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Business Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Times
Tom Cruise really did get a US aircraft carrier for this mission
[WASHINGTON] For fans of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series, the Pentagon can answer the incredulous question at the climax of its latest trailer: 'You gave him an aircraft carrier?' Yes, the US Navy and Air Force Special Operations decided to accept the mission: help Cruise's secret agent Ethan Hunt save the world. Or, at least make a movie about it. For Paramount Global's The Final Reckoning, released on Friday (May 23) in the US, Cruise and the crew spent three days in the Adriatic Sea filming aboard the USS George HW Bush, a nuclear powered Nimitz-class carrier commissioned in 2009. It's the latest cinematic incarnation of Cruise's career-long affinity for the US military and its aircraft (as well as doing his own stunts). It's also an example of the Pentagon's willingness to showcase its hardware and martial might through a classic piece of American soft power, the Hollywood blockbuster. The Pentagon has a long history as a supporting character, most famously the 1990 spy thriller The Hunt for Red October – the one where Scotsman Sean Connery plays a Soviet submarine captain. Before getting on board, the Defense Department reviews scripts for accuracy and depictions of the military. (The Pentagon declined, for instance, to support Oliver Stone's multi-Oscar-winning Vietnam War drama Platoon.) A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up The US military also charges for equipment use, as well as transportation and lodging for personnel. For 2022's Top Gun: Maverick, for example, the Navy was paid as much as US$11,374 an hour to use its F/A-18 Super Hornets – which Cruise could not control as he flew in the fighter jet's backseat. For The Final Reckoning, however, Paramount's reported blowout budget of US$400 million got a break because the carrier and crew were already on scheduled training missions. 'Most, if not all, of the aircraft time was logged as official training requirements, and therefore not reimbursable,' the Pentagon said in a statement. The cast and crew – including Cruise, co-star Hannah Waddingham and director Christopher McQuarrie – were ferried to the carrier aboard Sikorsky Aircraft MH-60S Seahawks, flown by the Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 5 based in Norfolk, Virginia. While aboard from Feb 28 to Mar 3, 2023, Cruise hosted a Top Gun: Maverick viewing in the ship's hangar bay and visited with sailors, who had been deployed for about six months at that time, the Navy said in a statement on Friday. 'Given that we were on deployment, operational and safety plans were in place so that if called upon, we were ready to execute our mission on a moment's notice,' spokesperson Lieutenant Commander Matthew Stroup said in the statement. The crew also filmed flight sequences, a scene in the navigation bridge and Hunt's departure aboard a CV-22 Osprey tiltroter aircraft, from the 352nd Special Operations Wing out of Souda Bay, Crete, which was on a joint training exercise with the carrier group. The film 'supplemented the already scheduled training and did not interfere with any requirements', said Air Force Special Operations Command spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca Heyse. The USS Hyman G Rickover, a Virginia-class attack submarine, also makes a cameo, shot off the coast of Massachusetts. The interiors, however, were pure Hollywood: stage sets and actors for sailors. They did, however, have the help of a Navy representative and a retired submarine commander as a technical adviser. 'Being able to namecheck an aircraft carrier that you have actually filmed on lends a dimension of accuracy to the film that elevates it,' Paramount said in a response to questions, referencing a scene where Cruise's Hunt specifically requests the Bush carrier. The Pentagon's support 'lends authenticity to the military involvement necessary to help Ethan Hunt accomplish his mission'. BLOOMBERG
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
What it takes to be a Navy pilot
