The ‘Mission Impossible’ star made headlines three years ago when his plans of shooting the first film in space emerged.
And Tom Cruise has remained committed to making that happen.
Speaking with Variety, Cruise, 61, updated the publication on his outer space ambitions.
‘We’ve been working on it diligently and we’ll see where we go,’ he told the outlet at the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One premiere in New York on Monday.
The upcoming film has a budget of $200M and is being backed by Universal, however a production start date has yet to be determined, Cruise explained.
In 2020, NASA confirmed Cruise was working on a project to shoot a film in outer space on board the International Space Station.
He reportedly will receive assistance from Elon Musk‘s Space X. If it gets the go-ahead, the production would be the first action adventure feature film to be filmed in outer space.
‘We’re excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the International Space Station,’ said NASA’s Jim Bridenstine on Twitter.
‘We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA’s ambitious plans a reality.’
Doug Liman, 57, who worked with Tom on The Edge of Tomorrow is set to direct. If all goes as planned, the director would have to blast off as well.
In a January 2020 interview with Deadline, the Locked Down director said of his leading man, ‘I think the reason that Tom is such a superstar is, as much as we’re talking about making a movie not on Earth, I think Tom very much has both of his feet planted on the ground.
Universal chairwoman Donna Langley hinted at the future blockbuster, telling the BBC, ‘We have a great project in development with Tom that does contemplate him taking a rocket to the Space Station.’
Langley said the film was pitched to her over Zoom during the COVID pandemic by Cruise and Liman.
She said the film ‘actually takes place on earth, and then the character needs to go up to space to save the day.’
‘Hopefully, he will become the first civilian to do a space walk outside of the International Space Station.’
The Top Gun star would not play a typical hero.
Langley explained, ‘He will play a down-on-his-luck guy who finds himself in the position of being the only person who could save Earth.’
