
With the effects of the coronavirus pandemic halting every industry in the world including the entertainment business, Tom Cruise and his fellow Mission: Impossible 7 producers are reportedly thinking of taking over an old airbase in England.
It was reported early this year that the latest installment of the series has halted filming in locations like Venice, Italy to prevent the spread of the virus.
However, the Hollywood star is looking into pushing the production by taking over an old Royal Air Force (RAF) site in Oxfordshire, England where they will build sets, and set up high-end trailers so that its stars and crew can live in a pandemic-proof village while shooting.
A source tells The Sun, “The film has already been heavily delayed and there's no sign of things going back to normal any time soon, so this is a way to try to get things up and moving again quickly and safely.
“It's pricey but Tom always does things bigger and better than anyone, and there's a hell of a lot riding on this film. The Mission: Impossible movies are all massive box office successes and the studio is right behind getting this back on track.”
In an interview for Variety, actor Simon Pegg, who plays Benji Dunn in the franchise, tells that the film is planned to restart somewhere around September.
Adding, “That will begin with the outdoor stuff and that feels fairly doable, and obviously there will be precautions put in place.”
When asked about the logistics of resuming production on the action-packed film, Simon said, “People that are involved in any close proximity stuff, it will have to be determined that they're safe to do that. I don't know what the testing situation is, how that works, or whether they'll be able to be tested regularly.”
Similarly, first assistant director Tommy Gromley spoke with BBC Radio 4's programming confirmed the plans of coming back this year.
He said, “We hope to restart in September. We hope to visit all the countries we planned to do. We hope to do a big chunk of it back in the UK on the backlot and in the studio.”
Tommy reiterated that there are a lot of complexities when making a big-budget movie like the franchise. However, he is hopeful that the movie industry will be able to adapt to the new normal very soon.
“This is our challenge,” he said.
“We are not a chamber piece movie. We do spectacle and that is what people expect of us.
“If we have the protocols in place and we break down all the procedures very carefully, we will get going again. Some things are very challenging such as stunt scenes, crowd scenes, etc. but we can't do a Mission: Impossible movie and not have a fight scene or car scene in it.”
If the filming pushes through, Mission: Impossible 7 will hit screens sometime next year.
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