After it was reported last week that Univeral Pictures had won the rights to distribute Tom Cruise’s next film, a high-profile and extremely ambitious actioner that is on track to make cinematic history by becoming the first full-length narrative feature to be shot predominantly in space, Deadline has learned new details on how the earth-shattering deal actually came to be, and it sounds like talks were much simpler than we might've imagined.

According to their sources, Universal agreed to finance the film, with its estimated $200 million production budget, after a lengthy and highly enthusiastic Zoom conference call with 3x Academy Award-nominated star/producer Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible 7; Top Gun: Maverick) and director/writer Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow; American Made), as well as producers Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible 7; Mission: Impossible 8) and PJ van Sandwijk (Thirteen Lives; Citizen K).

In addition to serving as a producer alongside Cruise, Liman and Van Sandwijk, McQuarrie will also have a ground control role as story advisor. While unconfirmed, it also seems quite probable that he'll contribute to the film's mysterious script once Liman has completed his initial draft, which he's currently in the middle of writing. The trio previously collaborated on the sci-fi classic Edge of Tomorrow.

NASA and SpaceX will also be involved, with the former setting the stage for the production aboard the International Space Station and the latter providing the transportation.

While Cruise does still have two Mission: Impossible sequels, due out in 2021 and 2022, to finish filming before he can even think about leaving the planet, this untitled space film is inching closer and closer to becoming a reality by the day, and it seems increasingly likely that it'll be the first film he tackles right after wrapping Mission: Impossible 8 sometime next year. 

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