Tom Cruise in spaaaaace! It was revealed earlier this month that Tom Cruise would be heading to where no other actor has gone before as he will be partnering with Elon Musk's Space X and NASA to shoot a film in outer-space on the International Space Station. Well, that project has taken the next step as Deadline has reported that Doug Liman (EDGE OF TOMORROW) has signed on to direct this Tom Cruise space movie.
Deadline says that Doug Liman has been involved in the project since the very beginning as the director actually developed the project together with Tom Cruise, and Liman will be writing the first draft of the screenplay as well as producing the film alongside Cruise. The project is still in the early stages, and it's hard to say when production will begin, but there will doubtlessly be an exhaustive pre-production period as both cast and crew will need to train very hard in order to travel to the International Space Station. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed the news earlier this month, saying "NASA is excited to work with [Tom Cruise] on a film aboard the [International Space Station]! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality." As far as how Elon Musk's Space X will be involved, it's very likely that Tom Cruise will be heading to the ISS onboard Space X's Crew Dragon, which will be launching its first manned mission to the ISS tomorrow.
While many suspected that Tom Cruise might save a trip to outer-space for one of the upcoming MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE sequels, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has previously teased teased that they've worked out some more crazy Earth-bound stunts for Tom Cruise to tackle in the new films. "We've figured out three obscene things that he's doing that I'm terrified of, that make the helicopter chase look like tinker toys," McQuarrie said. Speaking of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, production on the next installment(s) of the long-running franchise was underway before COVID-19 forced them to shut-down. As a result, the release dates of the two films were pushed back, with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 now set to hit theaters on November 19, 2021, with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8 following on November 4, 2022.