Tom Cruise space film unveils plans to launch space movie studio

Introducing see-1, reportedly coming in 2024.

By Loren Grush

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On Thursday, a UK-based company that claims to be producing Tom Cruise’s upcoming film in space said it plans to attach the first-ever space movie studio and sports arena to the International Space Station as early as 2024.

Called Space Entertainment Enterprise, or S.E.E., the company also announced it is working with commercial space station builder Axiom Space, which has its own partnership with NASA to build and attach an experimental space station to the ISS. That station is called Axiom Station, and Axiom hopes to launch its first module, called Axiom Hub 1, to the ISS by 2024. The company will then build out the space station before eventually separating it from the ISS in 2028 and making it a free-flying vehicle.

S.E.E. plans to attach its own module to the new growing space station in December of 2024

But while Axiom Station is attached to the ISS, S.E.E. plans to attach its own module to the growing space station in December of 2024. Dubbed SEE-1, the module will be available to individuals who want to film or live stream content in space, “including films, television, music, and sports events,” according to a press release announcing the news. Animated videos and images of SEE-1 on the company’s website show the module as a giant white sphere, though there were no available designs of what the interior will look like.

Though the module will belong to S.E.E., it is being built by Axiom Space. According to the S.E.E. press release, it will be an inflatable module that will stretch up to 6 meters, or nearly 20 feet, in diameter. S.E.E. says that it will allow third parties to also use the studio for their own projects. No costs or estimated budgets were provided for the project, nor did S.E.E. detail how much it would charge others to use the studio.

“Adding a dedicated entertainment venue to Axiom Station’s commercial capabilities in the form of SEE-1 will expand the station’s utility as a platform for a global user base and highlight the range of opportunities the new space economy offers,” Michael Suffredini, Axiom’s CEO, said in a statement.

S.E.E. also revealed itself to be the production company behind Tom Cruise’s mystery space movie

With today’s announcement, S.E.E. also revealed itself to be the production company behind Tom Cruise’s mystery space movie. In 2020, NASA announced that it was working with the famous actor to potentially send him to the International Space Station to film a project. The actor’s ride to space is reportedly SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which is used to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the ISS.

Later, NASA confirmed in a podcast that Axiom was going to be involved in getting Tom Cruise to orbit . While Axiom builds space stations, it has also contracted with NASA and SpaceX to buy rides on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to send private individuals to the ISS. Axiom’s first private astronaut mission on a Crew Dragon, called Axiom-1, is scheduled to take flight in March . However, there’s no set date or confirmation for Tom Cruise’s flight. As for what Cruise plans to film up in the cosmos, all that’s been reported so far is that director Doug Liman is involved and that the film will not be a Mission: Impossible movie.

S.E.E. was co-founded by producers Elena and Dmitry Lesnevsky. Their company boasts an impressive list of consultants of former Viacom and HBO executives. The company says it’s currently looking for investors on the Tom Cruise space project, which Deadline reported in 2020 would have a budget of at least $200 million.

However, it’s possible the budget could be even higher, given how much going to space costs. Just one seat on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is thought to run around $55 million , plus NASA charges additional fees for private astronauts using the space station’s facilities while in orbit. S.E.E. says it plans to conduct a fundraising round soon.

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As two American astronauts get set to lift off into history on the first privately built rocket ship on Saturday, Hollywood actor Tom Cruise is preparing his own launch into the record books. 

The 57-year-old action star is preparing for a feature length film to be shot on location in the International Space Station and directed by Edge of Tomorrow filmmaker Doug Liman. NASA and SpaceX will be collaborating on the venture. 

NASA is excited to work with <a href="https://twitter.com/TomCruise?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TomCruise</a> on a film aboard the <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Space_Station</a>! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASA</a>’s ambitious plans a reality. <a href="https://t.co/CaPwfXtfUv">pic.twitter.com/CaPwfXtfUv</a> &mdash; @JimBridenstine

For an actor known for performing his own stunts, space represents the final frontier of Cruise's career, said film critic Jason Gorber.

"His entire brand is for him as an action hero to bring us along for the journey," he said. "We need to see him struggling. We need to see him running with his hands pointed."

Indeed, as Cruise has gotten older he's focused less on the acting feats that brought him to Hollywood's attention and more on daring widescreen stunts.  

For Mission: Impossible -  Rogue Nation Cruise hung off the side of an Airbus cargo plane as it lumbered into the sky. In his most recent film, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Cruise broke an ankle while filming a rooftop chase scene. In the footage, Cruise can be seen hitting the side of the building, pulling himself up and hobbling forward to finish the shot . 

