Tom Cruise is no stranger to the UAE's landmarks, having scaled the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and now the action star has been spotted at another local attraction.
The American actor, who has been in the capital to film Mission: Impossible 7, was seen outside Louvre Abu Dhabi in a new photo shared on Twitter.
Cruise, 58, can be seen wearing a face mask in the image posted by Hamad Al Hosani on Saturday.
"Every time I meet him, he tells me, 'I love Abu Dhabi, I love your country'," the caption read.
It is not known if the actor was making a personal visit to the museum or working.
MI7 director Christopher McQuarrie also shared an image of Louvre Abu Dhabi's distinctive facade to his Instagram account on Saturday.
Filming on the seventh chapter in the Mission: Impossible franchise wrapped up in the UAE capital this weekend, with cast and crew beginning their journeys home.
Contrary to reports in UK tabloids, however, there was little drama associated with the process.
The Daily Mail reported on Saturday that the Abu Dhabi shoot had been "abandoned" after the crew, many of whom had flown in from the film's UK production base, had demanded to be returned home before new quarantine rules came into place in the UK on Monday.
The Sun went one step further, claiming that producers had been forced to hire a private jet to return crew before the new rules coming into force.
The National previously reported that the Mission: Impossible 7 shoot would take place from February 5 to 11, a timeline that was confirmed by local sources working on set.
"The shoot was always scheduled to finish this weekend. The only difference with the new UK quarantine rules was that we couldn't overrun, which we never wanted to anyway," one source close to the shoot, who asked to remain unnamed, told The National.
A second source, who has been working on set for the entire shoot, confirmed their contract was always due to expire this weekend.
"Nothing has changed, and nothing has been abandoned," the source, who asked to remain unidentified, added.
Further contracts and job offers for the shoot seen by The National also suggest filming has been completed on time.
Where else has Tom Cruise been while in the UAE?
On February 5, the actor met with Ahmad Al Shaikh, director of Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI), as seen in pictures shared on Instagram. In them, Cruise can be seen speaking with Al Shaikh in a majlis.
The Top Gun star was also seen looking at a painting of himself and posing with staff at the private residence. There are also videos of a masked Cruise walking with his hosts outside a villa.
"I was very happy to welcome and host my good friend Tom Cruise in Dubai this afternoon. The global star is on a working visit to the UAE, as he's shooting one of his future projects in Abu Dhabi," Al Shaikh told Esquire Middle East.
"Our friendship spans more than 10 years, and I’m honoured that we get to catch up every now and then whenever he is off camera, whether it’s in Dubai or elsewhere."
In January, director McQuarrie confirmed reports that production on Mission: Impossible 7 was taking place in the UAE capital by sharing photos of a foggy Abu Dhabi on Instagram.
Simon Pegg, who stars as Benji Dunn in the franchise, has been posting videos from Abu Dhabi in his Instagram stories. In the clips, Pegg is dancing – albeit masked – in what appears to be the W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island.
Pegg also posted a picture of Abu Dhabi’s Grand Mosque on February 10 with the caption: “The Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The grand prayer room has the biggest one-piece carpet in the world.”
Despite Covid-19 delays, the Mission: Impossible franchise is shooting chapters seven and eight back to back in various locations, including Norway, London, Rome and Venice.
Little is currently known about the film's UAE shoot, although the franchise has previously visited the Emirates on two occasions, and its visits usually come complete with some death-defying stunts. In 2011, Cruise single-handedly scaled Dubai's Burj Khalifa, while his last visit to Abu Dhabi saw him leaping from a plane at 7,600 metres.
Mission: Impossible 7 is currently scheduled to be released in November 2021.
