During the masterclass devoted to him at the Cannes Film Festival, director Christopher Mcquarrie revealed that he was going to leave the cinema world but that his meeting with Tom Cruise made him change his mind.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning marks the fifth collaboration between Tom Cruise and the director Christopher Mcquarrie, after Jack Reacher (2012), Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), Fallout (2018), Dead Reckoning – Part 1 (2023), and The Final Reckoningcurrently in theaters.
Before directing the actor addicted to adrenaline, Mcquarrie had already written several scripts for films carried by the star, notably Walkyrie by Bryan Singer (2009), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), La Mumie (2017), as well as Top Gun: Maverick, co -wrote with Ehren Kruger in 2022.
A fruitful collaboration, which seems far from over since Christopher McQuarrie is announced to the writing of the film by Doug Liman that Tom Cruise must shoot in space, and also works on two thrillers carried by the interpreter of Ethan Hunt.
However, before his meeting with the actor, the one to whom we owe the scenario of Usual Suspects was about to leave the cinema industry.
I was about to leave the cinema world
During his masterclass at the Cannes Film Festival, Christopher McQuarrie Delivered such an unexpected as it is moved to journalist Didier Allouch who asked him why his collaboration with Tom Cruise worked as well: “There is a very long answer to this question. The short answer is the love of cinema. A common love of cinema, which I did not expect at all by sitting to meet Tom.
I was about to leave the world of cinema. I met him out of pure curiosity. I was really on the start. I told myself that it would be interesting to meet him. And I was very surprised, by sitting in front of him, to discover that the Tom Cruise that I knew through his films and the media was a completely false image of whom he is really.
Jacovides-Moreau / Bestimage
We grew up with the same films, in very similar circumstances. I think what made us both hung as much is first of all our love of cinema, and then what I learned by working with him: Tom is a perpetual student. He is still learning.
Despite all his years of experience, he constantly seeks to get rich in contact with others. He is very generous in this approach. When you make a film with him, he doesn't impose anything on you. He gives you the means and asks you: “What do you want to do?” This projector that he is on you, the first time, incredibly intense and revealing. You learn to swim very quickly … or you pour. »»
The director continues by evoking the generosity of an actor often underestimated: “What I don't often have the opportunity to talk about is its generosity. I worked on other films, with other actors. In a classic Hollywood production, everything revolves around the protagonist, and the other actors come to fill what remains. Tom spends most of his time on the set to play with the camera turned towards the others.
Paramount Mission Impossible: Fallout
On the set of Falloutfor example, we were shooting the final scene between Tom and Michelle Monaghan (Julia), New Zealand, in the middle of winter. We had five hours of light per day and Michelle was only available a few days. Tom said: “Tur the other actors first.” I replied: “But this is the most important scene for Ethan.” And he said to me, “Look, I have a tent in my back. We can shoot it in London. Do the others.” So we filmed while the sun went down into the sky and turned the performance of Tom Cruise in the last eight minutes of light available. “
It represents the public on the set.
Christopher McQuarrie continues his illustration with a Top Gun scene: Maverick he co-written: “The scene with Val Kilmer in Top Gun: Maverick – The most moving sequence in the film – was shot in a single catch. You have an actor of an incredible technical mastery there, but also of immense generosity.
As a director, you must always put yourself in the place of the public. And I don't know any actor in the world better than Tom Cruise to do this while playing. He is totally present in the scene, with the other actor, while observing the whole.
I often say to him, “Do you want to see the catch?” And he replied: “No, I was there.” He doesn't need to see her again. It is also incredibly aware of the frame. No matter where he is on the set, if you ask him where his body is in the image, he will tell you. He is so connected, experienced, in harmony with all this that it is a luxury. It represents the public on the set. And that is invaluable. “
Impossible mission: The Final Reckoninglast opus in the action saga carried by Tom Cruise, is currently to be seen in theaters.
