Tom Cruise Making A Movie In Outer Space Makes Complete Sense For The Actor; Read Why

With confirmation by NASA that Tom Cruise will be the first actor to film a major motion picture in space, Cruise’s “down to earth” descriptor will necessarily have to be revised. 

Since the beginning of his career, Cruise has defied all expectations and predictions. While other superstars have indeed been in ensemble vehicles like the Star Wars films or The Avengers, a “Tom Cruise Movie” tends to be just that – a film that lives or dies based on audience interest in seeing Tom Cruise in that particular film. 

Rarely has Cruise starred in a movie where the concept is bigger than his own celebrity. When he has participated in a franchise that doesn’t draw on his uniqueness, like Universal’s remake of The Mummy, it tends to fail.

Cruise was the first “A-list” actor to understand global box office, and he broke ground marketing his films all over the world when other actors rarely bothered to promote their films outside of the U.S. and parts of Europe. 

No other actor of his stature or age has ever put himself in harm’s way the way Cruise has.

Cruise’s courage – or some might say insanity – aligns with his unique place in the Hollywood firmament. Few movie stars today are both as beloved and opaque, as Cruise. 

Few industry veterans were shocked to learn that Cruise has joined forces with Elon Musk to create a film wherein Cruise would use a SpaceX rocket to catapult him into space for a real-life feature film production taking place on the International Space Station.

If anyone would pull such a stunt, Tom Cruise would.

The funny thing is that technology is so advanced today, audience members won’t likely notice the difference between whether Cruise is actually in outer space, or simply acting against a green screen, the way George Clooney and Sandra Bullock did in Gravity.

Here comes the big question. Why?

Why willingly put one’s own life at risk in the service of a single film project, especially when you’re Tom Cruise and you can “cruise” along with the Mission: Impossible franchise of movies, the sequel to Top Gun and any number of other potential sequels from other beloved titles, that don’t require being hurled dangerously into outer space?

Cruise prides himself on being “the first” at things.

While few of us will ever really get to know the real Tom Cruise, he knows us. 

He understands that we don’t just want him to do the impossible; we need him to keep doing the impossible.

As we watch with nostalgia and awe how Michael Jordan performed superhuman feats as a basketball player in ESPN’s The Last Dance, it’s comforting to know that another superstar from the 1980s hasn’t hung up his Air Jordans yet. 

Cruise will be the first actor to perform in outer space. 

Anyone taking bets on who will be the first A-lister to literally “shoot the moon?”