Tom Cruise’s dream of becoming the first actor to shoot in space has been shattered by a Russian actress. The trailer of The Challenge, a Russian film which is the first ever to be shot in space, was released on Sunday. The film stars Russian actress Yulia Peresild and has been directed by Klim Shipenko. Part of it was shot aboard the International Space Station over a 12-day period in 2021.
A survival thriller in the same league as Gravity or Life, The Challenge tells the story of a doctor (played by Yulia), who travels to space to save the life of a cosmonaut in danger. The trailer had many fans appreciating the visuals and saying they were eagerly waiting for it. “The movie looks to be a lot better than what I expected. I will definitely watch this when it comes out,” read one comment.
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Many appreciated how the film’s crew was able to film aboard a space station with so many restrictions and protocols in place. One person wrote, “Kinda funny to think all that was going on while on the USOS segment the astronauts were just doing their daily routines and they're just shooting a movie right on the other section.”
Yulia Peresild and Kim Shipenko were launched into space in October 2021 aboard the Soyuz MS-18 rocket. They were accompanied by cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, who also appears briefly in the film. The director and actresses shot for 12 days in the Russian section of the space station, filming in the labs and living quarters before returning to Earth later that month.
Reports had earlier claimed that Tom Cruise was in talks with NASA and SpaceX in order to attempt to shoot a film in space. The heavily-publicised move was touted as the first film to be shot in space, a tag that now rests with The Challenge.
