Tom Cruise convinced Universal to pay $200 million for movie to be shot in space

Actor Tom Cruise doesn't even have a script for his upcoming history-making film to be shot in space, but managed to convince Universal Pictures to shell out $200 million (nearly Rs 1500 crore) to produce it.

Deadline reports that Universal signed off on the big-budget project over a Zoom call with Cruise, writer-director Doug Liman, his frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, and producer PJ van Sandwijk. Elon Musk will also be involved through his SpaceX firm.

Cruise's Mission Impossible 5, 6, 7 and 8 director McQuarrie, Deadline says, " will have a ground control role as story advisor and producer." Liman, on the other hand, has worked with the actor on Edge of Tomorrow and American Made. He's currently writing the script of the action-adventure film.

Cruise recently resumed filming the seventh Mission Impossible film, which had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was reported on Friday that the crew planned on blowing up a real bridge in Poland, for an action scene. The bridge, which was originally built in 1909 in the Polish village of Pilchowice, has been decommissioned since 2016.

Cruise will next be seen in Top Gun: Maverick, which after being pushed to December, was further pushed to 2021 because of the continued effects of the virus across the world.