10 Things You Didn’t Know About Mission: Impossible III

The Mission: Impossible is a franchise that I have no problem going back to because of the quality and especially early on the variety. Mission: Impossible III or M:I:III sees Tom Cruise return as Ethan Hunt and is joined on his team by Ving Rhames as Luther and newcomers Johnathan Rhys Meyers as Declan, Maggie Q as Zhen, Simon Pegg as Benji and gets a love interest in Michelle Monaghan as Julia. They are going up against the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman as Owen Davian, and you know something is fishy with the higher ups in the IMF. I decided to check it out again, this time listening to the DVD commentary by Tom Cruise, who not only stars but produced, and director J.J. Abrams. The passion Tom Cruise has for his work and the process of movie making comes across in the commentary and it was actually Tom Cruise who personally chose J.J. Abrams to make his feature film directorial debut after watching Alias late at night. If that was something new to you maybe you will like these 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Mission: Impossible III.

1. The opening scene with Ethan Hunt tied up facing Owen Davian wasn’t planned on being the opening until weeks into production nor was Philip Seymour Hoffman the one supposed to be taunting Ethan. Poor Eddie Marsan had to give all his lines to Philip Seymour Hoffman, but he took it like a true professional.

2. The idea to use a disposable camera as the classic Mission: Impossible self-destructing device came from Steven Spielberg. Way to date the movie, Spielberg.

3. There is a surprising amount of visual effects and CG used, ILM don’t cha know, but most of it is hidden and used to remove or add things from the backgrounds. Most of the explosions were practical, like when Tom Cruise and Keri Russel were on top of a truck with a fireball overhead and debris raining down. It was mostly balsa wood and Tom Cruise even came up with the nifty dismount during the filming of the scene.

4. Outdoor filming was actually done at the Vatican, but because the production had no control of the crowds, a fake film shoot was set up three blocks away featuring girls in bikinis and nuns. Interesting choice, but it worked.

5. The swing stunt on the Shanghai rooftops was all Tom Cruise, but necessarily all in Shanghai. He got separated ribs to prove it.

6. We don’t actually see Ethan steal the MacGuffin rabbit’s foot and that is thanks to Tom Cruise. He realized everyone has already seen that type of scene and seeing the emotional team interactions was more powerful. We do see Ethan crashing through the window during the escape and that gave Tom Cruise a big laugh. 

7. The one stunt that freaked out Tom Cruise was when the semi trailer went right over the top of him followed up by running in the car-filled streets of Shanghai. It was actually done in Los Angeles with stunt drivers, but he still had to put his life in their hands.

8. There was plenty of filming in Shanghai and the production had to get special permission from the Chinese government to keep the buildings lit for one scene while filming early in the morning. Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q went to China basically just for that shot so it was worth it.

9. When Ethan was tied up getting an explosive device inserted through his nose by Philip Seymour Hoffman and later biting the hand of Eddie Marsan it was actually Tom Cruise’s hand both times. Movie magic includes Tom Cruise biting his own hand.

10. Both Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams praised composer Michael Giacchino and the creator of the Mission: Impossible theme Lalo Schifrin. They wanted Schrifin to play the piano in the orchestra, but it didn’t happen. They did get actor Dermot Mulroney to play cello in the orchestra.