“I was so distracted”: Mission: Impossible 7 Avoided Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones Strategy to Focus Less on Tom Cruise
One of the top stars in the business, Tom Cruise, is well renowned for pulling off his own stunts, and Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One was no exception. Cruise has been in many films with risky stunts. The seventh Mission: Impossible film, which came out in July and is a follow-up to Mission: Impossible- Fallout, stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt.
Christopher McQuarrie, whose screenplay was co-written with Erik Jendresen, directs the spy action film. The film opened to favorable reviews from audiences and amassed a worldwide total of nearly $567 million, but the attention surrounding Barbenheimer negatively affected the performance of Mission: Impossible 7. Aside from that, it’s noteworthy to note that Christopher McQuarrie thought about deploying modern-day technology on Tom Cruise in the film’s opening sequence. Let’s dig deep into this.
Christopher McQuarrie considered de-aging Tom Cruise for the opening scene
During an interview with GamesRadar, the celebrated director Christopher McQuarrie shared that just like how Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny makers decided to de-age Harrison Ford for a scene, he had considered using the same technology to de-age Tom Cruise for the opening scene of Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One but eventually decided not to go in that direction.
He said to the publication,
“Originally, there had been a whole sequence at the beginning of the movie that was going to take place in 1989. We talked about it as a cold open, we talked about it as flashbacks in the movie, we looked at de-aging. One of the big things about [the de-aging] I was looking at while researching, I kept saying, ‘Boy, this de-aging is really good’ or ‘This de-aging is not so good.’ Never did I find myself actually following the story”.
The director further noted, “I was so distracted by an actor that I had known for however long was now suddenly this young person.” He mentioned during the interview that he might have cracked the code on how he can finally pull the de-aging thing out in his movies in the future adding, “We may still play with it. We never say never.”
Harrison Ford defended de-aging in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
The veteran actor Harrison Ford, who is now 80 years old, appeared in his fan-favorite character Indiana Jones and the movie officially premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. What caught a lot of attention was the technology used to de-age the actor, especially for a flashback scene. Some people criticize the use of it criticize but Ford has his opinions.
He said via EW during the press conference for the movie at the time,
“I know that that is my face. It’s not a kind of Photoshop magic — that’s what I looked like 35 years ago. Because Lucasfilm has every frame of film that we’ve made together over all of these years. And this process, this scientific mining of this library, this was put to good [use]… It’s just a trick unless it’s supported by a story, and it sticks out like a sore thumb if it’s not honest, it’s not real… I mean, emotionally real. And so I think it was used very skillfully.”
The actor further mentioned during the press conference that he is happy with his real age, and loves being older, pointing out it was great to be young, but he is satisfied with what he has at the moment.
Will Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two be Tom Cruise’s final Mission: Impossible movie?
The eighth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise is set to premiere in June 2024 and although there have been speculations on whether it could be the last movie in the franchise, the director had a very interesting thought to share with EW regarding the future of Mission: Impossible.
He said at the time,
“Look, we’re still shooting [Dead Reckoning Part Two] and there’s any number of ways that that story could play out. When you’re watching Mission: Impossible, and watching the team go through these adventures, you’re having some sense of what it’s like to make a Mission: Impossible movie.”
McQuarrie continued to share,
“There’s always a plan, the plan always changes, everything goes completely awry, and hopefully everything always turns out alright in the end. But you never really fully understand, or trust where it is you’re going, until you get there.”
So will Dead Reckoning Part Two get a sequel or not? It’s still unclear but the movie is set to premiere next year, that is for sure.
Source: GamesRadar, EW
