How Tom Cruise finessed Hollywood studios during COVID

Tom Cruise revealed that a game of phone tag and some old-school Hollywood finesse got the city back in the swing of production during COVID-19 shutdowns.

Cruise gave an exclusive interview to “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday ahead of the premiere of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” the eighth movie in the franchise that has spanned 29 years.

‘I don’t take no for an answer, really.’

Host Pat McAfee asked Cruise if he felt the weight of the movie industry on his shoulders during COVID-19 shutdowns. Hollywood came to screeching halt in March 2020 and did not resume filming until June, and even then only with heavy restrictions. Cruise is widely credited for getting the industry moving again that summer.

“Yeah, I did,” Cruise replied. “It’s not just about the films I’m making. The difference in movies and other sports is I’ve never felt competitive with other people. I’m like, ‘I want everyone to do well.'”

Cruise explained that while productions were firmly shut down, he had a conversation with his lead producer and said they needed to figure out how to get the cameras rolling.

After the producer agreed, Cruise then pulled off one of the greatest Hollywood capers of all time.

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Tom Cruise attends the ‘Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Mexico red carpet. Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Cruise went to into his bag of tricks on his first call with a movie studio. He picked up the phone and asked a studio head, “You guys shooting?”

Cruise recalled, “He’s like, ‘No, no, we can’t. We’re all shut down for that.’ I said, ‘Oh, wow. … You know we’re shooting our movies.’ And they were like, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, we’re making our movies.'”

Referring to “Top Gun: Maverick” and the latest “Mission: Impossible” sequel, Cruise faked that he was continuing production in order to string studio heads along. Cruise knew that if he could convince other studios that he was still filming, they would start their own productions, which in turn would actually get his movie the go-ahead to resume.

“I called back a week later, and I was like, ‘How’s it going?'” the movie star continued. “They said, ‘Oh yeah, we’re shooting our films.’ And I said, ‘Cuz we’re coming out next summer, you know. … So you know we’re on this date. I hope you’re not on this date.'” They’re like, ‘Well, you know we’re making our movie. We’re coming out next summer.'”

Cruise then called the studio he was working with and said, “Look, all these guys are making movies. We got to make movies!”

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The 62-year-old actor said if he had not pulled the slick moves, he would not have been able to finish “Top Gun: Maverick” in post-production and he would not have been able to carry on with the sequel of his best spy films.

Cruise also noted he got on the phone with governments, production companies, and those responsible for COVID protocols to map out safety precautions to please the powers that be.

“Everyone was kind of like, ‘No, you can’t do this; no, you can’t do that.’ I don’t take no for an answer, really, Pat,” Cruise told the host.

After establishing the production restrictions, Cruise resumed filming in the U.K. in July 2020 with special permissions from the government. They began with outdoor scenes but were able to avoid a two-week quarantine requirement for actors who were flying in and out to film.

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