In a world where computer graphics make such self-sacrifice unnecessary, Gorber said we crave reality even more.

He said the actor's approach is, "'I'm going to put myself in danger for your entertainment,' and we get a visceral thrill from that." 

Boldly filming in zero-G

Up until now, the closest Hollywood has come to portraying the effects of space would be the 1995 film Apollo 13 . For the movie starring Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon, director Ron Howard shot scenes of zero gravity by filming short excerpts in NASA's KC-135 aircraft. By flying in a parabolic arc, the Boeing jet creates the feeling of weightlessness 25 seconds at time. In the end the cast and crew of Apollo 13 logged 612 zero-G flights .

WATCH | Bill Paxton, Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon try a test flight aboard the "vomit comet":

While shooting in space seems the apogee of Cruise's ambitions, it's also a sign of an increasing level of openness from NASA itself. In recent years there's been a new wave of films about space exploration made with administration's co-operation, such as  The Martian , the Apollo 11 documentary and the Ryan Gosling film First Man .

In 2017 alone, NASA was involved in a record 143 documentaries, 25 feature films and 41 TV programs according to NASA's  Houston We Have a Podcast . Now with new missions to Mars and the moon in the works, NASA is actively looking for ways to capture the public's attention. 

Where space itself is the special effect

While putting a movie star in orbit may help NASA, it also fits the current trajectory of big budget blockbusters. As smaller films move to streaming services, the big screen has become the realm of so-called "event" films, the kind of movies that simply have to be seen in a theatre. 

"We live in strange times where the entire theatrical experience is undergoing enormous stress," Gorber said. "But one thing that brings people in is spectacle. What better spectacle would there be than Tom Cruise floating in the International Space Station?"

According to reports, there's already a first draft of a screenplay for the space film, but no major studio attached. Even if Cruise finds the financing and books a seat on a SpaceX flight, making a movie in space will be an entirely different kind of mission, said video game entrepreneur Richard Garriott. 

He would know. Garriott paid millions to spend 12 days on the ISS, where he created his own short film, The Apogee of Fear . 

First there's the environment. Garriott points out space stations are filled with buzzing and humming equipment built to keep humans alive. "Quiet on the set" does not apply. 

Then there's the issue of orbital dynamics. While working with the astronauts who appeared in his film, Garriott quickly learned the futility of blocking out a scene. 

"If you decide you want to move a foot to the left, you start moving to the left and you keep going to the left because of Newton's laws and mechanics," he said. "Setting up and completing shots is considerably more difficult in zero gravity."

WATCH | Apogee of Fear, the first narrative film shot in space: 

But as a son of a NASA astronaut and artist, Garriott is excited about the opportunities. He said private companies such as SpaceX have already dropped the cost of access space tenfold. "As the flight frequency becomes greater it also becomes safer and cheaper. so people can start looking to space to live, work and even create art."

While the idea of escaping the bonds of Earth to sell popcorn might sully the grander mission for some, self-professed space geek Gorber isn't bothered.

"We have always lived vicariously through the adventures of others," he said. "So to have Cruise go up, he's not only doing it for our entertainment, but he's doing it for us, in a true sort of sense."

With both Cruise and director Liman currently committed to other projects, it will be years before the project gets off the ground. 

In the meantime, as one of few private citizens who's experienced the awe and isolation of circling 400 kilometres above the Earth, Garriott hopes the eventual film will show viewers the challenges and pleasures of the experience, "And therefore increase their own aspirations to explore."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Senior entertainment reporter

Eli Glasner is the senior entertainment reporter and screentime columnist for CBC News. Covering culture has taken him from the northern tip of Moosonee Ontario to the Oscars and beyond.  You can reach him at [email protected].

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With files from Zulekha Nathoo

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NASA confirms Tom Cruise will make movie aboard International Space Station

And SpaceX head Elon Musk seems on board with the idea too. "Should be a lot of fun!"

• Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.

Tom Cruise has faced off against aliens in 2005's War of the Worlds, but he's never made a movie in space.

Get ready for a film concept that's out of this world. Actor Tom Cruise and Elon Musk's SpaceX are working with NASA to shoot an action film in outer space. Representatives for Cruise and SpaceX didn't immediately respond to requests for comment, but NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed the news Tuesday in a tweet.

"NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the space station!" he wrote. "We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA ambitious plans a reality."

