Amid the behemoth box office success of Top Gun: Maverick throughout the year, Tom Cruise is still filming his eighth Mission: Impossible film, Dead Reckoning Part Two. And while the actor was shooting the film in Lake District, England this week, the production had to delay production again (if only briefly) due to none other than a flock of sheep.
Lake District is located in the mountainous countryside of England, making sheep sightings a lot more common than your average filming location. Tom Cruise and the crew present at the scene completely paused filming, as the massive flock of sheep moved through. Cruise was photographed, while wearing a black jumpsuit, admiring the animals as they made their way through the grassy terrain where Mission: Impossible 8 was being shot that day, per Fox News.
If you’ve been following the happenings of M:I 7 & 8, you know it’s been a long road for the leading man and the cast and filmmakers of the action movies. The seventh installment initially began filming in early 2020 just as the pandemic struck. Dead Reckoning Part One continued to face numerous delays and shooting did not reportedly wrap until fall 2021. As it continues to shoot, Part One is now set to be among 2023’s upcoming movies, and the follow-up will be released the following summer.
With that in mind, waiting for a flock of sheep is perhaps just a small inconvenience for a production that has had to remain especially patient. As one would expect from the franchise's star, he's taking part in numerous big stunts for his return as Ethan Hunt, one recent one involving him paragliding from a helicopter in Lake District, England.
While shooting the scene, Tom Cruise had a pleasant run-in with a couple who were fans of his movies. They shared that the actor apologized for the noise of the helicopters and got photos with them before getting back to paragliding. Cruise recently celebrated his 60th birthday while filming Mission: Impossible 8, proving age is just a number with all he’s accomplished whilst other people with the same number under their belt may be in or contemplating retirement.
That’s not to say that Tom Cruise invincible, the actor actually broke his ankle on the set of the last Mission: Impossible that came out, 2018’s Fallout but according to his co-star Simon Pegg he saved the production millions of dollars by getting up and limping out of the shot rather than laying their in his sheer pain. Yeah… Cruise is a badass -- one who also just happens to appreciate sheep.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is set to hit theaters on July 14, 2023 and Part Two is coming out on June 28, 2024. While we wait, you can see CinemaBlend have a Top Gun: Maverick flight experience not unlike one of the actor's famous stunts.
