Whether it’s scaling the Burj Khalifa or clinging on to an A380 mid-flight, Tom Cruise has so often used the role of Ethan Hunt to push boundaries – and Mission: Impossible 6 will be no different.
Pegged for a 2018 release, Christopher McQuarrie’s blockbuster sequel is beginning to take big strides toward production, what with the addition of Henry Cavill as an associate to the IMF (Impossible Missions Force). As Skydance Media CEO David Ellison revealed to Collider, filming on MI6 is due to kick off on April 10th, but during that same interview, Ellison teased another signature stunt from Cruise, one which has seemingly forced the adrenaline junkie to undergo a year of prep work. How exactly McQuarrie and Tom Cruise plan to top Rogue Nation‘s thrilling airplane sequence is anyone’s guess, but here, David Ellison hinted that the finished piece will be “absolutely unbelievable.”
Per Collider:
“We’re thrilled. Chris is back, obviously, writing and directing after Rogue Nation. We could not be more excited about the character Henry Cavill’s going to play. And I will say after the Burj [Khalifa] we thought it was going to be impossible to top that stunt, and then Tom did the A380 for the plane. What Tom is doing in this movie I believe will top anything that’s come before. It is absolutely unbelievable—he’s been training for a year. It is going to be, I believe, the most impressive and unbelievable thing that Tom Cruise has done in a movie, and he has been working on it since right after Rogue Nation came out. It’s gonna be mind-blowing.”
Ethan Hunt in space? Joking aside, Tom Cruise’s unflinching commitment to performing his own stunts ought to be commended, and as Ellison reveals to Collider, it’s all part of the actor’s, ahem, mission to keep audiences rooted to the edge of their seats.
“It all comes from the best place. It is all about entertaining an audience. Tom’s entire mantra for hanging on the side of the Burj Khalifa or the A380 or literally holding your breath for six minutes underwater to do the Taurus sequence is, in a world of massive [visual] effects, he said the audience can tell when it’s you on a green screen or when you’re actually doing it live. And the tension, because the stunt is real, actually puts the audience where Ethan Hunt is where they are in the movie. He said that’s why he does it; it’s all about entertaining an audience and it makes the movie better.”
Proving that Mission: Impossible 6 will be another globetrotting affair, Collider caps off its report by revealing that Christopher McQuarrie’s action sequel will lens later this year across three different countries – Paris, London and New Zealand, for those keeping track. July 27th, 2018 is the date for your diaries, though the real question is whether the Powers That Be will be able to keep Tom Cruise’s latest (and greatest?) stunt out of the public eye once those cameras begin rolling.