Another week, and another controversy for the Mission: Impossible 7 production as it pushes through Europe to completion.
This time, the Tom Cruise spy thriller finds itself in hot water after renting a pair of cruise ships in Norway. According to reports, at least one of the boats will serve as a “hotel-ship” for the cast and crew, but there is no official confirmation on their intended use. However, the more concerning issue is that the production is allegedly violating the Norwegian Immigration act by using the ships’ underpaid Filipino crews. The move has put Cruise and the filmmaking team in the crosshairs of two local labor unions.
Via Variety:
“It is completely unsustainable that it should be possible to only dock a boat with a wage level down to NOK 29 [$3.30] per hour,” union leader Johnny Hansen told the Norwegian Seamen’s Association.
“It is not okay to use a ship that is to go in international shipping as a hotel in Stryn, close your eyes, and hope no one will find out that the employees are not close to the pay and working conditions that are statutory,” Fellesforbund leader Jørn Eggum told Verdens Gang.
Back in July, Cruise personally called Norway’s Culture Minister in an effort to jumpstart Mission: Impossible 7‘s paused production as quickly as possible, so it remains to be seen whether this controversy will cause friction with government officials after allowing the film into the European country. The labor issue also arrives on the heels of trouble in Poland where the production faced criticism over its plan to blow up a bridge. Media headlines claimed the bridge scheduled to be detonated was a “national monument,” but director Ralph McQuarrie set the record straight in an open letter. According to McQuarrie, the bridge had no historic value, and local officials were enthusiastic about the production doing the local economy a favor by removing it, so a new one could be built to increase tourism.
(Via Variety)