NASA is excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station ! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA ’s ambitious plans a reality. pic.twitter.com/CaPwfXtfUv — Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 5, 2020

While NASA didn't share more details,  Deadline broke the news Monday in what seems like an article straight out of parody newspaper The Onion: "It's not a Mission: Impossible film and no studio is in the mix at this stage." The movie would be the first narrative feature film shot in outer space, and while details are sketchy, the report says it would be filmed in "Musk's spaceship."

Musk himself, who was a little busy this week welcoming a new son with singer Grimes , later tweeted a response to the NASA tweet, saying only, "Should be a lot of fun!"

Should be a lot of fun! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2020

Neither NASA nor SpaceX has confirmed SpaceX's involvement in the film, and the Deadline report didn't mention the ISS. But the first ever launch of astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX spacecraft is set for May 27 . No mention was made of Cruise or when he might board a spacecraft.

Cruise is known for taking daring risks while making his films. He scaled the world's tallest building , the Burj Khalifa, for the 2011 movie Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol. And Musk isn't new to the entertainment world. He's appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, often playing himself. In 2019, Musk voiced a mutated version of himself named Elon Tusk on the Adult Swim animated show Rick and Morty.  

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Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman travel far beyond Earth to film the first ever Hollywood motion picture in outer space Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman travel far beyond Earth to film the first ever Hollywood motion picture in outer space Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman travel far beyond Earth to film the first ever Hollywood motion picture in outer space

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Film studio to be launched in space in 2024.

The SEE-1 studio module, to be attached to a new commercial space station, comes from the company co-producing Tom Cruise's upcoming space movie.

By Alex Ritman

Alex Ritman

U.K. Correspondent

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Shooting scenes in space in front of a greenscreen may soon become a thing of the past.

Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE) — the company co-producing Tom Cruise’s upcoming space movie with Doug Liman — has revealed plans to launch a TV and film studio, alongside a streaming content studio and sports arena, in space, scheduled for a late 2024 opening.

Named SEE-1, the microgravity film, TV, sport and entertainment production and broadcast module — a world first — would be fitted to the Axiom Station, a commercial space station being built by Axiom Space that would attach to the current International Space Station before orbiting on its own.

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Plans for the module include hosting film, TV, music and sports events, as well as artists, producers and creatives who want to produce content in the low-orbit microgravity environment, while also enabling the development, production, recording, broadcasting and live-streaming of content. SEE also intends to produce its own content and events in the module as well as make them available to third parties.

SEE is co-founded by Elena and Dmitry Lesnevsky, who are co-producing Cruise’s first ever Hollywood motion picture filmed in outer space. Its partners, consultants and advisors include former HBO, Endemol and Viacom execs, alongside NYC-based investment bank GH Partners. The company is currently in discussions with investors and commercial partners on the project with a further fundraising round planned shortly.

“SEE-1 is an incredible opportunity for humanity to move into a different realm and start an exciting new chapter in space,” said Dmitry and Elena Lesnevsky. “It will provide a unique, and accessible home for boundless entertainment possibilities in a venue packed with innovative infrastructure which will unleash a new world of creativity. With worldwide leader Axiom Space building this cutting-edge, revolutionary facility, SEE-1 will provide not only the first, but also the supreme quality space structure enabling the expansion of the two trillion-dollar global entertainment industry into low-Earth orbit.”

SEE-1 is scheduled to become operational in December 2024, early in Axiom Station’s on-orbit assembly. When the station’s initial configuration is completed and it is ready to separate from the ISS in 2028, the studio module is set to comprise one-fifth of its total volume.

“From Jules Verne to Star Trek , science fiction entertainment has inspired millions of people around the world to dream about what the future might bring,” said SEE’s COO Richard Johnston. “Creating a next-generation entertainment venue in space opens countless doors to create incredible new content and make these dreams a reality.”

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Have you heard he does his own stunts? —

Everything we know—and don’t—about tom cruise’s plans to film a movie in space, “axiom is working with tom cruise in the making of a movie,” jim bridenstine said this week..

Robert Z. Pearlman - Jun 18, 2020 11:30 am UTC

For some in the space community, it sounded like the rehash of an old rumor: “Tom Cruise Plots Movie To Shoot In Space…” read the headline of a Deadline Hollywood article published last month.

The “exclusive"—all three paragraphs of it—was short on details, but the mention of Cruise and space was all that was needed for other publications to want to run with the story and for social media to light up with the news.

But this was not the first time that had happened.

