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Full-tilt franchise turns it up in 91ƵMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning91Ƶ

Old-school technique and star power lead state-of-the-art action extravaganza
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Actor Tom Cruise, left and director Chris McQuarrie pose for photographers on the red carpet of the world premiere for the movie 91ƵMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning91Ƶ at the Spanish Steps in Rome Monday, June 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

There are, as a rule, only so many places you can go as an action movie after leaving Tom Cruise and flinging him

But in the kinetic, headlong world of 91ƵMission: Impossible,91Ƶ the pressure to keep upping the ante 91Ƶ like the films91Ƶ always-running star 91Ƶ never stops.

91ƵEvery time we finish a movie, the first thing Tom says to me is: We can do better,91Ƶ says Christopher McQuarrie.

McQuarrie, the writer-director of 201591Ƶs 91ƵMission: Impossible 91Ƶ Rogue Nation91Ƶ and the 2018 franchise high point, 91ƵMission: Impossible 91Ƶ Fallout,91Ƶ was working with Cruise on 91Ƶ (which McQuarrie co-wrote and co-produced) when they started talking about their ambitions for the next iteration of 91ƵMission: Impossible.91Ƶ

Their plan was to make not one but two sequels: Back-to-back blockbusters that would feature even bigger stunts 91Ƶ Cruise envisioned a motorcycle jump-slash-skydive 91Ƶ and a massive train sequence that McQuarrie pined to realize. The heady experience on 91ƵMaverick,91Ƶ a pop-culture juggernaut that grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, only further ratcheted up their aspirations.

91Ƶ91ƵTop Gun: Maverick91Ƶ really taught us a lot in terms of character dynamics and the emotional payoff of the movie overall,91Ƶ McQuarrie said in a recent interview. 91ƵTo be making movies on this scale, you really need to think about, more than anything, the feeling that the audience is left with going away.91Ƶ

A year after the box-office dominance of 91ƵMaverick91Ƶ, McQuarrie and Cruise are back with another high-flying spectacle of daring-do. Similar to 91ƵMaverick,91Ƶ 91ƵMission: Impossible 91Ƶ Dead Reckoning Part One91Ƶ is a state-of-the-art action extravaganza of old-school technique, made with star power, practical effects and stunt work designed to prompt exclamations of 91ƵHe did what?91Ƶ

It was also their most nearly impossible mission yet 91Ƶ and not just because of, according to Paramount Pictures, that Cruise did in preparation for his climactic stunt. 91ƵDead Reckoning91Ƶ was just days away from beginning production in Venice when COVID-19 cases began skyrocketing in Italy, an early epicenter.

91ƵMission: Impossible91Ƶ was one of the first major productions to be shut down by the pandemic. Months later, Cruise and 91ƵDead Reckoning91Ƶ 91Ƶ a globe-trotting $290 million movie so logistically complicated that it for initial plans to blow up a century-old bridge in Poland 91Ƶ led an industry-wide effort to get movie business back on line during the pandemic. An already high-stress production became even more tense. In December 2020, yelling at two crew members for not obeying COVID-19 protocols.

91ƵWe are the gold standard,91Ƶ Cruise said in the recording. 91ƵThey91Ƶre back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. Because they believe in us and what we91Ƶre doing.91Ƶ

There were numerous delays and pivots along the way. But McQuarrie says he never thought 91ƵDead Reckoning91Ƶ wouldn91Ƶt get finished.

91ƵWe just kept moving forward because if you stopped, if you were trying to find the end of the tunnel, you would just reach a place of such despair,91Ƶ says McQuarrie.

McQuarrie and Cruise first collaborated on the 2008 Hitler assassination drama 91ƵValkyrie.91Ƶ McQuarrie, the famed screenwriter of 91ƵThe Usual Suspects,91Ƶ was then in proverbial movie jail for his poorly received directorial debut, 91ƵThe Way of the Gun.91Ƶ

91ƵWhen I met Tom in 2006, I had not directed a film in seven years,91Ƶ McQuarrie says. 91ƵI wouldn91Ƶt direct a film again for another five years. I had really put any ambitions I had to direct out of my mind. I certainly never imagined being considered an action director, let alone directing four action films.91Ƶ

91ƵIn 91ƵDead Reckoning,91Ƶ you91Ƶre seeing the ghosts of all the movies that I was never allowed to make,91Ƶ he adds.

