TOM MELTS DOWN OVER M:I — AGAIN!

A production delay once again brings out Tom Cruise’s angry side

Not again! In early June, filming on Mission: Impossible 7 shut down for two weeks after at least one crew member tested positive for COVID-19 — the latest of many frustrating and costly delays for Tom Cruise, who is not only the star of the franchise but a producer. “Tom is experiencing déjà vu, and it’s not the good kind,” says an insider of the actor, who famously ranted at crew members for breaking coronavirus restrictions in a tape leaked back in January. “He’s livid because he feels that his team dropped the ball with their lack of health precautions, and it’s made him have yet another meltdown.”

A SCARY STAFF MEETING

While many in the industry praised Tom, 58, for taking COVID-19 restrictions so seriously, the audio of his previous tantrum was so over-thetop that some believed it was staged. This time, however, he was able to get his initial frustration out in private. “He learned about the shutdown on his day off,” the insider explains. “So Tom had time to cool off and think about how he would address it with everyone. He definitely didn’t want a repeat of the leaked audio, which was ultimately embarrassing for him.”

Instead, the insider says, Tom called a staff meeting, where he expressed his “outrage” in a slightly calmer way. “In his most stern tone, he told producers and crew how disappointed he was and how costly this mistake would be,” the insider says, adding that while he didn’t shout like before, “it was still uncomfortable. He definitely talks down to people. He scolded adults as if they were children. People are afraid of him.”

What need for speed? The release date of Tom’s much-anticipated Top Gun sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, has been pushed back another four months, from July 2 to Nov. 19. While it was initially slated for a 2019 box office run, production and pandemic-related issues slowed the movie down by more than a year. In all, the flick has had six release dates announced — let's hope, for the sake of Tom’s sanity, this one sticks!