In a leaked audio recording on the set of Mission: Impossible 7, producer and star Tom Cruise laid into his crew for violating COVID-19 safely protocols. Here is what Cruise had to say to the crew:
“If I see you do it again, you’re f***ing gone. We are the gold standard. They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. Because they believe in us and what we’re doing. I’m on the phone with every f**king studio at night, insurance companies, producers and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherf**kers. I don’t ever want to see it again. Ever! You can tell it to the people who are losing their f**king homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That’s what I sleep with every night – the future of this f**king industry! So I’m sorry, I am beyond your apologies. I have told you, and now I want it, and if you don’t do it, you’re out. We are not shutting this f**king movie down! Is it understood? If I see it again, you’re f**king gone,” he concluded in his impassioned speech. “Do you understand the responsibility that I have? Because I will deal with your reason, and if you can’t be reasonable and I can’t deal with your logic, you’re fired.”
Mission: Impossible 7 was already shut down for several months back in February due to the pandemic, during which time Cruise and his team developed the guidelines to allow them to return to work. The film was pushed back from a July 23, 2021 release to November 19, 2021, withMission: Impossible 8, originally scheduled release on August 5, 2022, being pushed back to November 4, 2022.
Our own Tom Curley, an Academy Award Sound Mixer, recently shared his account of working on a COVID-friendly film set.
You can hear the audio of Cruise’s (justified) rant in the below Tweet.
Tom Cruise went ballistic on the Mission: Impossible 7 crew for breaking COVID protocols…pic.twitter.com/WbIpVlja7w
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) December 16, 2020