MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

As Paramount Global and famed actor Tom Cruise put together their eighth installment of the "Mission Impossible" franchise, "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning," the studio once again reached out to DOD to use its many military assets to create cinematic magic.

Hollywood has a long-standing relationship with the department, both to ensure military stories are depicted accurately and to keep sensitive information from being disclosed. For the latest — and possibly final — Mission Impossible , heavy-duty assets from the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps were needed.

Advising on Accuracy

On the Air Force side, two U.S. Special Operations Command CV-22 Osprey helicopters from RAF Mildenhall, England, were used to film scenes. They're only depicted in the film for a few minutes, but to make the scenes as accurate as possible, a dozen Socom Osprey crew members worked with the actors in an advisory role.

"They worked with the two actresses portraying pilots to make sure they had the dialogue correct … giving them a better feel for what their role is," explained Sara Francis, the project officer for the Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office. "You could tell the actors were grateful for the help, and the more personalized guidance shows through in the scene."

During some scenes, Francis said the movie's director, Christopher McQuarrie, would even look to her for input. "He kept turning around at the end of each take and looking at myself and the CV-22 crew members and yelling, 'Does that look good to you guys?'" she recalled.

At one point, the film crew needed more time with the Ospreys than they were given, so they simply built their own fuselage to match. "When you see it, you'll be like, 'Yep, that's a plane.' But nope! It's a stage. The attention to detail was incredible," Francis said.

2 Missions, 1 Deployment

The Ospreys, manned by aircrew assigned to the 352nd Special Operations Wing, were also filmed taking off, flying around and landing on the USS George H.W. Bush. The ship played the most prominent role of all military assets in the filming, hosting the movie’s cast and crew for a few days in late winter 2023 as the ship neared the end of its six-month deployment off the coast of Italy.

The carrier was defending U.S., allied and partner interests in a busy, conflict-focused environment at the time the movie was being filmed.

"We knew that if we had something pop up at a moment's notice, we were going to drop everything we were doing on the film and do what we needed to do," Stroup said. "The admiral and the captain of the ship were very clear with us but [also] with Tom [Cruise] and [Christopher] McQuarrie and the rest of the team. They understood it."

Several of the ship's crew members took part as extras, particularly in the flight deck and navigation bridge scenes. "They're all real people doing their normal jobs … making sure we get where we needed to go safely and on time," Stroup said.

During filming, Cruise visited with sailors and even led a viewing of "Top Gun: Maverick" — another recent Navy-associated blockbuster — in the ship's hangar bay.

Stroup said the film crew's visit had a positive impact on the ship's sailors.

"The level of interest that [the film crew] had in what we were doing … it was an incredible opportunity," he said.

Meticulous Submariners and Marines

The film also used exterior shots of the Virginia-class submarine USS Hyman G. Rickover — even though, in the film, the ship is called the USS Ohio, another vessel that's currently in use in the U.S. Navy.

"The Ohio has both the old school periscope, and then it's got the new photonics [mast] like what you'll see on a Virginia-class," explained Navy Cmdr. David Daitch, the Navy's project officer for all filming. "So, in this case, we could use a Virginia-class for the exterior shots that we needed."

"[Tillman] didn't get overly excited [in the role] because the job of a submarine captain is to not lose your cool," Daitch said. "That's what we train our captains to be able to do."

Navy Adm. Bill Houston — the director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program who commanded Naval Submarine Forces when the film's production agreement was made — recently applauded the movie's focus on accuracy.

Some of the actors in the submarine scenes portrayed special forces reconnaissance Marines, which meant the Marine Corps was also brought in to represent the corps as authentically as possible.

"We want to make sure that even the littlest details uphold the standard that we carry," said Oscar Castro, the deputy director of the Entertainment Media Liaison Office of the U.S. Marine Corps, which consulted on the set, mostly with the costume department regarding uniforms.

"They had the [actors] in camouflage cargo pants with tan belts on. And I was like, 'These are supposed to be specialized Marines. It's not realistic that they would be wearing tan belts,'" Castro said. "They were very accommodating and understanding." Castro said it was easy to acclimate to a professional filming environment.

Ahead of the movie's opening in theaters, Cruise and McQuarrie met with Gold Star families, wounded warriors and service members before a private viewing of the film in San Antonio.