Tom Cruise has been recorded screaming obscenities at crew members on his current film Mission: Impossible 7 after apparent breaches of on-set social distancing guidelines.
The Sun published an audio recording of Cruise shouting and swearing at film crew on the project, of which is he one of the producers, threatening instant dismissal of anyone found to be contravening distancing rules.
On the recording Cruise can be heard shouting: “I don’t ever want to see it again, ever! And if you don’t do it, you’re fired, if I see you do it again, you’re fucking gone. And if anyone in this crew does it – that’s it, and you too and you too … don’t you ever fucking do it again.”
“That’s it! No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their fucking homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education.”
Cruise appeared to be reacting after crew members were spotted standing too close to each other by a computer screen at Leavesden studios in the UK.
Like all major Hollywood productions, Mission: Impossible 7 has been hampered by potentially catastrophic delays and shutdowns due to the pandemic. Production in Italy was halted in February after authorities banned public gatherings in response to the first wave of coronavirus, but in July permission was given for shooting to restart in the UK after Cruise personally appealed to culture secretary Oliver Dowden. In October, filming in Italy was suspended again after reports of a positive Covid test on set.
Underlying Cruise’s outburst is his sense that the production is functioning as a model for how Hollywood can continue to work under pandemic conditions, with the actor stating: “I’m on the phone with every fucking 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 motherfuckers … Movies are going because of us. If we shut down it’s going to cost people fucking jobs, their home, their family. That’s what’s happening.”
The film’s production company has been approached for comment.
