10 Times Actors Thought They Were Fired For Sure

The whopping seventh Mission: Impossible feature is set to explode into cinemas in 2022. However, the franchise's leading man once found himself on the verge of being ejected from this now lucrative speeding car.

Back in 2006, Tom Cruise was well and truly in Paramount's bad books after his erratic and unpredictable behaviour - frequently championing Scientology and going on a mad'un on Oprah - in the lead up to the release of M:I III was blamed for that film's weaker performance at the box office.

Calling out the Hollywood megastar in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Viacom (the parent company of Paramount) chairman Sumner Redstone claimed the studio didn't "think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot (...) His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

It looked as though Cruise's time as Ethan Hunt was up. Yet, an up-turn in popularity on the back of a stellar performance in 2008's Tropic Thunder and Cruise's enthusiasm toward appearing in a fourth M:I feature paved the way for a Ghost Protocol comeback in 2011. And he's been attempting to kill himself for our pleasure ever since.