A furious Tom Cruise was caught on audio lacing into the Mission: Impossible 7 film crew for violating social distancing rules.
According to the Sun, which obtained the nearly four-minute dressing down, Cruise “flew into a rage after spotting two of the crew standing within two metres of each other.”
Apparently, after that, he gathered the fifty or so crew members together, and in very clear and precise language, warned them that no one’s being given any more chances. Any further violations of social distancing rules means you’re “fucking gone.”
Listen below:
“If I see you do it again, you’re fucking gone. And if anyone in this crew does it, that’s it — and you too and you too. And you, don’t you ever fucking do it again.”
“They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherfuckers,” he shouted. “That’s it. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their fucking homes because our industry is shut down. “
“We are not shutting this fucking movie down. Is it understood? If I see it again, you’re fucking gone.”
Two things are worthy of note here… If you listen to the entire audio, he never once says anything about PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE!!! YOU’RE KILLING PEOPLE!!! YOU’RE A SERIAL KILLER! There’s none of that BS, none of that anti-science, smug and sanctimonious emotional blackmail. What Cruise is worried about, and Mission: Impossible 7 was already shut down once due to a coronavirus outbreak, is everyone losing their jobs and homes.
On top of that, Cruise is saying that this film set represents the standard now being used throughout the industry, and that standard is allowing other productions to go back to work. So if the Mission: Impossible 7 standard fails, that could mean everyone gets shut down, and that’s a lot of jobs.
Listen, I made a living for 17 years as a corporate bill collector and have been at the wrong end of my own share of what we used to call Come To Jesus Meetings, and they were a lot worse than this. That doesn’t mean it’s right for Cruise to be calling everyone a “motherfucker,” but one thing I always appreciated about those Come To Jesus Meetings was the honesty. You knew where you stood. It was coming straight at you.
And let’s also not forget that this is not a “star tantrum.”
Cruise is a producer, a hands-on producer of this franchise. There’s $200 million he’s responsible for and everything about the guy’s reputation tells you he takes that responsibility seriously.
Whatever you think of his rant, it was not about him, it was not about Tom Cruise, or disrespecting Tom Cruise or not listening to Tom Cruise or you should be grateful to Tom Cruise. When you’re that angry and unhinged, the truth tends to come out, and he seems genuinely worried about others, especially those “losing their fucking homes.”
The Sun also reports that to keep the movie going, Cruise “personally paid £500,000 for an old cruise ship for the cast and crew to isolate on.”
You know where you stand with a guy like Cruise. That’s the kind of guy I can do business with, even after he calls me a motherfucker. Maybe especially after he calls me a motherfucker.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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