Mission: Impossible 7, the long-gestating sequel that’s been plagued with multiple delays due to the coronavirus, has just been delayed once again… due to the coronavirus. Filming has been totally halted on the movie’s production in the U.K. after at least one member reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. Additional details are scarce and it’s unclear how many people in total have tested positive, but filming will stop for at least 14 days so those involved can self-isolate.
“We have temporarily halted production on Mission: Impossible 7 until June 14th, due to positive coronavirus test results during routine testing. We are following all safety protocols and will continue to monitor the situation,” a statement from the production reads.
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The delay is yet another setback for a production that has had many issues in keeping the filming going. It was originally set to begin shooting in February 2020 before it was postponed due to the pandemic. What followed in the months after were more problems seemingly every time production just started to get rolling again, specifically with people involved testing positive for the virus. Needless to say, this new delay is nothing unusual for the project, but it had to be frustrating for those involved who just want to get the movie done.
Of course, there may be no one who’s more annoyed by this information than the movie’s lead star, Tom Cruise. After taking great lengths to keep the production safe, Cruise was recorded shouting at crew members on the set in December for allegedly breaking COVID-19 protocols. Some fans and other celebrities actually supported Cruise in the situation, feeling he was justified in feeling angry about crew members not taking the virus seriously, even after the movie had suffered multiple delays already.
“I said what I said,” Cruise said of his behavior in a later interview with Empire magazine. “There was a lot at stake at that point. But it wasn’t my entire crew. I had the crew leave the set, and it was just select people… All those emotions were going through my mind. And for the whole crew to know that we’d started rolling on a movie was just a huge relief… It was very emotional.”
Mission: Impossible 7 comes from Paramount and Skydance. Cruise, J. J. Abrams, David Ellison, Jake Myers, and Christopher McQuarrie produce. McQuarrie also serves as writer and director after previously helming the prior installments Rogue Nation (2015) and Fallout (2018). He is also set to direct the planned eighth installment of the long-running action movie series, at least if production ever finally ends on the seventh movie. Time will have to tell on that one.
At this time, Mission: Impossible 7 is scheduled to be released on May 27, 2022. Along with Cruise back in the role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt, the sequel also stars Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, Pom Klementieff, Angela Bassett, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Frederick Schmidt, Cary Elwes, and Henry Czerny. This news comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.
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