Christopher McQuarrie has become Tom Cruise’s muse. The director/actor partnership has been quite fruitful ever since Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol when McQuarrie helped rewrite the script. Following that, he worked with Cruise on Edge of Tomorrow, Jack Reacher, The Mummy and the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick, among others.
And while the first five Mission: Impossible films were helmed by a different director each time, McQuarrie got behind the camera for Rogue Nation, which saw the series make a shift to become more connected. He’s also the franchise’s first returning director as well after bringing us the excellent Mission: Impossible – Fallout and has now agreed to helm Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 back-to-back.
Most franchises tend to decline in quality as they go on, but this one has been the complete opposite. You could even argue that since McQuarrie came onboard in Ghost Protocol, the series has gone to another level when it comes to practical set pieces. Whether it’s Cruise’s Ethan Hunt climbing outside of the tallest building in the world, hanging on the side of an airplane as it takes off or learning to fly helicopters, the Hollywood star is willing to do whatever it takes to entertain an audience.
And just when you think McQuarrie and Cruise have run out of ways to thrill moviegoers, think again. In a recent interview, the director spoke about what fans can look forward to seeing in the supposed final two installments of the franchise, teasing the following:
“We’ve figured out three obscene things that he’s doing that I’m terrified of, that make the helicopter chase look like tinker toys.”
The filmmaker didn’t specify whether these three set pieces will take place in 7 or if they’ll be spread out over both sequels, but given that production hasn’t begun yet, he may still be deciding.
Elsewhere in the interview, McQuarrie admitted that it took him some time to figure out the story for 7, but he just recently cracked it.
“I figured out the story about four weeks ago… About a month ago I moved one essential piece of the puzzle… and suddenly I was able to outline the entire movie in eight minutes.”
The filmmaker didn’t offer any other details regarding the plot, but it’s been reported that a certain fan favorite might be returning to the series. Beyond that, though, we’re still very much in the dark.
We do know, however, that Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 will star Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham and Nicholas Hoult, with the first of the two movies opening on July 23rd, 2021.
