One of the big challenges for filmmakers right now is keeping their productions from shutting down due to COVID-19 outbreaks. Mission Impossible 7 and 8 are currently shooting back-to-back in the UK, and last month, a tape of a furious Tom Cruise berating crew members who broke safety rules was leaked. It’s now been reported that the star has paid for some mechanical help to keep the set COVID-free.
According to British newspaper The Sun, which released last month’s recording, Cruise has bought two robots to patrol the set and make sure everyone is following the rules when work resumes on the films next week. Reportedly, the hugely expensive high-tech robots can also administer on-the-spot COVID tests if anyone is suspected of having the virus.
A source on the Mission Impossible set told the paper, “Tom is so serious about making sure the shoot isn’t shut down that he’s splashed out on these robots as he can’t be everywhere to ensure people are behaving themselves. The robots are really sophisticated and rather intimidating. It’s like the Terminator, only not as violent.”
Cruise is also a producer on the Mission Impossible series. In the leaked recording, he declared that he wanted the movie to be “gold standard” of safety and that the measures that have been put in place are being watched by Hollywood to show productions can operate safely.
Mission Impossible 7 started shooting in Venice in February last year, but production was quickly shifted to the UK when Italy became the first European country to be hit by the pandemic. After three weeks of filming there, production was halted entirely. Work on the film resumed in September, and the shoot will shift to Dubai after work in the UK is finished.
Christopher McQuarrie is writing and directing both Mission Impossible 7 and 8–he also wrote and directed Rogue Nation and Fallout. MI7 is scheduled to come to theatres in November 2021, with its sequel slated for November 2022.