Unlikely as it may be, McQuarrie (who91Ƶs also directing the already-shooting part two of 91ƵDead Reckoning91Ƶ) has emerged as the architect of one of the most visceral action franchises.

In 91ƵDead Reckoning,91Ƶ Ethan Hunt faces off with a rogue artificial intelligence, a prescient and well-suited antagonist for a movie universe built less on CGI than practical effects. McQuarrie told Cruise he wanted to wanted to take 91ƵMission: Impossible91Ƶ beyond the threat of a terrorist getting hold of a deadly weapon.

91ƵAnother lesson we took from 91ƵTop Gun91Ƶ was: What is the audience bringing to the movie? 91ƵTop Gun91Ƶ came out of Cold War anxieties. I said to Tom in 2019: What anxiety is it now?91Ƶ says McQuarrie. 91ƵWhat we didn91Ƶt anticipate was the level to which it would accelerate.91Ƶ

In 91ƵMission: Impossible,91Ƶ what you see is rarely what you get. Hunt and his team of spies are masters of deception. At the same time, McQuarrie and his crew, including cinematographer Fraser Taggart, go to considerable lengths to ensure what the audience is watching feels authentic and immersive.

91ƵThe challenge normally is hiding the fact that it91Ƶs not the actor doing it,91Ƶ says McQuarrie. 91ƵAnd here the reverse is the case. You91Ƶre actually going to great lengths to show that Tom91Ƶs actually doing it.91Ƶ

Taggart, who had shot the helicopter sequence in 91ƵFallout,91Ƶ says he91Ƶs never worked with an actor so resistant to stunt doubles as Cruise 91Ƶ even in the most innocuous of shots.

91ƵTom won91Ƶt do it. He just refuses, even to the extent of you91Ƶll do an insert of hand,91Ƶ says Taggart. 91ƵIt can91Ƶt be anyone else doing it, as you would on other projects. Tom will insist that91Ƶs him.91Ƶ

Just as 91ƵTop Gun: Maverick91Ƶ strove to get as many cameras in the cockpits of fighter jets, the set-pieces of 91ƵMission: Impossible91Ƶ are choreographed to get cameras as close to Cruise and the cast 91Ƶ here that includes Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby 91Ƶ as possible.

For Taggart, that meant getting his head around often dizzying challenges like shooting a scene involving a train moving 60 miles an hour through a mountainous Scandinavian landscape with uncontrollable weather conditions. He didn91Ƶt want just fixed cameras.

91ƵSo now we91Ƶve got to get a whole camera crew involved and some lighting and we91Ƶll probably end up with 10 people strapped to the top of a train carriage, including an old-fashioned physical camera up there,91Ƶ says Taggart. 91ƵYou think: Can we actually get 10 people on top of the train doing 60 miles an hour? That91Ƶs the challenge because you91Ƶd really like all of your crew and actors to survive the shoot.91Ƶ

In another sequence with characters inside a falling train cabin, they suspended a camera operator, Chunky Richmond, on stunt wires so he was hanging alongside the actors. For a nighttime chase through the byzantine passageways of Venice 91Ƶ for Taggart one of the most complex tasks of 91ƵDead Reckoning91Ƶ because of the inherent darkness of the city 91Ƶ they knocked on doors everywhere along the route to get cameras on terraces and pointed out windows.

For an elaborate car chase in Rome, Taggart used robotic arms on vehicles that were mounted but could also move.

91ƵWe always try technology but we usually break it all,91Ƶ he says.

McQuarrie has said he likes to write 91ƵMission: Impossible91Ƶ movies as they91Ƶre shooting; 91ƵFallout91Ƶ began without just an outline. Production on 91ƵPart Two91Ƶ has been paused during the promotion on 91ƵPart One,91Ƶ and it91Ƶs unclear if the ongoing writers strike would threaten production on the sequel. But for McQuarrie and company, the only way to make a 91ƵMission: Impossible91Ƶ movie is full tilt.

91ƵEverything we91Ƶre doing is by the seat of our pants,91Ƶ says McQuarrie. 91ƵWe want you to come to the movie and experience it the same way the characters are, which is: I don91Ƶt know what91Ƶs going to happen next.91Ƶ

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