Tom Cruise Could Become First Civilian to Do Spacewalk Outside Space Station for New Movie

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Tom Cruise intends to become "the first civilian to do a spacewalk" outside of the International Space Station during filming for his next movie with director Doug Liman.

Last week, Universal Pictures executive Donna Langley confirmed in an interview with BBC News that 60-year-old Cruise intends to take "a rocket up to the [International Space Station]" to shoot scenes for the still-untitled project.

"I think Tom Cruise is taking us to space. He's taking the world to space," Langley said. "That's the plan. We have a great project in development with Tom that does contemplate him doing just that, taking a rocket up to the Space Station and shooting and hopefully being the first civilian to do a space walk outside of the Space Station."

Cruise's upcoming film, which Langley said he pitched to her over a Zoom call during the pandemic, has a budget in the area of $200 million, according to Variety.

"During the pandemic he asked for a Zoom call with us and got onto the call and said, 'Guys, I've got this great project and here it is,' " Langley said. "The majority of the story actually takes place on Earth and then the character needs to go up to space to save the day."

Langley also described Cruise's character in the movie as "a down-on-his-luck guy who finds himself in the position of being the only person who could save Earth," according to Variety.

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Cruise and Liman, who previously collaborated on blockbusters like 2014's Edge of Tomorrow and 2017's American Made, were first reported to be working together on the space film in 2020. Further details on the movie are not yet available, though the pair are working with both NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX on the project.

In September 2020, a Twitter post from the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Almanac's account showed that Cruise and Liman were both scheduled to take part in a SpaceX Dragon crew flight in October 2021. It is unclear whether that flight actually happened.

No Hollywood studio has ever filmed a narrative feature film in space, according to Variety.

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"There's been a number of people like, 'You're going to kill yourself going to outer space,' " Liman told Thrillist in a January 2021 interview.

"When a producer proposes something as insane as shooting a movie in outer space and the project actually starts to happen ... you entertain the idea because of from whom it came," Liman added at the time. "You're like: Maybe the impossible is possible."

In May 2020, then-NASA administrator James Bridenstine told IndieWire he hoped Cruise's desire to film in space proved successful and that it would inspire future generations: "I'm all for that. We're going to do what we can to make that happen. There was a day when I was in elementary school and I saw Top Gun. From that day, I knew I was going to be a Navy pilot. It's just the way it was."