Long gone are the days when we had to wait for home entertainment to see “Making Of” videos explaining how filmmakers pulled off amazing stunts or effects sequences.
These days, they’re out before the film itself arrives.
And if you’re Tom Cruise, you don’t have the patience to hold off until the year the movie lands, let alone the month or week. Hence a new look online at the extensive preparation behind one of the keynote stunts of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’, which will see his character, daredevil agent Ethan Hunt, sailing over a cliff on a motorbike and launching himself into the sky for a BASE jump.
‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ will be in theaters on July 14th, 2023.
He might not have the patience to wait and show off the team behind the stunt, but Cruise certainly has it to make sure the sequence goes flawlessly––and with good reason, because no one wants to see him pancaked on the ground.
Least of all writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, who can be seen in the video visibly aging as Cruise pulls off his latest wild activity.
Which means we’re treated to an extensive exploration of what goes into a sequence such as this––in this case, much stunt bike training, test jumps and even microchip-linked drones which accurately record his distance, velocity, and angles so all involved can make sure it’s worked out properly.
And the ‘Mission: Impossible’ movies could certainly use the good publicity after a couple of years that have seen them hit with pandemic filming delays and all sorts of issues as the mammoth shoot continued (and continues).
(L to R) Holt McCallany, Henry Czerny, and Nick Offerman in Paramount’s ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.’
We still don’t know exactly what the story will be this time (besides the obvious opportunities for Ethan Hunt to run/drive/jump off/into/out of things), besides hints that his past will be coming back to haunt him––particularly since old enemy Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) is back from the original ‘M:I’ movie way back in 1996.
We can expect to see Simon Pegg (back as Benji) and Ving Rhames (Luther), plus more recent recruits including Rebecca Ferguson’s Isla Faust and Vanessa Kirby’s White Widow.
Completely new this time are Hayley Atwell’s Grace, plus Pom Klementieff, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, and Esai Morales, who was drafted in to replace Nicholas Hoult as one of the movie’s villains, after the latter had a schedule clash due to the movie’s many delays.
Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
In related Cruise news, he also took time out from flying around to thank fans who showed up in droves and helped make ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ one of the biggest hits of the year.
But far from simply standing in front of a poster of the film (or in front of some pretty location where he’s still currently filming the two new ‘Mission’ movies), he chose to do it in his inimitable style––jumping out of a plane. Seems fitting, we suppose…
