Cruise Abandons Space Film to Avoid Owing Trump a Favor

Tom Cruise’s planned space movie is reportedly on hold because the actor didn’t want to involve President Donald Trump. According to Page Six, Cruise was set to reunite with Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman for the film, which would have required coordination with NASA.

Sources told the outlet that Cruise didn’t want to ask Trump for any favors to make the movie happen.

“From what I understand, they would need NASA coordination to do the movie, and supposedly Tom Cruise did not want to ask Donald Trump for a favor,” the source said. “You’d need permission from the federal government.”

The insider added, “Tom didn’t want to ask for political reasons.” This comes after Cruise previously cited “scheduling conflicts” as the reason he declined Trump’s Kennedy Center Honor in August.

The space project was first reported in 2020, with Deadline revealing that Cruise had been in talks with SpaceX and NASA. At the time, there was reportedly no completed script, and it is unclear how far the film moved in development. In 2020, then-NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, appointed by Trump, expressed support on X, writing, “NASA is excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make @NASA’s ambitious plans a reality,” according to NPR.

Cruise reportedly did not want to test whether Trump’s administration would approve the project, leaving the movie in limbo. Meanwhile, Trump continues to reference Cruise publicly. Last month, when discussing B-2 bomber pilots involved in Iran strikes, he described them as “perfect specimens” who ‘looked like Tom Cruise… but taller.’”

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