Tom Cruise talks about the difficult filming of ‘Mission Impossible’

The “Mission Impossible” saga debuted in 1996 with a young Tom Cruise, and 27 years later, the seventh film starring the enigmatic actor, who, due to the pandemic in Italy, faced one of the most complicated shootings in his career: “I always force myself to move on”, he told EFE during his visit to Rome.

At the age of 60, Cruise explained that behind this effort is always his goal “make the best film for the audience”, while Simon Pegg, who plays the “right hand man” of the protagonist, defined the tape as “another impossible mission”.

“It was something else mission Impossibleparallel to the authentic ‘Mission: Impossible,'” recalls the actor who debuted in the saga in 2006 as the charismatic Benji Dunn and has not missed a single sequel since then.

titled “Mission: Impossible – Reckoning of the Dead”, The new cinematic adventure arrives in cinemas, divided into two parts, the first is released on July 12, and the second in June 2024, after countless delays that only increased the expectations surrounding the film.

With an estimated budget of $300 million, the shoot was the first to be hit by the pandemic: Cruise and his crew were in northern Italy when that part of the country became the western epicenter of the coronavirus in February 2020, days before the whole world came to a standstill.

However, it was also the first Hollywood production to proceed with the strict protocol that set the tone for the rest of the industry and allowed them to film on the empty streets of Venice and Rome, once free of the millions of tourists who visit them year-round.

“Thanks to Italy for allowing us to film in such difficult times”

Cruise acknowledged the difficulties during the film’s world premiere on the iconic steps Plaza España of the “Eternal City”environment chosen this Monday for the event.

“I want to thank Rome and Italy for allowing us to film here in such difficult times, it was an honor and a dream,” he told hundreds of onlookers.

Some of the most impressive scenes in the new film take place in the Italian capital, such as a dizzying chase that lasts more than 20 minutes in which Cruise and his new partner in adventure, the British Hayley Atwell, tour the Colosseum area on an old ship. Fiat 500.

Three years after filming, director Christopher McQuarrie admits to EFE that he is still “impressed” that the city gave them “permission to make this possible”. “I don’t think I’ll see anything like that again,” he adds.

Record that scene, one of the turning points of the film which promises constant adrenaline, required more than 40 days of work in a Rome emptied of tourists and closed under the strict sanitary measures of the infamous March 2020.

“We trained for several months before that to do it in safe conditions – says Atwell -. We were aware of that city ​​beauty, We wanted to make sure we could fully respect him.”

Atwell, who debuts in the saga as a new ally (Grace) of the protagonist (Ethan Hunt), does not hesitate to confirm that Cruise’s “work ethic” and “discipline” were decisive in the continuation of the project.

“We saw it as another obstacle, there was a lot of hope in us and we knew we had to continue, no matter what happened,” he told EFE.

Traveling around the world

On his new mission, Agent Hunt must find a new one computer weapon that threatens humanity before it falls into the wrong hands, the reason that leads him to travel the world in a never-ending race.

Rome, Venice, Abu Dhabi and the Swiss Alps are some of the locations where Cruise and the rest of the cast unleash a selection of impressive stunts, fights and chases against a new villain with unknown intentions: Gabriel, played by Latino Esai Morales. .

“Tom Cruise, McQuarrie and Paramount are geniuses at what they do, and they do it better every time – Morales told EFE -. The result is impressive and you have to see it in the cinema”.