It’s been a tough year for poor old Tom Cruise. All he wants to do is deliver high-octane action movie thrills and a pesky global pandemic keeps getting in the way.
Mission: Impossible 7 was originally planned to shoot in Venice in March, which couldn’t happen due to the first wave of COVID-19, and production then moved to England which promptly had its own viral spike and went into lockdown. After these long delays, the shoot was halted once more in October when 12 people in the crew tested positive despite strict PPE and disinfection of the set.
Things all came to a head earlier this month when a leaked audio recording of Cruise berating production team members for breaking COVID-19 protocols by standing too close to one another went viral. After threatening them with the sack, he yelled that if he sees anyone not following the rules again, they’re “f*cking gone.”
But it seems that the actor has decided to ease up on the stick and focus more on the carrot in the holiday season. Mission: Impossible 7 costume cutter Tim Perkins posted a beautifully wrapped gift on Instagram, with a card reading “To Tim Perkins, Warmest wishes to you this Holiday Season, Tom Cruise.” We don’t know what’s inside, but I’m betting it’s not a $20 Amazon gift card. It looks like nobody was overlooked, either, with those working on the film also being treated to a (strictly socially distanced) Christmas dinner.
All this should go some way to ease tensions on the set, something helped by the production taking a short break for the holidays before resuming soon after New Year’s Day. Once the festivities have finished, though, it’s all go again. Mission: Impossible 7 is targeting a November 19th, 2021 release date, with shooting immediately beginning on the next film in the series, which is due on November 4th, 2022, after it’s wrapped on this upcoming one.
COVID-19 or no COVID-19, then, it’ll be an eventful few years for Tom Cruise.
