George Clooney has defended Tom Cruise after audio footage of the Mission: Impossible actor shouting and swearing at crew members who hadn’t been social distancing on the set of his latest film was leaked online.

During an interview with US broadcaster Howard Stern, George was asked for his thoughts on the leaked clip, in which Tom is heard on the set of Mission: Impossible 7 threatening to fire anyone who breaks Covid-19 guidelines.

“I’m on the phone with every fucking studio at night, insurance companies, producers and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies,” Tom is heard shouting, in a recording posted by The Sun.

“We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherfuckers. I don’t ever want to see it again. Ever!”

“If I see you doing it again, you’re fucking gone,” he later adds.

Speaking to Howard Stern on SiriusXM, George admitted that while it wouldn’t be his own style to speak to crew members in such a way, he doesn’t think Tom is “overreacting” in the clip.

“He didn’t overreact because it is a problem,” George said.

“I have a friend who’s an [assistant director] on another TV show who just had the almost exact same thing happen with not quite as far out a response.” 

The Gravity star continued: “It’s just not my style to, you know, to take everybody to task that way. I wouldn’t have done it that big. I wouldn’t have, you know, pulled people out…

“[But] I understand why he did it. He’s not wrong at all about that. You know, I just, I don’t know that I would have done it quite that personally, but I don’t know all the circumstances. Maybe he had it 10 or 15 times before.”

Production for the seventh instalment in the Mission: Impossible franchise was previously shut down in February due to the pandemic. It resumed in September, with shooting slated to take place in Italy, Norway and London.

The film faced delays in October when 12 people tested positive for Covid-19 on the set in Italy, Variety reported.