Tom Cruiseis one of the biggest stars in the world, buthis incredible reputation for stunts may have caused him to miss out on what might be one of the biggest movies of 2025.Following the release of potentially thelast film in his biggest franchise withMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, Cruise has had several notable years.Top Gun: Maverickwas the biggest film of 2022, and the actor still clearly has a strong appeal with audiences. However, new details have emerged concerning how difficult it might be to work with him.
DirectorChristopher McQuarrie described making aMission: Impossiblemovierecently, and the process sounds incredibly difficult.Cruise has a penchant for doing his own stunts, and this will often take a lot of work and effort. It is wonderful that he has found such an excellent and like-minded partner in McQuarrie, and the McQuarrie and Cruise partnership has contributed to a large number of projects since first coming together onValkyrie. However, Cruise’s need to achieve verisimilitude in his practical stunts may have cost him a reunion with hisMaverickdirector.
Joseph Kosinski’s F1 Looks LIke The Top Gun 2 Of Racing
Top Gun: Maverickdirector Jospeh Kosinski is following up on the biggest hit of his career withF1, set to release at the end of this month.The new film stars Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, and was produced by Apple TV+, with distribution being shared by Warner Bros. Pictures. Its budget was reported to be $300 million, although Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have said otherwise, and hopes to turn around the streak that Apple TV+ theatrical films have faced over the past few years and make a major splash at the box office.
Apple TV+ films have struggled theatrically, with 2023’sNapoleongrossing the highest, making $221 million worldwide against a budget of between $130-200 million.
Kosinski, who previously worked on films includingTron: LegacyandOblivion, seems to have brought much of his experience fromTop Gun: Maverickto this new film.In an attempt to capture realism, many ofF1’s effects were handled practically, including much of the driving, which took a great deal of training and effort for Pitt. Filmed largely during the racing season, the movie puts a major focus on creating an immersive experience that puts the audience directly into the heads and cars of the drivers themselves.
Joseph Kosinski Described How F1 Filming Would Have Been Different If Tom Cruise Was Cast Instead
Tom Cruise Is Not The Easiest Star To Work With
In a recent profile on the making ofF1inGQ, a number of details about the film’s production came out, and the director was asked about what the movie might have looked like if Cruise had been cast in the lead role. Kosinski highlighted how much more difficult and even scary it would have been if Cruise had been cast. Put simply,Cruise, as described by both the director and the action-vehicle supervisor, Graham Kelly, “pushes it to the limit"in a way that could have been difficult to navigate onF1. Koskinski said:
Tom always pushes it to the limit, but at the same time is super capable and very skilled… [Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt] both have the natural talent for driving. But yeah, I could see Tom maybe scaring us a little bit more.
Kelly continued, explaining that he had previously worked with Cruise onsome of theMission: Impossiblemovies. He described that as a very stressful experience, believing that,if Cruise had ledF1,“We’d have had a crash.“Notably, the crew member smiled as he said this, putting a softer point on it. Still, working with Cruise has historically been a difficult task, as has been noted by many of his co-workers through the years. He is a very hands-on producer and star, and Kelly conceded that Pitt knows his limits, whereas Cruise may not.
Tom Cruise Is Known To Push The Limit With His Stunt Work In Movies
This Has Made For Some Incredible Sequences, But Has Caused Difficulty Behind-The-Scenes
Cruise has proven himself to be one of the most exciting actors in the action movie landscape, with hisdangerousMission: Impossiblestuntsadding a great deal to the reputation and legacy of the franchise. This has allowed the actor to shine in sequences like the big one inMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning,where he hung off a biplane, and even jumped from one to another in midair.These scenes are incredible and add huge spectacle to the resulting films. However, they cause many complications behind the scenes.
During the development of the aforementioned scene,Cruise was told by stunt professionals that it couldn’t be done. Unsatisfied by this response,Cruise and McQuarrie instead decided to get another opinion.In the end, the setpiece wound up being one of the most astounding sequences that has ever been seen in aMission: Impossiblefilm. However, these difficulties behind the scenes, and this commitment to practical effects, also wound up further complicating the production. Alongside the SAG-AFTRA strikes and delays going back to the COVID-19 pandemic, this culminated inThe Final Reckoning’s reported $400 million budget.
Cruise’s reputation in Hollywood is a difficult one to navigate. While there is great respect for Cruise’s methods, it can also be hard to work alongside him. Even going back toMission: Impossible II, Thandiwe Newton spoke withHarper’s Bazaarabout the experience of working with the actor, where she admitted that he was a nice person, but the entire experience was trying. She explained his commitment further, saying,“He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done.”
The matter ofF1’s lead role is certainly much more complicated than Cruise’s reputation costing him the part. After all, this was only brought up as a hypothetical question by the interviewer, and it is possible thatF1is not a film that Cruise would have been interested in starring in. In addition, Cruise has kept a packed schedule and has committed much of his time to his work with McQuarrie in recent years.The Final Reckoning’s filming schedule even overlapped withF1between 2023 and 2024.
Still, Cruise’s reputation is surely a factor to consider. Even his frequent collaborator McQuarrie admitted this toGQ, describing what seems to be a common experience with working with Cruise:“Lots of directors will do that once. They don’teverwant to f***ing do that again.“This is a testament to Cruise’s commitment to his films and his clear investment in the material. However, based on this comment, as well as those shared by Kosinski, it seems possible that the stress of working with Cruise was a factor in his not being in the film.
Despite McQuarrie’s quote, Joseph Kosinski has actually already directed Cruise twice, first in 2013’sOblivion, then in 2022’sTop Gun: Maverick.
With that said, Pitt seemed to be a great fit for theF1role. The actor is still one of the best-known performers in Hollywood, and his driving ability seemed to help him in making the film, which came out onscreen intheF1trailer. During a recent conversation withCinemaBlend, Kosinski outlined the process and how Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who also serves as a producer on the film, gave some support when they were preparing to shoot. He outlined howPitt seemed to have the right talent and was the right fit for the role, explaining:
What Lewis was very happy to discover was that Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start, and I don’t know where he got that or if he was born with it, and he rides motorcycles, which I think has something to do with it, but he’s just a very talented, naturally gifted driver, which for Lewis after that first meeting gave him a lot of confidence that we might have a shot at pulling this off.
F1will soon release in theaters, and anticipation is high for Kosinski’s follow-up to the massive worldwide hitTop Gun: Maverick. Still, following such an excellent pairing between Kosinski and Cruise,it is strange that Cruise did not seem to be in contention for the lead role in the film.Perhaps the development of aDays of Thundersequel contributed to Cruise having no interest in the film, but it is also possible that the actor’s penchant for stunt work might have made him feel like a risky and difficult hire.
