Edgar Wright completed the impossible: Finding a crack in the continuity of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.”
Director Christopher McQuarrie revealed to Total Film (via Games Radar) that the latest installment in the decades-running franchise about CIA agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) changed dramatically after Wright viewed the film.
“Edgar came to one of the later screenings [of the film] and asked one simple question about a specific sound — kind of an audio cue — and I thought I’d addressed that note. It was so obvious to me,” McQuarrie said. “But it wasn’t obvious to Edgar.”
He continued, “And when I asked the audience, it wasn’t obvious to them either. Nobody thought to bring it up until Edgar did. And that changed the entire movie. It changed the entire movie for the better.”
McQuarrie added, “You just need honesty and clarity and awareness. No one person, Tom [Cruise] included, can really sit there, and look at the movie 24 hours a day, objectively. Tom and I will just look one another in the eye, and say, ‘Do we want to change this? Or is this what we prefer?’”
The production for “Dead Reckoning” included death-defying stunts amid multiple COVID delays. McQuarrie admitted that actress Hayley Atwell was on set for “over 100 days before she had her first dialog scene, owing to the chaotic nature of the production.” The budget reportedly ballooned to upwards of $290 million, while lead star Cruise allegedly pushed production company Paramount via legal action to guarantee a longer theatrical window before PVOD streaming.
“That all took place during a very complicated and a very uncertain time,” McQuarrie said of Cruise’s infamous on-set COVID-related outburst that went viral. “Obviously, we’re grateful that people took it the way that it was intended. We were fighting to keep the industry alive, we were fighting to keep people employed, we were fighting for the studio, we were fighting for cinemas, and we still are. We’re still there doing that. I’m just glad people understood the intention behind it.”
The film is set for an IMAX release on July 12, with “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” both opening soon after on July 21.