Four years ago, almost to the day, a British tabloid claimed that Cruise had been training for a flight on the space shuttle and could have been among the astronauts who died on board the orbiter Columbia in 2003. The Daily Star’s report of the actor’s previous “top secret mission” quickly spread across the Web until NASA stepped in and quashed the story.

Whether spurred on by that bit of “fake news” or Cruise’s track record of trying to top his own daring stunts in each of his hit action movies, another rumor began gaining traction in 2018 that the next installment in Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise would be what finally sent him off the planet. “He’s not going to space, nor does he need to go to space,” Director Christopher McQuarrie told Empire in February of this year.

So in light of that precedent, it was a bit of a surprise when the head of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, took to Twitter the day after that Deadline report to confirm the scoop: “NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the International Space Station!” he wrote.

Further Reading

Why is the idea of filming in space any different this time around? Just when the 2018 rumors about the next Mission: Impossible movie were starting to make the rounds, Cruise himself explained why the concept of an actor going into space was a problem.

“It is the mechanics of getting it there,” Cruise said in an August 2018 interview with Collider . “How do you build a sequence there, and how long can we have that sequence? Because if I went up … how do you put that into the structure of a screenplay of a ‘Mission?’

“It’s just not there yet,” he concluded.

Barely two years later, why Cruise reportedly changed his mind might have to do with the second half of Deadline’s May 4 headline: “…With Elon Musk’s SpaceX.”

In 2018, SpaceX was still two years away from launching its first crew—a feat the company finally achieved on May 30 with the flight of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station. While that launch was primarily focused on demonstrating to NASA that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule was ready to safely fly astronauts to and from Earth orbit, it also marked the beginning of a new commercial era of US human spaceflight.

“NASA doesn’t want to be the owner and operator of the hardware. We also don’t want to be the only customer,” said Bridenstine after SpaceX’s history-making launch. “We want SpaceX and others to go get customers that are not us.”

And today, Hollywood still qualifies as “not NASA.”

Seats for sale

Tasked by the White House to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA has sought to free up resources by turning over its activities in low-Earth orbit to commercial partners. To that end, in June 2019, the space agency announced it was making the space station available for commercial opportunities and “marketing these opportunities like we have never done before.”

"We're announcing the ability for private astronauts to visit the space station on US vehicles and for companies to engage in profit-making opportunities,” said NASA’s then-chief financial officer, Jeff DeWit.

Seven months later, the agency entered negotiations with Axiom Space, a space services company based in Houston, to attach at least one new module to the station as a precursor to Axiom establishing its own commercial outpost. Led by Michael Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager from 2005 to 2015, Axiom is targeting 2024 to begin launching its “Axiom Segment.”

Before then, the company plans to begin launching customers for short stays on the station using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. A first mission with three passengers—including a veteran astronaut as a guide—is slated for the fall of 2021.

Since SpaceX’s Demo-2 launch, “everybody’s starting to wonder where their place in line is,” Suffredini told The Associated Press on June 4. "That's a really, really cool position to be in now.”

Axiom has not said if it is involved in Cruise’s plans, but Bridenstine confirmed the company’s involvement in an interview with the Off-Nominal podcast posted online on June 15: “Axiom is working with Tom Cruise in the making of a movie,” he said.

In addition to offering the seats to launch to the space station, Axiom is also set up to provide the training that a project like this would require using the same team that has prepared NASA astronauts for the journey.

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Tom cruise set to become first actor to shoot movie in outer space.

Just when you thought Tom Cruise achieved his greatest possible cinematic triumph with the success of the Top Gun sequel, the blockbuster star comes up with an idea that is, quite literally, out of this world.

The 60-year-old Hollywood veteran has reportedly teamed up with  The Bourne Identity  director Doug Liman on a movie pitch that involves filming in space, which was first tabled in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic halted plans.

Cruise and Liman are said to have reached out to Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG) on an idea which will see the actor take a rocket up to the International Space Station.

“I think Tom Cruise is taking us to space, he’s taking the world to space,” UFEG Chairman Donna Langley said, per BBC News.

“That’s the plan. We have a great project in development with Tom … Taking a rocket up to the Space Station and shooting.”

Langley revealed most of the movie would be shot on earth, culminating in “the character [going] up to space to save the day”, adding she is hopeful Cruise will become “the first civilian to do a space walk outside of the space station.”

If the film gets off the ground, Cruise would be the first movie star to shoot in outer space on the International Space Station.

While the move is certainly unprecedented, it’s fair to say it’s unsurprising Cruise is setting his sights for space, with the  Jerry Maguire  actor renowned for his ambitious stunt work.

