Tom Cruise Filmed a Lightsaber Scene for the New Star Wars Movie
Charismatic Tom Cruise can act, perform his own stunts, and maintain peak performance even into his seventh decade. But did you know that Cruise is also handy behind a camera?
In a recent interview with The New York Times, director Shawn Levy revealed that Cruise stopped by as they were filming a new Star Wars movie near London.
“Tom Cruise was up to his ankles in mud and pond water. He wore a look of great concentration as he stooped over a digital camera, trying to frame the perfect shot,” goes the piece written by Calum Marsh.
Levy says he looked over in “slight disbelief” as Cruise, taking his new role extremely seriously, manned one of the cameras for a lightsaber action scene.
“Last week Steven Spielberg was here. And now Tom Cruise is wielding a camera, ruining his very nice shoes,” Levy tells The Times.
Like Spielberg, Cruise had arrived on set just to take a look at the production. But as Levy setting up the scene, he asked Cruise if he wanted to operate one of the cameras. Even though Levy was joking, Cruise jumped right in and took hold of one of the units — despite it being in a muddy pond.
Cruise reportedly held the cameras like a pro. “Now when you see the movie,” Levy says “You’ll know that part of it was shot by Tom. I mean, how cool is that?”
Star Wars: Starfighter stars Ryan Gosling and is slated to be released in May 2027. Since Disney acquired Star Wars in 2012, the franchise has suffered a series of setbacks; the last outing, The Acolyte, was canceled after just one season.
The New York Times article is titled His Job Is to Resuscitate ‘Star Wars.’ No Pressure. Levy helped make the successful Stranger Things as well as Deadpool and Wolverine.
But Star Wars fans can rejoice about one thing: the very first Star Wars movie will be re-released in 2027 to mark 50 years since its first screening. The film will show in its original form, no Han Solo not shooting first, no controversial CGI, no new color-grading.
It comes after Star Wars fans have been hunting down film reels that were never returned by theaters so they can restore the movies themselves without any of George Lucas’ controversial alterations.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
