Tom Cruise is working towards finalizing a deal that will make him the first actor to shoot a feature film in outer space, TMZ reports.
Cruise is said to be speaking with the Universal Films Entertainment Group about filming at the International Space Station, accomplishing a goal that has been years in the making. While movies like the Cruise-narrated documentary Space Station 3D and 2012’s Apogee of Fear were filmed at the ISS, the actor aims to become the first civilian to perform a space walk.
“I think Tom Cruise is taking us to space, he’s taking the world to space,” UFEG chairman Donna Langley told 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 shared that a majority of the film will be shot on Earth until Cruise’s character needs to go “up to space to save the day.”
Conversations surrounding Cruise’s goal to film in outer space were shelved during the COVID pandemic, but have been revitalized in recent months. Back in May, the Roscosmos space agency in Russia announced that actress Yulia Peresild and filmmaker Klim Shipenko were scheduled to film in space this month. No word on what happened with that plan.
The news came months after Cruise was reportedly working with NASA on a project that would see him enduring extraterrestrial travel on film.
Cruise has long been known to push the envelope with his stunts. Ahead of a Comic Con screening for Top Gun: Maverick, the actor made a video appearance while filming Mission: Impossible 7 and seemed to be raising the bar once more.
Cruise has considerable pull following the box office success of Maverick, which surpassedBlack Panther to become the fifth-highest grossing film of all-time domestically last month.
