Update: In an effort to cease production at the Hollywood rumor mill, Empire caught up with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 6 director Chris McQuarrie in an effort to get the official word on Tom's condition as well as the state of the film's production.
When asked about how Tom's recovery was going, McQuarrie stated that, "Tom is great. He’s in very good spirits. He’s feeling great about the movie. Very excited in general. When I went to see him, the first thing he said when I walked in the room was, ‘dude, my ankle’s broken’. Without missing a beat, I said, ‘there’s a silver lining to this cloud. We just don’t know what it is yet.’"
When asked to elaborate, McQuarrie told Empire that, "You never stop working. I’m on the backlot at Leavesden right now, getting ready to shoot an insert out in the field. You simply rearrange the order in which you were going to do certain things on the movie. This in fact gives us an opportunity to go into editorial and look at what we’ve shot and reassess the movie, which is a luxury you don’t normally have because you’re on a train that just doesn’t stop." The director also shared that, as of Tom's injury, the film had roughly seven to eight more weeks worth of production left before going to post.
When asked about shutting down production completely, McQuarrie responded by saying, "We’ll assess what there is to be shot. And what we can shoot, and then what we’ll do is once we’ve shot through that we’ll go on a hiatus and then I’ll shift my attention over to editorial. We’ve already shot a huge chunk of the movie so you’re just taking a big chunk of post-production and moving it up sooner. Then we go back to shooting when the hiatus is over, which is to the full benefit of the movie. It’s similar to situations I’ve had on other movies where, for whatever reason, you go on hiatus and you’re able to look at the movie in a way you normally couldn’t and reevaluate. The lesson I learned on Valkyrie, which had its share of difficulties in production, and we always used to say ‘disaster is an opportunity to excel’."
Finally, when asked about how long the hiatus would last, McQuarrie simply stated, "The hiatus itself is unknown. We’re still figuring that out. Nothing that we’re looking at right now is going to affect the release date."
Original Story:
Variety is reporting that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 6 will likely have to halt their production of the film in an effort to give Tom Cruise time to recover from an on-set injury. According to at least four people who are close to the film, the bombastic action sequel might need to shut down its movie making efforts in London for six weeks to three months for the project's lead actor to be camera ready.
Evidently, Cruise injured himself while doing stunt work for the film last weekend. To what degree the do-it-yourself stunt-oriented actor has been injured remains unclear, but at least one individual who's close to the production has said that Cruise might have broken his ankle in two places in addition to hurting his hip. For now, Cruise has an appointment scheduled with his doctor this week, after which Paramount will do the math as to when production on the high-profile action bonanza can resume.
Meanwhile, another source close to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 6 told Variety that production could conceivably still wrap on time if a laser-like focus is placed on post-production elements – with Cruise's scenes possibly being rescheduled to shoot after his full recovery. Here's the thing, though. While that all sounds well and good, there are other stars (and their schedules) to consider. Case in point, moving back the film from its July 27, 2018 release could end up throwing a wrench into the works for stars like Simon Pegg, Henry Cavill, and Rebecca Ferguson. Furthermore, Paramount is also concerned that delaying MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 6 could cause trouble for Cruise's forthcoming TOP GUN sequel, which has been set for a July 2019 debut.
Lastly, TMZ released a video Sunday morning that shows Cruise attempting to leap across a building gap, only to have fallen short, smacking himself into the wall on the adjacent side. Shortly after the incident, Crusie can reportedly be seen walking away with a limp. Shortly thereafter, crew members that were on-set helped the actor to find some comfort while his injuries were assessed, away from the prying eye of TMZ's paparazzi vultures.
For now, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 6 is still scheduled for a July 27, 2018 release. Unfortunately, unless Paramount works some true movie magic on this one, I'm sure we'll be publishing a follow-up article about the project's delay real soon. Here's hoping that Cruise makes a speedy recovery and can get back to work.