Mission: Impossible 7’s climactic sequence with Tom Cruise was almost derailed by angry locals

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The cast and crew of Mission: Impossible 7 are prepping a climactic action sequence with a moving train – however it was almost derailed by angry locals. 

Tom Cruise was spotted this week squaring off in an epic fight atop a moving train with the sequel’s villain, played by Esai Morales, while filming in North Yorkshire.

And the film’s explosive climax will be filmed in a small Derbyshire village, with The Sun reporting that the production team has received complaints from a local couple who claimed the shoot would ‘shatter the tranquility’ of the area.

The scene is set to be filmed in the village of Stoney Middleton in Derbyshire, with the movie using Darlton Quarry.

The production team have reportedly built a track which stops over the old quarry, with the train said to go hurtling off the tracks and fall 160 feet into the quarry, while Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Morales’ unnamed villain fight atop the locomotive. 

The filming application was objected by retired couple, Elizabeth Longbottom, 80, a former health visitor, and her husband Robin, 76, a retired surveyor.

‘This is an area of beauty and tranquility — and that’s going to be shattered when Mr Cruise and his team turn up. He means nothing to me, it’s 46 years since my husband and I went to the cinema,’ Elizabeth said. 

Robin added: ‘I assume the film company are paying handsomely for the privilege of disrupting everyone’s lives.’

The couple’s objection also added that they felt the scene, ‘could be done more economically and with less disturbance by being digitally generated.’

While there were others that objected to the shoot, the Peak District National Park Authority approved the application, while the production company Jupiter Springs promised to keep the disruption to a minimum.

Cruise is expected to be in the area rehearsing the stunt sequence for three weeks before the shoot, which is expected to be the film’s action-packed climax.

The train is said to plunge into a 70-meter water tank after falling off the tracks and into the quarry.

Director Christopher McQuarrie teased the sequence on his Instagram over the past week, sharing shots of the train’s wheels, but on Monday, he shared a snap of Cruise hanging from the side of the train, while thanking the Yorkshire locals and teasing the climactic scene in the Yorkshire village of Levisham.

‘What would Mission be without a bit of local color? Our sincerest thanks to North Yorkshire Moors Railway, the Office of Rail and Road, Eddie Draper, Riley’s & GB Rail Freight and, of course, the incredibly lovely and welcoming people of Levisham,’ the director said.

‘We had an amazing week (and remarkably fair weather) in fabulous Yorkshire. We’ll be back for one last bit of mischief in short order,’ he said, likely teasing the climactic scene in Derbyshire.  

It was claimed in February that location filming on Mission: Impossible 7 had wrapped after a marathon global schedule had been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

At the time, director Christopher McQuarrie posted that production had finished in Abu Dhabi and he was heading ‘back to London for a few finishing touches.’

The delays due to the pandemic, however, mean that Tom’s plan to go straight into filming an eighth Mission: Impossible movie have had to be shelved, Deadline.com reported.

Filming on Mission: Impossible 7 was supposed to start in Italy in February 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed it until July 2020.

Filming began in the UK, moved to Norway and then back to Italy where it ground to a halt once again after 12 crew members tested positive for the coronavirus.  

Mission: Impossible 7 is currently slated for release on May 27, 2022, with Mission: Impossible 8 expected to follow on July 7, 2023.