Tom Cruise: Why Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation is a love letter to London

 
Capital fan: Tom Cruise on set in London and with co-stars Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson at the BFI Imax (Picture: Dave Benett)
Dave Benett
Miranda Bryant27 July 2015
The Weekender

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Tom Cruise today called his latest Mission: Impossible film a “love letter to London”.

The movie, the fifth in the franchise, was shot in the capital and features the Thames, Tower of London and Piccadilly Circus.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation had its London premiere at the BFI Imax on Saturday and is in cinemas from Thursday.

The Hollywood actor, 53, stars with Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Rebecca Ferguson. His character, Ethan Hunt, fights a network of special agents called the Syndicate around the capital.

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Cruise said: “It’s a city that I love and we get to create a bit of a love letter to London in this chase: you get the cobblestone streets, the fog, the Tower of London. I really enjoyed running with Rebecca through these streets on a really cool cat-and-mouse kind of chase. It was a lot of fun figuring out the logistics, scouting it all, finding just the right streets and then letting the story unfold through the action.”

Cruise, who divorced actress Katie Holmes in 2012, is reportedly dating his British assistant Emily Thomas, 22. Chris Moore, the film’s location manager, said: “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation presented some unique challenges while filming in London and the boroughs have turned it around on every occasion. I do believe that Film London and the local film offices have helped the boroughs understand why filming is so important to this city.”

The blockbuster is one of a string of major films and dramas shot recently in London, helping to generate £1.1 billion in production spending for the capital last year.

They include Suffragette, which stars Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan and tells the story of the early feminist movement, and Legend, about the Kray twins. Both are scheduled for release this year.

Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, said: “It’s a real testament to our city and the industry here that we can attract films like Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation and ensure they can achieve and often exceed their creative and technical ambition.

“The city is obviously a star attraction in itself, but without world-class facilities and a talented, tireless industry working to make these movies happen such missions might otherwise be impossible. Thankfully this isn’t the case, and we’d be more than happy to welcome Tom Cruise and his team back to the city whenever they next have to save the world.”

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