Tom Cruise is one of the biggest stars in the world, but his incredible reputation for stunts may have caused him to miss out on what might be one of the biggest movies of 2025. Following the release of potentially the last film in his biggest franchise with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, Cruise has had several notable years. Top Gun: Maverick was the biggest film of 2022, and the actor still clearly has a strong appeal with audiences. However, new details have emerged concerning how difficult it might be to work with him.

Director Christopher McQuarrie described making a Mission: Impossible movie recently, and the process sounds incredibly difficult. Cruise has a penchant for doing his own stunts, and this will often take a lot of work and effort. It is wonderful that he has found such an excellent and like-minded partner in McQuarrie, and the McQuarrie and Cruise partnership has contributed to a large number of projects since first coming together on Valkyrie. However, Cruise's need to achieve verisimilitude in his practical stunts may have cost him a reunion with his Maverick director.

Top Gun: Maverick Director Is Making A Formula One Movie With Brad Pitt

Joseph Kosinski's F1 Looks LIke The Top Gun 2 Of Racing

Top Gun: Maverick director Jospeh Kosinski is following up on the biggest hit of his career with F1, set to release at the end of this month. The new film stars Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem, and was produced by Apple TV+, with distribution being shared by Warner Bros. Pictures. Its budget was reported to be $300 million, although Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have said otherwise, and hopes to turn around the streak that Apple TV+ theatrical films have faced over the past few years and make a major splash at the box office.

Apple TV+ films have struggled theatrically, with 2023's Napoleon grossing the highest, making $221 million worldwide against a budget of between $130-200 million.

Kosinski, who previously worked on films including Tron: Legacy and Oblivion, seems to have brought much of his experience from Top Gun: Maverick to this new film. In an attempt to capture realism, many of F1's effects were handled practically, including much of the driving, which took a great deal of training and effort for Pitt. Filmed largely during the racing season, the movie puts a major focus on creating an immersive experience that puts the audience directly into the heads and cars of the drivers themselves.

Joseph Kosinski Described How F1 Filming Would Have Been Different If Tom Cruise Was Cast Instead

Tom Cruise Is Not The Easiest Star To Work With

In a recent profile on the making of F1 in GQ, a number of details about the film's production came out, and the director was asked about what the movie might have looked like if Cruise had been cast in the lead role. Kosinski highlighted how much more difficult and even scary it would have been if Cruise had been cast. Put simply, Cruise, as described by both the director and the action-vehicle supervisor, Graham Kelly, "pushes it to the limit" in a way that could have been difficult to navigate on F1. Koskinski said:

Tom always pushes it to the limit, but at the same time is super capable and very skilled... [Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt] both have the natural talent for driving. But yeah, I could see Tom maybe scaring us a little bit more.

Kelly continued, explaining that he had previously worked with Cruise on some of the Mission: Impossible movies. He described that as a very stressful experience, believing that, if Cruise had led F1, "We’d have had a crash." Notably, the crew member smiled as he said this, putting a softer point on it. Still, working with Cruise has historically been a difficult task, as has been noted by many of his co-workers through the years. He is a very hands-on producer and star, and Kelly conceded that Pitt knows his limits, whereas Cruise may not.

Tom Cruise Is Known To Push The Limit With His Stunt Work In Movies

This Has Made For Some Incredible Sequences, But Has Caused Difficulty Behind-The-Scenes

Cruise has proven himself to be one of the most exciting actors in the action movie landscape, with his dangerous Mission: Impossible stunts adding a great deal to the reputation and legacy of the franchise. This has allowed the actor to shine in sequences like the big one in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, where he hung off a biplane, and even jumped from one to another in midair. These scenes are incredible and add huge spectacle to the resulting films. However, they cause many complications behind the scenes.

During the development of the aforementioned scene, Cruise was told by stunt professionals that it couldn't be done. Unsatisfied by this response, Cruise and McQuarrie instead decided to get another opinion. In the end, the setpiece wound up being one of the most astounding sequences that has ever been seen in a Mission: Impossible film. However, these difficulties behind the scenes, and this commitment to practical effects, also wound up further complicating the production. Alongside the SAG-AFTRA strikes and delays going back to the COVID-19 pandemic, this culminated in The Final Reckoning's reported $400 million budget.

Cruise's reputation in Hollywood is a difficult one to navigate. While there is great respect for Cruise’s methods, it can also be hard to work alongside him. Even going back to Mission: Impossible II, Thandiwe Newton spoke with Harper's Bazaar about the experience of working with the actor, where she itted that he was a nice person, but the entire experience was trying. She explained his commitment further, saying, "He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done."

Did Tom Cruise's Reputation For Stunts Really Cost Him The Lead Role In F1?

Brad Pitt Might Have Simply Been The Right Choice For The Part

The matter of F1's lead role is certainly much more complicated than Cruise's reputation costing him the part. After all, this was only brought up as a hypothetical question by the interviewer, and it is possible that F1 is not a film that Cruise would have been interested in starring in. In addition, Cruise has kept a packed schedule and has committed much of his time to his work with McQuarrie in recent years. The Final Reckoning's filming schedule even overlapped with F1 between 2023 and 2024.

Still, Cruise's reputation is surely a factor to consider. Even his frequent collaborator McQuarrie itted this to GQ, describing what seems to be a common experience with working with Cruise: "Lots of directors will do that once. They don’t ever want to f***ing do that again." This is a testament to Cruise's commitment to his films and his clear investment in the material. However, based on this comment, as well as those shared by Kosinski, it seems possible that the stress of working with Cruise was a factor in his not being in the film.

Despite McQuarrie's quote, Joseph Kosinski has actually already directed Cruise twice, first in 2013's Oblivion, then in 2022's Top Gun: Maverick.

With that said, Pitt seemed to be a great fit for the F1 role. The actor is still one of the best-known performers in Hollywood, and his driving ability seemed to help him in making the film, which came out onscreen in the F1 trailer. During a recent conversation with CinemaBlend, Kosinski outlined the process and how Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who also serves as a producer on the film, gave some when they were preparing to shoot. He outlined how Pitt seemed to have the right talent and was the right fit for the role, explaining:

What Lewis was very happy to discover was that Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start, and I don't know where he got that or if he was born with it, and he rides motorcycles, which I think has something to do with it, but he's just a very talented, naturally gifted driver, which for Lewis after that first meeting gave him a lot of confidence that we might have a shot at pulling this off.

F1 will soon release in theaters, and anticipation is high for Kosinski's follow-up to the massive worldwide hit Top Gun: Maverick. Still, following such an excellent pairing between Kosinski and Cruise, it is strange that Cruise did not seem to be in contention for the lead role in the film. Perhaps the development of a Days of Thunder sequel contributed to Cruise having no interest in the film, but it is also possible that the actor's penchant for stunt work might have made him feel like a risky and difficult hire.

Source: GQ, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, CinemaBlend