How Tom Cruise is saving blockbuster cinema with new Mission: Impossible film

BY rights, this movie really should never have been made.

And were it not for Tom Cruise’s unrivalled determination and vision for what an action blockbuster can be, it wouldn’t have been.

6

6

6

There’s no doubt a film has never been beset by so many delays, problems and challenge.

Anyone else would surely have given up.

Three years in the making and ravaged by Covid lockdowns, the latest instalment in the long-running Mission Impossible franchise, Dead Reckoning Part One, has seen many obstacles.

Cast and crew members were holed up for weeks at a time in quarantine, there were relentless travel restrictions and even a minor production team mutiny over the frantic production schedules before finally reaching the big screen this month.

And of course along the way, those setbacks have racked up costs of almost £300million, enough to make even deep-pocketed producers at Paramount wince.

Such was the 61-year-old leading man’s determination to plough on at the height of the pandemic that he even learned to do his own hair and make-up via Zoom tutorials from his favoured stylist.

Featuring the “biggest movie stunt ever attempted”, there have been no half measures in this film and no other movie star could command such confidence from studio chiefs. But their gamble has certainly been well-placed.

An original release date of July 2019, a year after MI:6, is now four years past.

But with five-star reviews rolling in ahead of its opening day on Monday, bosses look set to rapidly recoup their money many times over.

And Tom is already hard at work on part two of the Dead Reckoning story.

The movie was first delayed over script issues.

Tom and his long-time collaborator, director Christopher McQuarrie, agonised over perfecting the ambitious script and filming locations for what was to be their biggest project to date, both in terms of scale and budget, and its near three-hour running time.

Early filming in Venice was shut down in March 2020 as travel restrictions began to bite.

Ravine leap

Tom and his huge crew were locked down in the Italian city for weeks awaiting permission to resume, prompting frantic private jet trips back and forth to the UK for the action hero as he sought to keep production going.

Much of the ambitious outdoor landscape scenes were relocated to huge artificially constructed sets at a deserted aerodrome in rural England, including a vast “ski jump” style ramp.

There, he perfected his most ambitious stunt to date in which he leaps across a ravine on a motorbike before opening a parachute and landing on top of the Orient Express.

Clearly, nothing would restrict Tom’s bold plans.

But the pressure of the regime, and multiple lockdown breaks, continued to take its toll.

It culminated in a leaked audio recording, during which Tom viciously berated crew members for failing to adhere to mask wearing and social distancing on set, ranting that he was desperately trying to complete the project while keeping hundreds of staff in employment.

The Sun revealed that several production team members had stormed out in fury on the spot.

But Tom later addressed the controversy and insisted he stood by his comments, explaining: “It was what it was, you heard it. I said what I had to say.”

He was proven right.

Further headaches came as the team filmed in the Midlands, when a BMW owned by the leading man was stolen from outside a hotel.

It contained a raft of filming materials and even a priceless copy of his other big screen hit Top Gun: Maverick, before it had been released to the public.

But in a glowing testament to Tom and his co-stars, perseverance has paid off.

The mission was possible, and producers of other big-budget action series will surely have to take serious notice.

The bar has been shifted for ever, and cinema will never be the same.

But it is all in a day’s work for the true hero of Hollywood.

6

6

6