Mission unenviable
Cruise control not an option for Hollywood
Spare a thought for Tom Cruise’s blood pressure. Just before Christmas, the world got a rare insight into the star’s state of mind when a recording surfaced of Cruise, on the Hertfordshire, England, set of Mission: Impossible 7, yelling at staff for breaking COVID safety rules.
The outburst was an indication of the pressure producers like Cruise have been under to keep films rolling. As well as daily temperature tests at studios like Pinewood, Shepperton or Leavesden (where Mission Impossible was filming), production companies have introduced strict controls, social distancing and bi- weekly COVID- 19 tests to create a “green zone” in which hundreds of cast and crew can responsibly work. Any positive tests are carefully tracked and traced.
This all comes at enormous cost. Jurassic World: Dominion was the first major shoot to resume last July, and wrapped on Nov. 7, at Pinewood Studios. The 100day shoot was possible only because of 40,000 COVID tests and all the additional staff that implied; 150 hand sanitizer stations, 60 extra sinks, you name it. This cost something in the range of $ 6- 8 million extra for a film originally budgeted at $ 165 million ( 0.25 per cent of the tests carried out came back positive). That film isn’t due for release until summer 2022.
Similar practices are enabling high-profile shoots to pick up where they left off in December, including Fantastic Beasts 3 at Leavesden and an undisclosed Star Wars title at Pinewood, likely to be Diego Luna’s Rogue One spinoff, Andor. Matt Reeves’s The Batman, which transformed part of Liverpool into Gotham during the city’s October lockdown, is due to wrap next month, and Mission Impossible has moved to England’s Longcross Studios for the final part of principal photography.
The latest lockdown hasn’t endangered these shoots, but has put them under greater strain. Filmmakers are introducing more testing to address the greater transmissibility of the virus’s new mutation, and struggling with the cost increase. Some smaller productions are carrying on, but a lower level of testing (due to expense) has left cast and crew nervous.
“No one is really policing this,” one film industry professional tells me. “The bigger question is the ethical conduct of producers.”
On the big films, work forges on in the hope they see the light of day in a mask-free, panic- free 2022. It’s unclear what the entertainment landscape will look like, but if we’re interested in watching something expensive, there should be one or two options.