Over the last few days, the Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 cast and crews have been getting back into gear. Given current rates of the pandemic in varying parts of the world, they’ve headed to the UAE for the next round of filming and Simon Pegg has been sharing that journey. He also recently reminded Mission: Impossible fans of a time he, Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and the gang filmed in this particular location for another installment in the franchise.
Simon Pegg is a relative newcomer on social media, but he’s been a natural since he started a few months ago. Apparently, he’s someone who takes avid photos on set, but has not had a platform to share them in the past. So, now that he’s heading back to Abu Dhabi he happened to mention Ghost Protocol was filmed in the UAE--a decade ago.
Oh hey Jeremy Renner. If you are feeling the heavy weight of Father Time right now, you aren’t alone. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the Brad Bird M:I movie. That’s the fourth installment in the movie franchise and the one that famously features a major action sequence from Tom Cruise at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which is in the UAE. It's also a time when Renner didn't have Hawkeye and various MCU projects on his plate and prior to Henry Cavill infamously appearing in the franchise as well.
Mission: Impossible had created great stunts before, but the Burj Khalifa moment is really the scene that sort of propelled what Tom Cruise was willing to do as Ethan Hunt into the stratosphere. It apparently went so well that later, Mission: Impossible - Fallout would famously film another stunt in the UAE in Abu Dhabi that featured some heavy stunt work with Tom Cruise on a plane. It’s sort of fitting that the team is heading back to the location for its next round of stunts in 2021. And Simon Pegg has been sharing that journey all along the way.
Earlier this week on Instagram Stories, he spoke out about getting a Covid test prior to traveling to the UAE. He also shared a look from the plane.
Separately, when arriving to set, he shared a bit about Abu Dhabi, preparing for its desert setting. I don’t know Simon Pegg personally, but he strikes me as someone who is likely going to be in for a lot of sunscreen in the coming weeks. (This may be a case where living that mask life actually helps.)
Meanwhile, reports have alleged that Tom Cruise is also already in the UAE and prepping for the back-to-back films to get right back to work, though he hasn't posted anything to his official social media accounts. The movies were under a bit of strain heading into the holiday season in 2020, so here’s hoping a little bit of sunshine and warm weather lifts the spirits of those involved. Though it’s worth noting some of the crew are allegedly not pumped to be filming in the UAE either.