On Cruise’s 60th birthday in July,  Mission: Impossible  director Christopher McQuarrie  shared a rare photo of the US actor performing a truly insane stunt .

In the image, Cruise can be seen dangling from an airborne red biplane with very little – if any – assistance.

He made headlines when he was injured on the set of  Mission Impossible 6  in 2017, with leaked video footage showing his death-defying leap onto a rooftop go horribly wrong.

Cruise was seen slamming into a building, hanging mid-air in his harness before pulling himself up onto the roof and stumbling towards crew members.

Just a few months later, he was back on-set in London shooting stunts again.

Cruise was recently asked at the Cannes Film Festival why he chooses to forgo a stunt actor, reportedly responding: “No one asked Gene Kelly, ‘Why do you dance?’”

Appreciation for Cruise, who has been working in Hollywood since the early ’80s, is at a fever pitch after the huge success of the long-awaited sequel , Top Gun: Maverick .

It became the fifth highest-grossing film in Australia just a few weeks after its May release, having since rocketed to third place and notched over $1.4 billion at the global box office.

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Tom Cruise to Film Aboard the International Space Station

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One small step for Tom Cruise , one giant leap for moviemaking?

Cruise is partnering with NASA to shoot a movie, at least in part, aboard the Intl. Space Station, NASA has confirmed, the first narrative feature to be shot in space.

“NASA is excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station,” NASA administrator Jim Bridentsine tweeted on Tuesday. “We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality.”

https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1257752395750289409

Deadline Hollywood first reported Monday night that Cruise and Elon Musk’s SpaceX were in the early stages of teaming up with NASA for an action-adventure feature film that would be shot in outer space. Plot details have not been revealed, although Deadline reports that it will not be an installment of Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible” franchise.

It’s unclear how Cruise will pull off this feat, but, even at 57, he’s insisted on doing his own stunts, including a freefall at 200 mph in 2018’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.”

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Cruise’s next film is “ Top Gun: Maverick ,” in which he reprises his role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a test pilot and flight instructor. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Paramount has moved “Top Gun: Maverick” off its July 12 release date to Dec. 23, 2020.

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Tom Cruise Is Making a Movie in Space, Which Seems Like an, Uh, Impossible Mission

NASA is on board. Elon Musk says it "should be a lot of fun!" We're skeptical.

• Rumors have been confirmed by NASA that Tom Cruise will make a movie in space .
• Cruise has filmed wild stunts everywhere from the Burj Khalifa to the USS Theodore Roosevelt .
• Any film crew squeezing aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will need to be very small.

Deadline reports that Tom Cruise is in talks with SpaceX and NASA to film a movie in space. If anybody can do this, it’s Cruise, he of the death-defying stunts —climbing the tallest building on Earth, hanging from a real plane as it takes off, performing a halo jump from 25,000 feet in the air—that make the Mission: Impossible movies so great .

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine’s confirmation of a movie filmed at the International Space Station (ISS) with Cruise sure seems official. (While Bridenstine is a 20-year Air Force veteran, first in active duty and since 2010 in the reserves, he isn’t a scientist. He did, at least, publicly reverse his previous climate change denial in 2018.)

SpaceX founder Elon Musk , meanwhile, is also looking forward to the endeavor:

Still, skeptics abound. Mel ’s Miles Klee wrote a blow-by-blow takedown of the entire idea, including an exciting wager: "I’m so confident we’ll never see this space movie as described that I vow, if it gets made (but it won’t), to publicly declare it my favorite film of all time, and advocate for recognition from every award committee."

We hope like hell Cruise indeed makes it to the ISS, but in the meantime, we need to address two important questions: C an you actually film a movie in space? And, more importantly, should you?

ISS crew members already use a variety of cameras every day, including some that are installed into the station itself and some that ride along in devices like iPads. “To ensure they capture a great shot, astronauts always keep eight cameras at the ready in the cupola of the space station, so someone can grab a camera and snap a picture when needed,” space testing firm NTS explains .

Inside the ISS, air pressure is kept in line with human health requirements, which is consistent with how our consumer goods are designed and tested. If the human who carries and uses the iPad can’t survive at the bottom of the ocean or in space, an iPad doesn’t really need to be able to operate there. Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov’s camera exposure dial was broken by g-forces during liftoff in the early days of manned spaceflight.

Deadline goes into detail about the extremely dangerous stunts Cruise has perfected in the last couple of decades, but the idea of filming a “narrative feature film” in the station has different kinds of dangers. SpaceX’s involvement is likely in carrying Cruise into space, meaning he’ll go through a launch with the same amount of danger that astronauts face every time they take off.

