NASA confirms Tom Cruise will make movie aboard International Space Station
And SpaceX head Elon Musk seems on board with the idea too. "Should be a lot of fun!"
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Tom Cruise has faced off against aliens in 2005's War of the Worlds, but he's never made a movie in space.
Get ready for a film concept that's out of this world. Actor Tom Cruise and Elon Musk's SpaceX are working with NASA to shoot an action film in outer space. Representatives for Cruise and SpaceX didn't immediately respond to requests for comment, but NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed the news Tuesday in a tweet.
"NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the space station!" he wrote. "We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA ambitious plans a reality."
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. pic.twitter.com/CaPwfXtfUv
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 5, 2020
While NASA didn't share more details, Deadline broke the news Monday in what seems like an article straight out of parody newspaper The Onion: "It's not a Mission: Impossible film and no studio is in the mix at this stage." The movie would be the first narrative feature film shot in outer space, and while details are sketchy, the report says it would be filmed in "Musk's spaceship."
Musk himself, who was a little busy this week welcoming a new son with singer Grimes, later tweeted a response to the NASA tweet, saying only, "Should be a lot of fun!"
Should be a lot of fun!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2020
Neither NASA nor SpaceX has confirmed SpaceX's involvement in the film, and the Deadline report didn't mention the ISS. But the first ever launch of astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX spacecraft is set for May 27. No mention was made of Cruise or when he might board a spacecraft.
Cruise is known for taking daring risks while making his films. He scaled the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, for the 2011 movie Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol. And Musk isn't new to the entertainment world. He's appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, often playing himself. In 2019, Musk voiced a mutated version of himself named Elon Tusk on the Adult Swim animated show Rick and Morty.
