Tom Cruise has reportedly forked out £500,000 to rent out an entire cruise ship in Norway, in an effort to stop any more delays to the filming of his latest movie.
The next Mission: Impossible instalment is being filmed across Europe but production was halted when large parts of the continent closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cruise’s long-running franchise last filmed in February in Venice, and has since been placed on ice while production companies grapple with social distancing restrictions.
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Any more filming delays could push back the release of the yet-to-be-named action film in 2021, so Tom Cruise has reportedly paid around half-a-million-pounds for the hire of a cruise ship to act as a hotel in Norway to house the production crew and keep them safe, according to local reports.
Norway Today says that the star has rented the MS Fridtjof Nansen, operated by the Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten, until the end of September while the production films in the More og Romsdal district of the country.
It is thought the ship will house around 200 staff from Norway, with another 200 international workers also on board, and be docked in Hellesylt in the east of the country – around 217 miles (350km) from Bergen. However, the production company Truenorth will not confirm why the ship is being used.
Sky News has contacted Hurtigruten for comment.
“Tom is determined not to see any more hold-ups,” a source told The Sun.
“The studio believes it will keep everyone safe and get this shoot wrapped up.”
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Despite Cruise’s good intentions, the move has reportedly come under fire by trade unions, which say the staff, who are mostly international, could be breaking immigration laws, due to the ship being moored in Norway.
The first Mission: Impossible film was released in 1996, with the seventh part of the cinematic series due out in cinemas in November 2021.
The franchise has made $3.6bn (£2.95bn) at the box office since its first outing.