Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
Take a deep dive into the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.
The "Mission: Impossible" television series ran on CBS from 1966 to 1973.
Its opening titles became iconic, with the imagery of a fuse being lit while the
classic theme kicked into high gear. Every week, team leader Jim Phelps would be told:
"Your mission, should you decide to accept it..."
…before getting his assignment. Every assignment ended with,
"This tape will self-destruct in five seconds," and the cassette would go up in smoke.
These days, audiences associate Tom Cruise with "Mission: Impossible" and fans of the
classic show will have fond memories of Peter Graves' Jim Phelps. But there's
a famous face that many people may not realize was behind the original series:
the legendary Lucille Ball. "Mission: Impossible" was produced by Desilu,
the production company founded by Ball and her then-husband and co-star Desi Arnaz. In 1966,
Ball and her company set up "Mission" at CBS and a little sci-fi series named "Star Trek" at NBC,
and both shows gave Ball greater clout in the industry as a producer. "Mission" was a bigger
hit in the ratings than "Trek," although "Trek" of course became a big cult phenomenon in reruns.
The "Mission: Impossible" films not only have the major star power of Cruise,
but they also have had great directors at the helm, and some of the best writers in
the business. The first "Mission" is credited to David Koepp, Steven Zaillian, and Robert Towne,
who wrote one of the best films of the '70s, "Chinatown." Towne came back for the second
"Mission," and Hollywood wunderkind J.J. Abrams came aboard to write and direct
the third film. Brad Bird, known for helming animated classics like "The Iron Giant," and
"The Incredibles," made his live-action directing debut with "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol."
Since then, Cruise has had a steady partnership with Christopher McQuarrie,
who wrote one of the best crime thrillers of the '90s, "The Usual Suspects." However,
McQuarrie had his first brush with "Mission: Impossible" when he joined "Ghost Protocol" for
some uncredited rewrites. His involvement didn't stop there and he has been in the
director's chair for all of the "Mission" films since "Rogue Nation." In addition,
McQuarrie co-wrote the script for "Top Gun: Maverick," which became one of the
biggest box-office smashes of 2022, and he's also done uncredited script doctor work.
McQuarrie also isn't against flying by the seat of his pants, since he boarded "Mission: Impossible:
Fallout" before a script had even been finished. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the shoot
began with 33 pages of script, and McQuarrie and Cruise improvised from there. As McQuarrie said,
"The finished screenplay actually confines and limits. [...] All I
really need to know is where is the location and what assets need
to be there on that day including vehicles, props, sets and actors."
"That's all we're gonna say about that."
Much of the cast of the original "Mission: Impossible" TV series were around when the
first Tom Cruise movie went into production, but none of them appeared in the film. As
it turns out, they weren't happy with how the story was updated.
As Martin Landau said to MTV News:
"When they were working on an early incarnation of the first one — not
the script they ultimately did — they wanted the entire team to be destroyed,
done away with one at a time, and I was against that. It was basically an action-adventure
movie and not 'Mission.' 'Mission' was a mind game. The ideal mission was getting
in and out without anyone ever knowing we were there. So the whole texture changed."
Peter Graves wasn't happy with the movie, either,
especially considering his character Jim Phelps was turned into a villain. The actor told CNN:
"I am sorry that they chose to call him Phelps. [...] They could have solved that very easily
by either having me in a scene from the very beginning, or reading a telegram from me saying,
'Hey boys, I'm retired, gone to Hawaii. Thank you, goodbye, you take over now.'"
Another original member of the "Mission" team,
Greg Morris, reportedly saw the final product and walked out of it.
The '90s saw the beginning of the CGI era, with computer effects rapidly replacing real
sets and practical photography as filmmakers gained the ability to create entire worlds
through the power of digital technology. Of course, virtual sets are commonplace
in movies today, but the first "Mission: Impossible" helped pioneer them in 1996.
Virtual sets took a big step forward for an action segment
in which Tom Cruise and Jon Voight fight on top of the Channel Tunnel
train. As Industrial Light and Magic VFX supervisor John Knoll explained,
"We took blue-screen elements of actors and put them into believable CG backgrounds."
Cruise is going for more realism with his stunts these days, and perhaps he would
want to film that segment shot on top of a real train today. Still, this segment in "Mission:
Impossible" was a big step forward, opening the door for practically any mind-blowing action
segment a director can come up with, without the limitations of imagination, physics, or reality.
"Oh, boy."
Even if you don't know the name Alan Silvestri, you certainly know his music,
because he wrote the iconic theme to "Back to the Future." He was also set to be the original
composer on the first "Mission: Impossible" movie, but he was replaced by Danny Elfman.
Elfman had five weeks to write and record a new score, but as he explained to Soundtrack Magazine:
"Anybody coming in second has a huge advantage of understanding what the director doesn't want — at
the expense of a lot of work already put in. I knew that they wanted energy; they wanted
something a little more operatic and theatrical, just seeing the movie without a score."