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier has been an airport at sea since 2009. Over 5,000 sailors are on board when the ship is at capacity, and the F-18 and F-35 pilots are one of the main jobs. Being a part of naval aviation takes years of training, and when News 2's Shelby Mac came aboard the CVN-77 pilots were doing aircraft carrier qualifications. This is when pilots must take off and land on the aircraft carrier during the day and night a certain number of times, and get a certain score to be ready for upcoming missions. Lieutenant Andrew Mueller, F-18 Instructor Pilot, has been training new naval pilots on the U.S.S. George H. W. Bush this season. 'We teach them to fly the Super Hornet, and this is final, their graduation here in which we're teaching them to land on the ship both day and night,' said Mueller, call sign Doug. Tour the Captain's Import Cabin aboard the USS George H. W. Bush This is no small task since the runway is 300 feet with the assistance of a catapult versus more than 5,000 feet on dry land for an F-18 take-off. 'As you launch off a catapult your brain is experiencing this feeling of rolling back in your head and it's giving the sensation that you're being shot up into the ether, so you really don't want to manipulate the controls until after you've come off then end, and the jets auto-trimmed to fly you away. So, you don't want to hastily grab the stick and push it either direction. So nice, disciplined shot, sweet, good shot, safely fly away, and then go into your procedures from there.' Mueller is a second-generation Navy pilot, and the Hollywood movies helped others understand what exactly his dad's job was. 'My old man was actually a Navy Aviator back in the day, and prior to the original Top Gun movie coming out, people had no idea what Naval Aviators did, what an aircraft carrier was. It was almost an unknown group of fighter pilots going out and doing things, but once you make a couple of movies about it, then I think it puts it into the public's imagination, and it increases recruiting and retention as well.' Mueller said he's proud of the work naval aviation does for our country, but the team wouldn't be successful without the entire crew. 'There are thirteen pilots and maybe ten jet aircraft, but honestly, there are 300 hard-working Navy sailors who are making sure that the engines are operational, the flight controls are there, and the software, everything that makes the whole team work.' Once pilots have made a specific score on taking off and landing during the day, night comes and it's time to land on a moving runway in complete darkness. To see more from Shelby's naval journey, check out the News 2 special report . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Hannah Waddingham reflects on how her "Mission: Impossible" character echoes personal family history
The latest "Mission: Impossible" film includes an extravaganza of exotic locations, elaborate action sequences and is a cautionary tale about artificial intelligence. British actor Hannah Waddingham, known for her role on the hit show "Ted Lasso," plays an admiral on a U.S. Navy ship in "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning." Starring alongside Tom Cruise, Waddingham said they filmed their scenes on a real aircraft carrier, the USS George HW Bush, with 4,500 service members on board. "They were gorgeous. Just thousands of people just loving that we were all there, but all of us so humbled by being around them," she said. "As someone who comes from a nautical background, it was really a phenomenal moment." Waddingham said her character in the movie echoes her family history. "My grandfather, who we still have, he's 108, was in the Royal Navy," she said. "He's the fifth oldest man in the United Kingdom, medals up the wazoo. … It's another reason why I wanted to do it." Waddingham also comes from a family of opera singers and her four-octave range stole the show at last year's Olivier Awards in London. Before moving into television and film, she spent decades on the stage. "If I had walked the red carpet at Cannes when I was 24, I think I would have lost my tiny mind. I don't shy away from the fact that I'm 50 and I've well and truly been around the block," Waddingham said. Hannah Waddingham departs after attending the "Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning" red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 14, 2025 in Cannes, France. Karwai Tang She is often cast in commanding roles, from "Sex Education" to "Game of Thrones" and "Ted Lasso," where she won an Emmy for her performance as businesswoman Rebecca Welton. "I purposely take roles that are strong, kind of peripherally, but actually when you peel into the layers, there are softnesses, there's self-doubt. Just because you're 6 ft. doesn't mean you're not squishy or self-doubting or anything inside," she said, adding that she's true to herself and knows herself better than ever. "In a moment where you're not feeling that confident, like being on this job, being on 'Mission Impossible', they are all so kind and welcoming – it's very easy to have imposter syndrome. You could easily go, 'Oh, I shouldn't be here.' … You just have to choose. You have to choose to be positive," Waddingham said. "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" is distributed by Paramount Pictures, which is part of CBS' parent company, Paramount Global. The film hit theaters on Friday, May 23.
