movies

Tom Cruise and Elon Musk’s SpaceX Are On a Mission: To Shoot a Movie in Outer Space

Photo: Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

They say shoot for the moon, because even you miss, you’ll land among the stars. But what if you were to cut out the middle man, and just shoot stars at the moon for entertainment purposes? According to Deadline, that’s exactly what Tom Cruise and Elon Musk plan to do. Okay, not exactly, but the actor and SpaceX founder are allegedly working with NASA to potentially film an action movie, the first narrative feature film ever in fact, in the icy void of space. Per Deadline, they are reportedly in the “early stages” of planning, and no studio is involved as of yet.

On one hand, space movies are a natural progression from Mission: Impossible to Mission: Literally Impossible, zero gravity would help prevent any stunt-induced fractures, and it’s a prime shooting location to avoid COVID-19. On the downside, one small mistake, and Tom Cruise will spiral away into the above mentioned icy voice of space. That being said…we’d all see this thing, wouldn’t we? Opening night?

Update May 5, 2020: NASA confirmed that this mysterious Tom Cruise space movie will indeed be filmed aboard the International Space Station, with NASA administrator Jim Bridentsine tweeting, “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.”

Update May 26, 2020: And now we have a director for the Untitled-Send-Tom-Cruise-To-Space-Project! Doug Liman, who previously worked with Cruise on American Made and Edge of Tomorrow, has signed on to direct and produce the Untitled-Send-Tom-Cruise-To-Space-Project, which does not have a studio attached to it as yet. Liman and Cruise reportedly conceived of the project together, and Liman wrote the first draft of the screenplay, according to Deadline.

Tom Cruise and Elon Musk’s Mission: To Shoot a Film in Space