Los Angeles (AFP)
US actor Tom Cruise, 57, is scheduled to shoot a film in space aboard the International Space Station, NASA announced on Tuesday.
The American space agency is "enthusiastic" at the idea of working with the star of "Top Gun" for a film on board the International Space Station, tweeted the director of Nasa, Jim Bridenstine, without further details. He welcomed this initiative which could "inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists" for the "ambitious projects" of his organization.
The specialized site Deadline Hollywood had echoed during the weekend rumors evoking this film project, adding that it would involve SpaceX, the company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla.
SpaceX and NASA are preparing a historic mission scheduled for May 27 with, for the first time since 2011, the takeoff of astronauts in space from the United States and not on board a Russian rocket. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is to take a new Crew Dragon capsule, taking two American astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, to the International Space Station.
Neither Elon Musk nor SpaceX have confirmed their involvement in the film with Tom Cruise. Mr. Musk simply replied on Twitter to Mr. Bridenstine that the project "should be a lot of fun".
According to Deadline Hollywood, even if few details have filtered on this project, it is not part of the hit film series "Mission Impossible". Because of the spread of the coronavirus, Paramount Pictures had announced at the end of February the interruption of production in Italy of the next part of the series, the seventh, whose release is scheduled for July 23, 2021.
© 2020 AFP