Tom Cruise reportedly avoided seeking a favor from President Donald Trump to facilitate his ambitious project to film a movie in outer space. A report has claimed the actor did not want to ask Trump’s administration for help.
Sources suggest Tom Cruise wasn’t ready to ask Donald Trump for a favor
Page Six reported that Tom Cruise didn’t ask Donald Trump for a favor about a planned film, first reported in 2020, that would see Cruise and director Doug Liman shoot scenes aboard the International Space Station with support from NASA and SpaceX.
An insider familiar with the filmmakers claimed, “From what I understand, they would need NASA coordination to do the movie, and supposedly, Tom Cruise did not want to ask Donald Trump for a favor. You’d need permission from the federal government.” The source added, “Tom didn’t want to ask for political reasons.”
The Mission Impossible star has reportedly maintained an apolitical public persona for decades, and the source indicated he did not want to upset some of his fans by appearing to court Trump. This aligns with an earlier report that Cruise declined a 2025 Kennedy Center honor from President Trump and cited “scheduling conflicts.”
For more context, the project initially received public support from then-NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, a Trump appointee. In 2020, he reportedly posted on X (formerly Twitter), “NASA is excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality.”
That post has since been deleted, and Bridenstine has left the agency. Space insiders told the outlet that there have been no further discussions within NASA about the film. With that administrative support gone, it seemed to have become a major hurdle. Beyond politics, the film also reportedly faced practical challenges.
Universal Pictures was interested, as per reports, but ensuring a feature film shoot in space for a then-58-year-old star became a major doubt point. Notably, there hasn’t been official confirmation on this yet.
