Tom Cruise is at it again in the seventh instalment of the Mission: Impossible franchise. The movie was due to start filming in February 2020 in Venice, Italy, but we all know how that went down, don't we? Director Christopher McQuarrie describes being two days away from shooting when the pandemic took hold.
It took three years, an array of international locations including England, Abu Dhabi, and Norway, and the replacement of Nicholas Hoult with Esai Morales to complete the film. New cast member Hayley Atwell may have spent over 100 days on set before she had her first line, thanks to the chaotic nature of the production.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will finally be released on July 14, almost two years after its original release date. But according to McQuarrie, it was never in doubt. When you have Tom Cruise on board, nothing can stop you, apparently. McQuarrie's philosophy is that "Disaster is an opportunity to excel."
The IMF team, including Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg's Benji Dunn, and Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust, are up against Morales' villain and a character played by Guardians of Galaxy star Pom Klementieff. Vanessa Kirby also returns to the franchise to portray arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis, while Henry Czerny reprises his role of government agent Eugene Kittridge.
McQuarrie says the film is packed with signature action sequences, including the already well-publicized stunt where Cruise rides a motorbike off a cliff in Norway and then base-jumps to the ground. To the director, it's all par for the course.
He's currently in his London office, working on post-production while also prepping for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, which will be released on June 28, 2024. McQuarrie, who also co-wrote Top Gun: Maverick, admits that working on only one mega-action movie feels a bit odd now.