Long ago, Hollywood and moviegoers seemed to make a pact by which all parties agreed to afford Tom Cruise as much eccentricity as he needed, so long as he continued making financially successful, relatively enjoyable films. That fragile agreement has been maintained, more or less, for over a decade. Cruise has stuck to starring in fun, inoffensive action flicks — consisting primarily of sequels — and kept his gaffes to a palatable few. Of course, he’s also been getting paid a lot of money.
But perhaps not enough. That’s the reason Deadline is reporting pre-production of the sixth Mission: Impossible installment has been halted. Cruise and Paramount Pictures are reportedly experiencing a salary dispute that has effectively ceased all work on the film’s script and preliminary visual effect design. There are two theories behind the production standstill circulating the internet, the first claiming that Paramount is hoping Cruise and producers like Skydance and Bad Robot will agree to lower their fees. The second possible reason is that Ethan Hunt wants more dough for all those ridiculous stunts, insisting Paramount match the impressive sum Universal bestowed upon him for The Mummy.
Considering the project is still in its infancy, this financial squabble will likely have no effect on the film’s release date. After all, this film will get made and Tom Cruise will star in it and we will ignore any outrageous claims he makes during filming. Because that’s what we all agreed to.
(Via Deadline)
