Tom Cruise kept a “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” press conference moving in Seoul Thursday evening when asked about President Trump’s proposal for tariffs on films “produced in foreign lands,” and how such a policy might apply to the globe-trotting espionage blockbuster.
During the event, a Korean reporter, speaking through an onstage translator, asked “I’d like to ask this question to anybody who’s up for it. I watched this film and I saw that it was filmed in many different locations around the world, including Africa. Of course, we all are aware of the tariffs that President Trump has been imposing on overseas productions and films. So is this particular movie under that tariff? And how much of the film was shot overseas?”
Cruise quickly responded to the English inquiry by speaking off of his microphone, directly to the translator. He could be heard saying, “We’d rather answer questions about the movie. Thank you,” finishing with a smile. The moderator responded on mic with, “I think that’s a fair answer.”
The “Mission: Impossible” star certainly won’t be the last representative of Hollywood to be asked about the tariff proposal. More American talent could face the same impossible mission beginning Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival — a global market that may unleash a storm of questions about the potential implications of Trump’s policies, from both the press and international industry members who may be reticent to do business with American companies.
Cruise was asked the question a day before the studio heads composing the Motion Picture Association met on Friday to strategize about addressing Trump’s tariff proposal.
The line of questioning Cruise faced isn’t an accurate one, as Trump has not yet enacted any tariffs on overseas film productions. There remains overwhelming uncertainty over how exactly the administration would enforce such a policy, or if it would even impact a release like “Mission: Impossible,” which was produced by a U.S. company but largely shot across various international locales. (Not to mention that it releases theatrically in just a few weeks.) The MPA has yet to release an official statement responding to the tariff proposal and no sit-down has been scheduled between the org and the administration.
Trump initially unveiled his intentions in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday evening, calling foreign incentives to move production overseas a “national security threat” and writing in all caps that “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” The announcement sparked widespread confusion in the industry, not exactly eased by the White House’s follow-up statement that “no final decisions have been made yet on “putting a tariff on movies.”
The “Mission: Impossible” press event in Seoul featured a panel that included director Christopher McQuarrie and co-stars Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff and Greg Tarzan Davis. “The Final Reckoning” releases in theaters on May 23.
Watch the moment from the press conference below:
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