Tom Cruise and ‘Mission: Impossible’ Cast Break No Selfie Rule on Red Carpet at Cannes Film Festival

Tom Cruise and the cast of Mission: Impossible defied a long-standing rule at Cannes Film Festival last night by taking selfies on the red carpet — a form of photography that has been banned for the past seven years.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning had its world premiere on Wednesday at the Grand Théâtre Lumière at Cannes Film Festival in France. As the eighth and final film in the blockbuster franchise, it marks Cruise’s farewell performance as the iconic spy Ethan Hunt.

Cruise and his Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning co-stars were joined on the red carpet by his co-stars Simon Pegg, Hannah Waddingham, Hayley Atwell, and Angela Bassett.

During the premiere, longtime Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie gathered the leading cast members of the eighth movie for a group selfie on the red carpet. The director and cast were spotted pausing several times to capture selfies — even posting the photographs with the caption “Mission: Selfie. Accomplished” on the movie’s official X account.

Though it may have appeared harmless, the Mission: Impossible cast’s selfies violated Cannes Film Festival rules, which clearly prohibit taking selfies on the red carpet.

‘Ridiculous and Grotesque’

Selfies were banned shortly before the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, with the festival’s artistic director Thierry Frémaux denouncing the taking of such photographs at the time. Frémaux said that selfies “tarnished” the red carpet and the Cannes Film Festival as a whole.

Fremaux has previously tried to curb the practice of selfie taking on the red carpet, but then decided to ban self-portraits and fan photographs in 2018, something he described as “ridiculous and grotesque.”

“On the red carpet, the trivial aspect and the slowing down provoked by the disorder which these selfies create tarnishes the quality of [the red-carpet experience] and of the festival as a whole,” he said in an interview with Le Film Francais, according to Vanity Fair.

As well as prohibiting selfies, the Cannes Film Festival also issued a new rule this week banning “nudity” from the red carpet and theaters. The festival is also forbidding “voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theatre are not permitted.”