Top Gun hunk Tom Cruise nixed asking President Donald Trump for a favor — dooming his dream to film in outer space, the National Enquirer has learned.
Insiders say the Mission: Impossible star balked at working with NASA since complicated and dangerous scenes filmed in outer space required a green light from the White House.
“Tom didn’t want to ask for political reasons,” says a source.
“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.”
“You’d need permission from the federal government.”
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Back in 2020, news of the ambitious film project seemed like a done deal when then NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine crowed about it in a tweet.
“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,” he wrote according to NPR.
But one Hollywood insider tells the Enquirer that Cruise — who’s stayed out of politics over the years — is a bit of a snob when it comes to making movies.
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“Tom Cruise is a control freak. Psychologically, he wants to run everything, and he doesn’t want anyone telling him what to do,” the insider tells the Enquirer.
“On the surface, he pretends to be a very congenial and easygoing guy. But he has a big ego and deep down inside he wants control over every aspect of the films he produces or appears in.”
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The space film isn’t the first time Cruise, who’s licking his wounds after breaking up with Cuban spitfire Ana de Armas, has dodged crossing paths with Trump — apparently in a effort to avoid alienating fans.
Citing a scheduling conflict, Cruise politely turned down Trump’s invitation to receive a 2025 Kennedy Center Honor.
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Shortly after that, Trump took a jab at the Edge of Tomorrow stud’s 5-foot-7 height while complimenting the B-2 bomber pilots that wiped out Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
While calling the pilots “perfect specimens” who resembled Cruise, Trump cracked, “They really do. I don’t want to be a wise guy and say, but taller. I’m not gonna say that,” per Daily Beast.