Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible' Crew 'Walking on Eggshells' as He's 'Obsessed' With Outperforming 'Top Gun: Maverick'
May 14 2023, Published 5:00 a.m. ET
Tom Cruise is putting the finishing touches to Mission: Impossible 7 ahead of its long-awaited July release — but everyone is walking on eggshells around him as he barks out orders and micromanages the rollout to a degree that's ridiculous even by his high standards, RadarOnline.com has learned.
"Tom is pushing the completion to the absolute limit in terms of deadlines and scheduling, and it's nerve-racking for everybody, especially on the business side," shared a spy. "The movie's ending is still being shot, revised and reimagined. They're shooting M:I8 back to back — but M:I7 isn't finished and it's coming out in two months!"
As RadarOnline.com's readers know, Cruise's tough taskmaster approach is the stuff of Hollywood legend. During filming in 2020, shocking leaked audio revealed him ranting and raving at the cast and crew for failing to meet his sky-high pandemic safety demands.
And writer-director Christopher McQuarrie recently admitted M:I7 was "chaos" to film.
Sources whisper about "the unspoken fact" that Cruise is competing with himself.
"Tom is obsessed with topping the performance of Top Gun: Maverick," tattled an insider. "That's the big brass ring for him on this movie — to make it the biggest Mission: Impossible ever and to use every penny and every minute to get it to that place."
"It really is a miracle the project got made, and that's a testament to Tom's professionalism and ruthless perfectionist streak — but the man has not mellowed one bit," warned the source.
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RadarOnline.com told you first — Cruise was schmoozing Hollywood earlier this year in hopes of winning an Oscar for the Top Gun megahit. The superstar's latest flyboy flick racked up six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
Despite his superstar status, Tom making the rounds around Tinseltown wasn't enough to win the best award of the night.
Cruise was a no-show at the award show, with Entertainment Tonight reporting his absence was allegedly due to a filming conflict. In the end, Top Gun only walked away with one Academy Award for best sound despite being the 2022's number-one movie at the box office — proving he has some work to do if M:I8 is going to outshine his highly-anticipated sequel.
RadarOnline.com has reached out to Cruise's rep for comment.