Tom Cruise, in need of federal assistance to get his grandiose space project off the ground, reportedly declined to seek Donald Trump’s help. In the five years since its announcement in 2020, the project, which would bring back Cruise with director Doug Liman and involve both SpaceX and NASA, has been delayed.
Cruise “did not want to ask Donald Trump for a favour” while serving in the then-president’s administration, according to sources cited by Page Six, even though cooperation with NASA and other agencies would have been necessary for the film he intended to shoot in space. According to the source, “Tom didn’t want to ask for political reasons.” Throughout his career, Cruise has mostly eschewed politics.
The Washington Post revealed in 2024 that Cruise turned down Trump’s 2025 Kennedy Centre Honour, claiming “scheduling conflicts.” Trump-designated NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine openly endorsed the project at the peak of its production, tweeting that NASA was “excited to work with @TomCruise on a film aboard the @Space_Station!”
Since then, the tweet has been removed, and Bridenstine has left the agency to work as a space industry consultant. No discussions on the film have occurred at NASA, space insiders informed Page Six. Cruise’s reluctance to work with Trump coincides with other Hollywood endeavours that have looked to the former president for assistance.
According to reports, Trump has supported Brett Ratner’s contentious comeback to filmmaking with a documentary about Melania Trump and has pushed for the resuscitation of Ratner’s Rush Hour franchise. Cruise’s most recent movie, Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning, came out earlier this year. He was working on several projects that were scheduled for 2026.
