Tom Cruise is building covid-free village on former RAF base in Oxfordshire to resume filming on Mission Impossible 7
IT was one of the first major entertainment cancellations of the Covid crisis – but not for the first time, Tom Cruise has saved the day for Mission: Impossible.
Filming on the blockbuster spy franchise’s seventh outing was scheduled to be nearing completion now but was shut down in Venice as the lockdown took hold.
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Yet in a resourceful move that even leading man Ethan Hunt would be impressed by, producer Tom and his fellow movie chiefs are now building an entire village to ensure the cast and crew can safely complete the picture in record time.
I’m told the team have taken over an abandoned RAF site in Oxfordshire to construct the short-term filming location.
It is being kitted out with VIP Winnebago trailers fit for the A-list cast, which includes Tom as special agent Ethan, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson.
The arrangement will allow them to rattle through a host of scenes while living in the bubble to ensure none of the stars or crew pick up coronavirus.
A source said: “The film has already been heavily delayed and there’s no sign of things going totally back to normal any time soon, so this is a way to try to get things up and moving again quickly and safely.
“It’s also tough to get hotel rooms at the moment as most of them are shut for the foreseeable future, so it was this or delay things for even longer.
“It will mean some of the world’s biggest stars all living together in a posh campsite while working alongside the rest of the team.
"It’s pricey but Tom always does things bigger and better than anyone, and there’s a hell of a lot riding on this film.
“The Mission: Impossible movies are all massive box office successes and the studio is right behind getting this back on track.”
Paramount Pictures is planning to release it in November 2021, having already pushed it back from July next year.
The film is the first of two planned further sequels to the mega franchise, with director Christopher McQuarrie overseeing them.
Even a global pandemic wasn’t enough to halt one of the world’s most prolific action heroes.
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It's no woman no pie for Naomi
NAOMI Campbell's figure has helped her make more than £47million and now her personal chef has lifted the lid on how she stays trim.
Sean John, who has worked for the notorious diva for more than a decade, has confirmed Naomi eats only one meal a day.
And as you may have guessed, she even has him cook for her when she’s travelling by plane – even if she’s on a private jet.
Sean said: “She has her own stuff at home, but I prepare one really good meal a day, and it’s super clean and really healthy.
“She’s an ital, which is a Jamaican word for clean vegetarian style. Like Bob Marley Rasta talk. When she travels private, I prepare those meals, too. She doesn’t eat plane food.”
Sean went on to reveal he had been cooking for Naomi, who has lived in New York, throughout lockdown, where the chef is based.
But she never ordered food off the menu from his two restaurants in the Big Apple, which he had opened for a takeout service.
Speaking to New York Post gossip column Page Six, Sean added: “She never orders from the restaurant. It’s never from the menu.
“She’s basically like, ‘Make something, but not what’s on the menu,’ so it’s always a creative process. She has to have flavour. You can’t just put salt and pepper in it. I don’t do that anyway, but she knows.
“There’s got to be some spice and herbs. She’s all about making it soulful.”
Without any calories I’m sure the grub is also a bit soulless . . .
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K-POP group BTS’s management is on the hunt for the next big boyband.
Big Hit Entertainment is auditioning singers from all over the world.
Applications through their website, closing date July 11.
Raining champ Ariana
PINT-sized pop star Ariana Grande has become the first artist to have four songs debut at No1 in America’s Billboard 100, after her duet with Lady Gaga, Rain On Me, took pole position.
Their single also scooped top spot on the UK charts on Friday, with Gaga a dead cert to top the album charts this Friday with latest release Chromatica.
But Ariana has insisted fans won’t be getting a new record from her in lockdown.
The star, who also teamed up with Justin Beiber to release charity single Stuck With U during isolation, said: “I don’t really feel comfortable putting anything out right now.”
Rock 'n' loo roll by Tom
TOM Walker has joked that his second record is going to be packed full of songs about lockdown – including raiding the fridge and the now legendary battle for toilet roll.
In an exclusive interview, the Leave A Light On singer revealed he has spent isolation penning new tunes for the follow-up to his 2019 debut album What A Time To Be Alive.
Tom said: “I’ve written about 14 new songs for album number two, which has been really good.”
However he added: “There’s not been a whole lot to write about.
“There’s only so many songs you can write about being stuck at home during the coronavirus – a song about the fridge looking desperate and running out of food, a song about toilet paper . . . It’s all going to be there in album two.”
As well as using the lockdown to work on new music, Tom revealed he has moved into a new home with his fiancée Annie.
He added: “We’ve lived with other people for the past seven years and we finally got our own space, which is so nice.
“We were pretty lucky, to be honest, we moved in one week before lockdown started. We’ve been painting and doing DIY for the past eight weeks and I’ve been trying to write some songs in between that.”
I loved Tom’s last offering so I can’t wait to hear what he’s come up with now.
Hopefully he was just joking about the lockdown lyrics, mind.
bizbit
AFTER his debut album was narrowly beaten to No1 by The 1975 on Friday, KSI reckons his YouTuber background isn’t helping.
He said: “I have to work harder than the average musician to prove I can do music.”
Zara's a crop star
SOME people have been baking banana bread in lockdown but not Zara McDermott, who appears to have served up herself.
The Love Island star looked as though she was pining for Wimbledon in her latest Instagram snap, where she posed in a pleated white skirt and black crop top while sat on her kitchen counter.
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Zara, who is now a regular on Channel 4 reality show Made In Chelsea with her toff boyfriend Sam Thompson and his older sister Louise, showed off a giant bowl of strawberries for good measure.
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She was just missing some cream.
That’s game, set and snack . . .
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