Hollywood star Tom Cruise recently boarded a US aircraft carrier to shoot sequences for his new movie “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two” off the coast of Italy.
Antonio Parente, the head of the Apulia Film Commission, confirmed on March 2 that on February 25, Cruise arrived in Bari, the capital of the Apulia region.
He added that on February 26, after spending the night in Bari’s Hotel Delle Nazioni, Cruise left the city in a private helicopter and flew toward a US aircraft carrier to shoot scenes for the eighth “Mission Impossible” film.
Parente noted that the aircraft carrier involved is most likely the USS George HW Bush. When Cruise arrived at the US naval ship, it was close to the Italian shore, but it is currently “somewhere between Italy and Croatia,” he stated.
The head of the film commission also mentioned that Cruise is anticipated to wrap up filming and leave Italy by the end of this week.
According to the American entertainment daily Variety, Tom Cruise and the film’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, are recording flight scenes on a US aircraft carrier in the Adriatic Sea.
He hurried to add that while Paramount Italia and the Apulia Film Commission worked together, the Commission assisted with airport logistics for the “Mission: Impossible” shoot.
The sequel “Dead Reckoning Part Two” will mark Cruise’s eighth “Mission: Impossible” movie. Most filming sites for “Mission: Impossible 8” have been kept secret.
According to reports, Paramount was denied permission to film the scene on the arctic island of Svalbard, off the coast of Norway.
“Dead Reckoning: Part Two” is believed to be a direct sequel to “Part One” and will release in June 2024.
Nick Offerman, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Hayley Atwell are among the other actors who will appear in the Christopher McQuarrie-directed movie.
Cruise Is Known For Doing Dangerous Stunts
Cruise is well-known for pulling off risky stunts in his movies. In September 2022, a video showed Cruise performing a stunt for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One while sitting atop a vintage World War II biplane flying over South Africa’s Blyde River Canyon.
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is expected to release this year.
In August 2022, he was seen recording an action scene with a helicopter in a “quite remote” and “very steep” area of the Lake District National Park in northwest England.
That being said, Cruise also filmed a significant portion of last year’s blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” on the aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Roosevelt in San Diego.
Cruise dazzled his audience with some of the riskiest stunts featured in the movie. The Hollywood star, a trained pilot, flew his own P-51 Mustang and a few helicopters in that movie.
Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet was notably featured in the 2022 film “Top Gun: Maverick.” The sequel, among last year’s top-grossing films, received rave reviews. But the Navy refused to let Cruise pilot a F/A-18 fighter plane, as previously reported by the EurAsian Times.
Despite the actor’s experience in flying military aircraft, the US Navy declined Cruise’s request to fly a Super Hornet without giving a reason.
The most likely explanation is that a $70 million fighter jet was too costly to be handed to someone without fighter pilot training.
Regarding the FA-18, Boeing recently revealed that it plans to stop producing the Super Hornet fighter jet in late 2025, following a final delivery to the US Navy. If India placed an order, the corporation indicated that production could be stretched until 2027.
The company declared that it would keep improving the current fleet of EA-18G Growlers and F/A-18 Super Hornets. The former is a carrier-based electronic warfare variant of the aircraft.
Developed by McDonnell Douglas, which amalgamated with Boeing in 1997, the first F/A-18 was introduced in 1983. The United States, Canada, Finland, Australia, and Malaysia are among the countries that utilize this aircraft or its variants.
The destiny of the aircraft, though, has been in question lately. Due to Super Hornet’s outdated design, the Navy decided not to purchase this aircraft after the fall of 2021.
According to Boeing, ceasing manufacturing of the F/A-18 will allow it to concentrate on developing new military aircraft, both crewed and uncrewed, and boost production of other defense programs. The business announced plans to construct three new facilities in St. Louis, the location of the F/A-18s assembly line.
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