
Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie are currently filming aerial sequences for their upcoming movie “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two” on a United States aircraft carrier stationed in the Adriatic Sea. To get to the carrier, Cruise flew by helicopter from the Italian port city of Bari where he arrived on Saturday.
Mission: Impossible is a movie franchise that revolves around the adventures of Ethan Hunt, a highly skilled and resourceful secret agent who works for the Impossible Mission Force (IMF), a fictional espionage agency. The series started in 1996 with the release of the first film, and there have been seven films to date, with the eighth one currently in production.
Each movie in the franchise features thrilling action sequences, intricate plots, and a variety of exotic locations. The franchise is known for its signature scenes that often involve Tom Cruise, who plays Ethan Hunt, performing his own stunts. Some of the iconic moments from the series include Cruise dangling from the side of a plane in ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and scaling the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, in ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.’
The films often feature a team of IMF agents working together to prevent a global catastrophe or foil a villainous plot. Along with Cruise, the franchise has featured a number of notable actors such as Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Henry Cavill. The Mission: Impossible movies are known for their high-octane action, complex storylines, and impressive stunts, which have made them a popular and enduring action movie franchise.
Antonio Parente, the head of the Apulia Film Commission, has confirmed the reports from the Italian press regarding Tom Cruise’s arrival in Bari on Saturday, February 25th. He told Variety on Thursday that Cruise had indeed flown into Bari, which is the capital city of the Apulia region. Parente further stated that after spending the night at Bari’s luxurious 5-star Hotel Delle Nazioni, Cruise took a private helicopter from the Bari airport on Sunday to shoot scenes for the upcoming “Mission: Impossible” film on a United States aircraft carrier stationed in the Adriatic Sea. While it’s highly likely that the carrier is the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush, Parente said that they are not entirely sure.
According to Antonio Parente, the U.S. naval vessel on which Tom Cruise is shooting the scenes for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two” was located close to the Italian coast when Cruise boarded it. However, it has since moved and is now somewhere between Italy and Croatia. Parente also mentioned that Cruise is anticipated to finish the shoot and leave Italy by the end of this week, departing from Bari.
“We are proud that [the] Apulia [region] has been chosen as the operational base for this rather complex shoot,” Parente said. He hastened to add that the Apulia Film Commission liaised with Paramount Italia but only provided help with airport logistics for the “Mission: Impossible” shoot.
Tom Cruise had previously filmed parts of “Mission: Impossible 7” in Italy, specifically in Venice and Rome. However, the majority of the locations for “Mission: Impossible 8” have been kept secret. It has been reported that Paramount Pictures, the production company behind the movie franchise, was denied permission to shoot on the Arctic island of Svalbard, located off the coast of Norway.
Despite his busy schedule filming “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two,” which is set to hit theaters in 2024, Tom Cruise made time to attend the 95th Annual Oscars Nominee Luncheon earlier this month.
Tom Cruise has played both an acting and producing role in all of the “Mission: Impossible” movies. The film series is based on the 1966 television series of the same name, which was created by Bruce Geller.