And there’s a grim pragmatism to this decision: If a corporation is responsible for launching civilians for this project, the corporation assumes public responsibility for the risk factors.

Will there be other actors? The ISS has a regular crew of six people only, and its resources are all tuned carefully to meet the needs of a group just that size. The world record for most people in space at a time is just 13, and that record has stood since 2009. Major blockbuster movies can have thousands of people on their crews, and film researcher Stephen Follows reported a few years ago that “the top films of the past two decades have each had 3.5 writers, 7 producers, 55 people in the art department, 32 in sound, 55 in camera / electrical and 156 in visual effects.”

Even Paranormal Activity , a rare low-budget independent movie that became a blockbuster, credits a cast of nine and a crew of a couple dozen more. A movie made in space and starring one of the biggest stars in the world seems like a budget no-brainer, but this isn’t financial—it’s logistical.

Can Hollywood swing a persuasive action adventure movie with almost no crew and almost no actors? Plenty of movies, including successful space movies like Gravity , have very few characters, or even just one. But filming still involves lighting, microphones, cameras, the director, and usually many other people in important jobs. Hell, the different industry unions might have requirements that need to change for space.

Cameras might be fine, but many parts of film preparation won’t work on the ISS. All the makeup will need to be carefully applied liquids or creams that don’t shed waste into the air. Astronauts use water sprayers during their daily life, but traditional aerosols, like in spray makeup or hair products, probably can’t be used on ISS.

And while Cruise may be the most well-preserved 57-year-old man in history, even for him, appearing in less cinematic lighting with less hair and makeup prep could be the most dangerous stunt.

But there’s a bigger question here. Why does NASA want to have civilian actors and filmmakers on the ISS at all? Well, Bridenstine’s tweet explains the short version: “We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make [NASA’s] ambitious plans a reality.”

Indeed, Col. Chris Hadfield captured the world’s imagination when he lived on the ISS and dispatched well-made videos of everyday tasks the way astronauts do them. (And his popular, moving cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”)

This isn’t NASA’s first Hollywood rodeo—it isn’t even the agency's first time this decade. For the 2015 film The Martian , NASA consulted and even helped boost the film because of its clear pro-NASA, pro-space travel message during a time when funding and public interest aren’t always clear.

Right now, NASA is souping up for Artemis missions to the moon and has its eyes on Mars in the not-too-distant future. The same way The Martian represented a valuable public mission, a movie filmed aboard the ISS is a way to present life in space in, well, the best light.

Caroline Delbert is a writer, avid reader, and contributing editor at Pop Mech. She's also an enthusiast of just about everything. Her favorite topics include nuclear energy, cosmology, math of everyday things, and the philosophy of it all. 

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Remember Tom Cruise's Space Movie? We Finally Have Some New Details

It’s about time we got an update!

Tom Cruise will be keeping movie fans entertained in the coming years with Top Gun: Maverick , Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 , but let’s not forget that he’ll also be leaving Earth at some point to provide us with cinematic entertainment. Back in 2020, it was reported that Cruise was teaming with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie for a movie that will be shot in outer space . It’s been a while since we’ve received any updates on the project, but now we finally have some new details to take in.

Starting off, Universal Pictures is reportedly intending to begin production on this untitled space movie sometime next year, and the studio is waiting for director Doug Liman to deliver the script he’s co-writing with Christopher McQuarrie . The studio is specifically expecting the space movie to be what Cruise tackles next after he and McQuarrie finish shooting Mission: Impossible 8 , which began production not long after Mission: Impossible 7 wrapped up filming in September .

Variety also mentioned in its report that this Universal Pictures feature will only be “partially shot” on the International Space Station, with most of the footage being shot on Earth and some also being obtained on a rocket. Furthermore, rather than being a sci-fi movie, this project is described as an “action-adventure story” that sees Tom Cruise playing a “down-on-his-luck guy who finds himself in the position of being the only person who could save Earth.”

So now we have a bit of a clearer picture on what to expect from Tom Cruise’s space movie, both with production plans and finally having a basic premise. Unfortunately, Cruise and the gang lost the big screen space race last year , as footage was shot on the International Space Station for a Russian film called The Challenge last October. However, with Cruise’s space outing being a Hollywood production, you can be sure that it’ll rank among the more widely-viewed new movie releases .

Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie go way back to when the latter started leading the charge in the Mission: Impossible film series starting with Rogue Nation , and the actor previously worked with Doug Liman on Edge of Tomorrow . While it would have been understandable if either of these men had to exit this space-set project due to scheduling conflicts or other reasons, as of now, they’re still guiding it along. Funny enough, when Cruise, McQuarrie and Liman pitched the space movie to Universal, they didn’t even have a draft of the script , but the studio was impressed enough to pour $200 million into the project .

Hopefully we won’t have to wait a long time again to learn more about Tom Cruise’s space movie, but whenever major updates do arrive, CinemaBlend will pass the along. In the meantime, Cruise can next be seen in Top Gun : Maverick starting May 27, while Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 were recently pushed back to July 14, 2023 and June 28, 2024, respectively.

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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.

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One of tom cruise's best action movies lands on netflix's global chart 10 years later.

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14 Best Tom Cruise Action Movies (That Aren't Mission Impossible), Ranked

Kingdom of the planet of the apes sequel trilogy seemingly confirmed by new box office report, george r. r. martin hopes to adapt his 1982 vampiric novel, confirms meeting with oscar-winning horror director: "he wants to do it".

One of Tom Cruise's best action movies, Edge of Tomorrow , lands on Netflix's global chart 10 years later. Directed by Doug Liman from a script co-written by Mission: Impossible 's Christopher McQuarrie (loosely based on the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka), the 2014 sci-fi action film follows a public relations officer with no combat experience who is forced to fight in a landing operation in an alien-occupied Europe and subsequently finds himself stuck in a time loop. With Cruise and Emily Blunt in lead roles, Edge of Tomorrow 's cast also includes Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson.

Now, 10 years after its theatrical release, one of Tom Cruise's best action movies has landed on Netflix 's global chart. Edge of Tomorrow ranks seventh on Netflix's Global Top 10 chart for the week of September 9-15 with 4.1 million views and 7.7 million hours viewed. It ranks just below The Day After Tomorrow and above The Union , The Shack , and Gemini Man on the lower half of the list.

Why Edge Of Tomorrow Is One Of Tom Cruise's Best Action Movies

It combines a clever premise with exciting action.

As an actor known for action movies, often performing his own risky stunts, Edge of Tomorrow manages to stand out as one of the best action movies of Tom Cruise's career . It received praise from critics, with Edge of Tomorrow reviews calling it exciting, expertly acted, witty, and smart. On Rotten Tomatoes, Edge of Tomorrow has a 91% score from critics and a 90% score from audiences, which are some of Cruise's highest scores of his career for an action movie outside the Mission Impossible franchise and Top Gun: Maverick.

Some of Tom Cruise's best movies of his career are action films, making his all-time list of the genre jam-packed with classics from major directors.

Edge of Tomorrow was also released at an imperative time in Tom Cruise's career , which makes it stand out among some of his other action movies. In 2014, Cruise was coming off a few misfires in the action-comedy Knight and Day and post-apocalyptic action-adventure Oblivion , and the resounding success of Edge of Tomorrow proved that Cruise was still capable of leading a blockbuster action movie. Edge of Tomorrow earned over $370 million at the box office, again, one of Cruise's highest totals for an action movie outside the Mission Impossible franchise and Top Gun: Maverick .

Our Take On Edge Of Tomorrow

Tom cruise's character has a dynamic arc.

While there are many Tom Cruise movies that offer exhilarating action, Edge of Tomorrow offers more than that. It blends sci-fi action with a clever time-loop narrative, reminiscent of Groundhog Day or Source Code , that pushes Cruise beyond his typical heroic roles like Ethan Hunt. Set during a futuristic war against aliens, the film's time-loop premise forces Cruise's character, a reluctant and inexperienced soldier, to relive the same day, honing his combat skills and developing from cowardice to heroism. This allows for thrilling action sequences and dynamic character development not seen in many of Cruise's other action movies.

Source: Netflix

Edge of Tomorrow

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Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel All You Need is Kill, Edge of Tomorrow follows Major William Cage (Tom Cruise), who finds himself drafted into humanity's ongoing war against a seemingly unstoppable race of hostile aliens called Mimics. Cage is killed in combat, but wakes in a time loop, reliving the same battle day after day. Gradually, he realizes that if he teams up with the decorated war hero Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), he can exploit the time loop to defeat the Mimic army and save the human race. 

