Bored With Fighter Jets, Tom Cruise Set to Conquer Space

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Tom Cruise faked space travel in "Oblivion." (Universal)

Tom Cruise's "Top Gun: Maverick" release and the back-to-back filming for "Mission Impossible" movies 7 and 8 may be on ice while we're all waiting out the COVID-19 pandemic, but that doesn't mean that America's most dedicated action star isn't keeping himself busy.

There's a Hollywood rumor that Cruise is teaming up with NASA and SpaceX founder Elon Musk to make an as-yet-untitled film to be shot in space. Deadline has the story but almost no details besides the fact that it's not a "Mission Impossible" movie and that no studio is involved at this stage.

That won't stop us from speculating. Cruise and director Doug Liman ("The Bourne Identity") are developing a movie called "Luna Park," based on a story by Liman and "Black Hawk Down" author Mark Bowden. IMDb claims the film will be the story of a "group of renegade space workers [who] venture to the moon to steal an energy source."

Cruise and Liman are currently prepping "Live Die Repeat and Repeat," a sequel to their underrated 2014 sci-fi movie "Edge of Tomorrow." After the "Mission Impossible" films get made once movie production restarts, it's hard to guess when (or even if) Tom really gets to shoot a movie in space.

Of course, there's the SpaceX factor as well. Musk has been on a tear this week, first tweeting that he thought his company's stock price was "too high" and today announcing that he and his girlfriend, the rock singer/songwriter Grimes, have named their newborn son X Æ A-12 Musk. Perhaps it's not just the stock price that's too high.

Cruise takes risks, performing his own stunts whenever possible. He shut down production on Mission: Impossible -- Fallout" when he broke an ankle leaping between buildings in London. Of course, that jump is also one of the movie's most breathtaking moments.

Cruise also insisted that "Top Gun: Maverick" get rid of the gimbels and shoot as many scenes as possible with the cast and crew in the air dealing with real g-forces. Green screen special effects are for those Marvel wimps. Tom's jonesing for as much reality as possible.

Will Cruise become the first movie star in space? Will a real-life space movie suddenly make every single science fiction flick from the past 100 years look hopelessly dated? And what business does a 60-year-old man* have flying into space? Stay tuned for breaking news as we learn more.

(*estimated age at the time of shooting, based on Tom's current schedule)

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