Back in December 2020, Tom Cruise went viral when he was secretly recorded tearing into crew members who were caught violating COVID restrictions on the set of Mission: Impossible 7. In a profanity-laced rant, the actor berated the crew who put the entire production into jeopardy after Cruise had jumped through significant hoops to get things back on track. That’s all after the pandemic threw the film industry into disarray as rolling shutdowns scuttled shoots and caused significant delays across the board.
Cruise opened up to Empire about finally getting M:I 7 back in front of the cameras. Yes, part of it was so that he could return to the increasingly death-defying stunts that he’s become famous for, but the actor definitely feels the responsibility of making sure his team still has work. Via Empire:
“All those emotions were going through my mind,” he says. “I was thinking about the people I work with, and my industry. And for the whole crew to know that we’d started rolling on a movie was just a huge relief. It was very emotional, I gotta tell you.”
Those emotions definitely came out during the recorded rant where Cruise went off about he expected everyone on his set to be the “gold standard” as Hollywood was watching the Mission: Impossible 7 production closely to guide the way.
“We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherf*ckers. I don’t ever want to see it again. Ever!” Cruise can be heard yelling. “You can tell it to the people who are losing their f*cking homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That’s what I sleep with every night – the future of this f*cking industry!”
While Cruise was praised for taking the COVID-19 rules seriously, he was not without his detractors. Former Scientologist Leah Remini claims the rant was staged for publicity. “Tom does not care about the families of his crew; this is all for publicity,” Remini told The Underground Bunker. “I mean, how anyone is falling for this is just mindblowing. I would bet that Tom had this rant written for him and had his Scientology assistant record and release it.”
(Via Empire)