Why was 'Mission: Impossible 7' almost cancelled? Tom Cruise faced an uphill battle to release movie
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1’ will finally be hitting the theaters on July 10 after endless delays. Fans of the series can watch Tom Cruise performing some physics-defying stunts in the sleek new movie. While Cruise and company are now promoting the film with all their might, there was a time when the filming of the movie was stalled seven times because of several challenges.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Hollywood behemoth, Cruise, gushed about the film’s release saying, “We talked about it. We dreamed about it. It’s very, very special,” adding, “On Top Gun: Maverick, they kept pushing the movie and pushing the movie, and for [McQuarrie] and I, this is such an ambitious movie. And it was a very challenging film to produce, and then everything happened, and it was even more challenging. So to have this response…is very, very special.” Despite the manifold challenges, Cruise, with his unfaltering determination, completed the project which is touted to be one of the biggest releases of 2023.
'Mission: Impossible' against Covid-19
One of the major challenges that ‘M:I 7’ faced during its course of filming was the Covid-19 Pandemic. The film was originally slated to start its filming schedule in February, 2020, in Venice. However, just days before the start of filming, Paramount announced that all activities would be shutting down “out of an abundance of caution.” Cruise, who was still in London, was down with an illness that was probably not Covid.
After that, the production was shifted to Rome but stopped again on March 9 as Italy announced a lockdown. After the initial challenges the Covid pandemic posed were over, the film started shooting in the UK after the team was allowed not to observe the mandatory 14-day quarantine. They started filming in Norway too after Cruise obtained permission from the country’s Ministry of Culture. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the ‘Top Gun’ star reportedly paid $676,000 for a cruise ship in order to facilitate the crew’s isolation.
However, in Italy in October 2020, filming was halted for the third time after several crew members tested positive. After the film moved to Venice for shooting, it had to be stopped for the fourth time because several crew members tested positive again.
Cruise, the leading man of the franchise, was very particular that everyone associated with the movie followed the Covid protocols seriously. The Sun got an audiotape when the crew was shooting in London. Cruise was heard yelling at some crew members who were found flaouting the social distancing protocols. He was heard saying, “I’m on the phone with every f*****g studio at night, insurance companies, producers, and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs, you m***********s! If I see you do it again, you’re f*****g gone!” Despite his brash tone, fans supported him for following the rules so seriously. In February 2021, the film shut down for the fifth time due to an increase in the number of cases in the UK.
Later, after another shutdown, Cruise and the director Christopher McQuarrie also tested positive in June 2021, halting the production again for the seventh time. However, through sheer determination and will, battling through the escalating costs due to inflation, the movie was finally finished in September 2021.
‘I’m just going to make the best films that I can make’
Cruise, who was said to have fought the studio for his regular three-month long run in the theater, said in the interview, “I’m just going to make the best films that I can make, and I want them all to perform well, and I want all of the other films to perform well,” adding, “I think about a movie in terms of the quality and longevity, I invest everything in it. So, really, my job is just to try to make the best film I possibly can to entertain the audience for that particular genre.”