For "Mission: Impossible II," Metallica contributed "I Disappear," and when the
song leaked onto Napster, it changed the landscape of the music industry
forever. In a landmark case, Metallica sued Napster over the leak in 2000. However,
the file-sharing genie was already out of the bottle and the stage was set for
downloads and eventually streaming to become a huge part of how people listen to music.
Throughout Hollywood history, actors have produced their own films, started their own production
companies, and in the case of United Artists, even launched their own studio. Tom Cruise
became his own producer on the first "Mission: Impossible," and this has made him very rich.
"It's mine. It's all mine."
As Variety reported, Cruise is taking less money up front for the next "Mission:
Impossible" movies, but he's getting a big chunk of the movie's first-dollar gross. This means that
he'll be taking home sizable bonuses even before the studio gets the full return on its investment.
Whereas a star normally has to wait for the film's final back end gross to be tallied before they
get a piece of the action. Cruise's deal for "Top Gun: Maverick" means he could make upwards of $100
million, and he's certain to make a truckload of cash on future "Mission" films as well.
The "Mission: Impossible" films have always been known for their stunning action sequences,
and the filmmakers know well enough by now to put particular focus on
delivering the goods with each new installment. Sometimes, in fact,
the stories are built around action scenes, rather than the other way around.
The sole credited screenwriter for "Mission: Impossible II," Robert Towne,
had worked with Cruise previously on "Days of Thunder" and "The Firm." Towne
had worked as a script doctor on a number of films, including "Bonnie and Clyde" and
"The Godfather," so he knew how to come in and deliver great scenes when a movie needed help.
But writing a movie around the action scenes was something he'd never experienced before.
As Towne told Creative Screenwriting:
"They said: 'These are the action scenes. What do you think of coming
up with a story to fit them?' I said it was an insane idea, but I did it."
Towne finally came up with the key to the story from researching viruses.
Then the idea dawned on him: What about a villain who creates a deadly virus so he
can make a fortune selling the antidote? It's a chilling idea for an action film,
and it would be even more scary today in a post-COVID world.
A lot goes into a movie, and with "Mission:
Impossible — Fallout," McQuarrie told the world in an Instagram post
just what challenges went into making the movie. The filmmaker posted the following:
"3000 setups, 13 helicopters, 6 pregnancies, 5 hiatuses,
4 weeks of aerial photography, 3 continents, 2 winters, 1 broken ankle. That's a wrap."
The broken ankle belonged to Cruise, who was injured in a stunt. As Cruise explained on
"The Tonight Show," he was supposed to be running and jumping across buildings
when the accident happened. According to a report by Far Out, Cruise was back in
action seven weeks after his injury. As to why he does his own stunts, he explained,
"It has to do with storytelling... it allows
us to put cameras in places that you're not normally able to do."
Cruise explained how the first time attempting a stunt is equal
parts anxiety and adrenaline. He mentioned how others tell him he's
got a huge grin on his face while shooting these dangerous sequences.
"Here's why Tom Cruise gets paid the big bucks."
As "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1" was being hyped at CinemaCon 2022 in Vegas,
McQuarrie promised the film will feature the most dangerous stunt the team has ever
attempted. In order to pull this stunt off, Cruise needed 500 hours of skydiving training,
and he had to perform 13,000 bike jumps to nail the landing perfectly.
Beyond the stunts, the "Mission: Impossible" shoot was also dangerous because of the
pandemic. Cruise, in particular, made headlines for some heated exchanges with
crewmembers who failed to follow a strict masking mandate. Cruise and McQuarrie
also both reportedly caught the virus, while McQuarrie had to be hospitalized.
Apparently, Cruise has had the urge for dangerous stunts since he was a kid. He
revealed at the Cannes Film Festival that he jumped off his roof when he was four years old,
making a parachute out of a sheet. The actor described how he recognized it was a bad idea as
soon as leapt, describing how he feared dying from the fall or his mother killing him for doing it.
Since COVID hit, the movie industry has been on shaky ground. A number of movies were delayed,
productions were shut down, and many were scared that streaming would wipe out the theatergoing
experience. As the industry attempts to settle into a new normal, Tom Cruise is hoping he can
save theaters with "Top Gun: Maverick" and the upcoming "Mission: Impossible" movies. The next
"Mission" films will be released in two parts, and Cruise set up "Top Gun" to have a 90-day
theatrical window, giving it as much time as possible to make money at the box office.
Cruise initially wanted "Maverick" to have a 120-day theatrical run before
the movie went to streaming and other secondary markets,
but studio negotiations whittled that down to 90. Forbes speculated that Cruise could use the
success of "Maverick" as a bargaining chip for release terms on the next two "Mission" films,
which could also play a big hand in saving the theatrical experience for movie fans.
As Cruise himself wrote on Instagram:
"36 years after the first film, 'Top Gun: Maverick' is here. We made it for the big
screen. And we made it for you, the fans. I hope you enjoy the ride this weekend."
At the Cannes Film Festival, Cruise went on record to say that he wants to make movies
for the theater experience and so that people can go out and watch them. He went on to promise that
"Maverick" never would have been released direct to a streaming platform. He believes
that movies should always be experienced in a theater, as it's something special people can
share with the others around them and partake in the collective excitement.