Tom Cruise set pulses racing in the center of Rome on Tuesday as he careened down the Tiber River as part of filming for “Mission: Impossible 3.” With St. Peter’s Basilica as a backdrop, the Hollywood heartthrob piloted a speedboat under statue-topped bridges, bringing river traffic to a standstill and wowing tourists.

“We were on our way to visit the Vatican, but St. Peter’s will be here tomorrow,” said Spanish student Ana Pinon, 21, as she peered down at the river. “Tom Cruise probably won’t be.” Visitors scrambled to the top of the imposing Sant’Angelo Castle – once a papal fortress during times political unrest – to get a better view of the star as he raced down the river in a polo shirt and dark sunglasses. Cruise, who zooms around Rome and the Vatican as special agent Ethan Hunt in the third instalment of the action flick, smiled and waved to the crowds between shoots.

He is reportedly accompanied by his fiance Katie Holmes and will be in Rome to shoot different scenes through Friday. But it seems Cruise and the film’s director JJ Abrams have come up against one truly impossible mission: filming inside the Vatican city state. Italian media said the Vatican denied them access. Instead, they have reportedly recreated the interior of the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church in the southern Italian town of Caserta.The film is due out next May.