Doug Liman to direct new Tom Cruise movie to be shot in space

Bourne Identity director Doug Liman is to direct the new Tom Cruise action movie, part of which is to be shot in space.

According to Deadline, Cruise and Liman are to work with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX on the project, which was confirmed by the US space agency earlier this month.

Liman has previously worked with Cruise on the movies Edge of Tomorrow and the cartel smuggling caper American Made.

There's also a sequel to Edge of Tomorrow, set to be called Live Die Repeat and Repeat, in the offing from the pair.

But as yet, little is known about how the first action movie to be shot in space will pan out – or indeed how much of the project will be shot off-planet.

Back in 2015, Liman and Cruise were revealed to be working on a movie called Luna Park, a passion project of Liman's, about 'a group of renegade employees who venture to the moon to steal an energy source'.

However, Paramount has denied that the two movies are the same.

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Liman is also known for helming actioners like Mr & Mrs Smith, with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and Jumper, as well as the first in the Bourne series.

When the new film could shoot is another issue, with Cruise backed up with other projects, including the finishing of two Mission: Impossible projects, being filmed back-to-back.

Mission: Impossible 7, the first of the two, was shooting in Venice before the coronavirus pandemic forced it to halt proceedings, shoving the movie's schedule back indefinitely.

Variety reports that there's currently 'no timetable' set for director Christopher McQuarrie's movies to restart production.

Meanwhile, Cruise is next up in long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick, due out in December.