You might think making a movie during the coronavirus crisis would be mission impossible, but that’s not the case in Norway. The government has announced Tom Cruise and crew can skip the country’s covid-19 quarantine in order to film scenes for Mission: Impossible 7 this August.
Cruise spoke directly to Norway’s Minister of Culture Abid Raja on a phone call last week. In a clip from the call, Cruise spoke of his love for Norway: “It’s a gorgeous country, I can’t wait to get back there. I’m very excited, as is the whole crew, about coming back.”
It’s not such good news for many of the estimated 10,000 Norwegians that flew to Spain when the restrictions were lifted two weeks ago. Unlike Cruise, they now face a mandatory 10-day quarantine on their return.
Upon arrival in Norway, the crew will be subject to a strict health regime. Bollestad explained that “members of the production team will be kept apart from others during their stay in Norway,” which rules out any interaction with members of the public. The crew will also be subject to regular testing.
Promotion of Norway
Bollestad said the film was important to show “the nature, culture and history” of Norway to a global audience.
It seems the government were pleased with the promotion of Norway during the last film in the franchise, Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Some scenes were shot in Norway, including a literal cliffhanger at the iconic Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock). However, the film was set in India, and neither Pulpit Rock nor Norway were named in the movie.
But that hasn’t stopped the Norwegian Film Institute digging into its pockets once again to provide a subsidy of several million dollars to the production team. Some scenes are set to be shot in the Møre og Romsdal region of western Norway, although precise details aren’t yet available.
Raja explained to NRK that the subsidies are important not just to promote Norway, but to build up competence in the domestic film industry.