The '90s Thriller Nicole Kidman Would Have Happily Shot for Five Years

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The final film by Stanley Kubrick , the subversive psychological drama/erotic thriller Eyes Wide Shut , is seemingly an accumulation of a lifetime's worth of work and personal history. The film had an interminable shoot, lasting nearly 400 days in London. Kubrick died unexpectedly three months before the film's release in 1999, creating a mythical aura to a film by a director filled to the brim with myth. However, the legend that has stuck with Eyes Wide Shut since its release is that its lengthy production and subject led to the divorce between superstar Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman . Because of the intense nature of Kubrick's exacting precision and his probing examination of a soon-to-be split marriage, working on Eyes Wide Shut should've been a harrowing experience for the two stars. In Kidman's case, she would've been happy to shoot it for an additional five years.

Stanley Kubrick's Hypnotic Examination of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's Marriage in 'Eyes Wide Shut'

Adding to his mystique as a reclusive artist, Stanley Kubrick mulled over projects towards the end of his career, with seven years in between The Shining and Full Metal Jacket , and a whopping 12 years between the release of his Vietnam War film and Eyes Wide Shut . Of course, Kubrick, the ultimate perfectionist, was not sitting around procrastinating, as he underwent extensive research and development on these projects , as he did with all his films. The film, based on the novella Traumnovelle (translated to Dream Story ), follows Dr. Bill Hartford's (Cruise) existential crisis upon learning that his wife, Alice (Kidman), had contemplated having an affair 12 months earlier, causing him to embark on a cryptic late-night odyssey in a dream-like New York City where he infiltrates a masked orgy of an unnamed secret society.

At the height of his stardom, Tom Cruise, alongside his wife, Nicole Kidman, temporarily transported their residency to England to work with Kubrick, whose fear of flying caused all his movies to film almost exclusively in the United Kingdom. As expected, Cruise and Kidman were put through the wringer , with Cruise performing 95 takes of walking through a door. In a Machiavellian tactic to extract feelings of distrust, Kubrick would direct each actor separately and forbid them to share notes, notably the imaginary flashback of Alice making love to a naval officer that haunts Bill throughout the film. While renowned for his set design and meticulous period detail , Kubrick focused his attention on psychoanalyzing the tabloid-friendly celebrity couple , encouraging Cruise and Kidman to privately confess their fears about marriage and commitment to their director.

Nicole Kidman Would've Shot 'Eyes Wide Shut' For Another Five Years

It's easy to indulge in the enticing legend-making surrounding Kubrick. While the alleged notion that Eyes Wide Shut drove Cruise and Kidman apart, the latter denied any validity in this theory to The New York Times in 2020. Despite the thorny subject and grueling production, Kidman has positive memories of driving go-karts with her family after shooting. Kubrick is notorious for pushing actors to their absolute limits , but she felt protected by the director when filming nude or sexually explicit scenes . Not only was Eyes Wide Shut a gratifying experience, but Kidman would've stayed in England longer if the film demanded it. "I would have shot that thing for five years, I didn’t care," she told the BBC . "I’m with the greatest filmmaker. I’m with my husband. I’ve got my kids there," she explained. Kidman developed a close, personal relationship with Kubrick. When she learned about his sudden death, needless to say, she was devastated, as she dropped the phone and mournfully screamed. The abruptness of his passing was incredibly jarring for her.

The Movie Stanley Kubrick Said Was the Best He'd Ever Seen

The highest honor imaginable for a filmmaker.

Considering that Eyes Wide Shut is one of the finest films of the last 30 years, and a capstone achievement of a legendary director, any creatively inspired actor would look back on the experience with fondness. Working with Stanley Kubrick is daunting from afar, but the appreciative Nicole Kidman recalled to the Los Angeles Times that the film was made collaboratively between her, Cruise, and the director, and she was impressed by his lack of egoism on the set and implored the married couple to improvise ideas during rehearsals. While developing the Bill and Alice characters, Kidman noticed that Kubrick was highly astute when examining the Hollywood power couple, saying that he was "mining" their relationship throughout the shoot without it ever coming across as predatory. Kidman also debunks the myth that Kubrick never completed editing Eyes Wide Shut before he died, as she claims that he was "very happy" with the cut that was released to theaters.

Nicole Kidman's praise of Stanley Kubrick and the challenging but immensely rewarding experience working on Eyes Wide Shut highlights her professionalism and commitment to her craft and shatters many of the fallacies surrounding Kubrick as a public figure. He was not a cold, hermetic person incapable of connecting with human beings. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman had the most idyllic life imaginable, yet they voluntarily dropped everything to fly to England to work with this master filmmaker for as long as it took.

Eyes Wide Shut

Eyes Wide Shut is available to rent or buy on Apple TV+ in the U.S.

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