15 Things You Need To Know Before You See MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT

Posted on June 30, 2018 by Niall Browne in Features, News

Mission: Impossible – Fallout hits cinema screens around the globe at end of July. The sixth instalment in the long-running spy franchise once again sees Tom Cruise conduct gravity defying stunts as intrepid IMF agent Ethan Hunt. Before you check out the Christopher McQuarrie directed film – you’ll want to know these fifteen Mission: Impossible facts.

The films are based on a television show created by Bruce Geller. The show ran for 7 seasons (1966-1973) and 171 episodes. Over the years its cast included Peter Graves, Martin Landau, Leonard Nemoy, Barbara Bain, Lesley Ann Down and Sam Elliott. Lalo Schrifrin composed the now iconic theme tune – which is still used in the movies. An updated version of the show aired in 1988. It ran for 2 seasons (35 episodes) but it never matched the success of the original.
Until Mission: Impossible- Fallout, each entry in the series had a different director. Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J Abrams, Brad Bird all filmed instalments. Christopher McQuarrie is the first director to comeback for directing duties. Joe Carnahan and David Fincher have come close to directing entries into the franchise.
Peter Graves turned down the chance to reprise the role of Jim Phelps in Brian DePalma’s film because he was unhappy that the character was the film’s villain. Jon Voight played the part.
1996’s Mission: Impossible was the first film produced by Tom Cruise. He has produced every film in the series, non-Mission: Impossible films include Narc, Ask The Dusk, Vanilla Sky, The Others and the Jack Reacher films.
Mission: Impossible II was Tom Cruise’s first sequel. Cruise is currently filming a follow-up to Top Gun and he returned to the role of Jack Reacher in 2016’s Never Go Back.
The first five Mission: Impossible movies have grossed over $2.7 billion globally. 2011’s Ghost Protocol scored nearly $695 million worldwide – making it Tom Cruise’s biggest box office hit. Rogue Nation is his second highest, having banked $682.7 million.
Fallout is the first film in the series to have a villain return for the second time. Sean Harris’ Solomon Lane was also the antagonist in 2015’s Rogue Nation.
Apart from Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell is the only character to appear in all six Mission: Impossible films. Simon Pegg, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris and Rebecca Ferguson have also made more than one appearance.
Mission: Impossible II’s Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine in Bryan Singer’s X-Men, however he had to drop-out of the film when shooting on the spy movie over-ran. Hugh Jackman got the part – and the rest is history.
Each Mission: Impossible film sees Cruise’s Ethan Hunt take part in some death defying feat. Cruise often does these without the use of a stuntman. Rogue Nation saw Cruise hanging from A400m Airbus during take-off – he tops this by doing a HALO (High Altitude Low Open) skydive jump from over 25k feet in Fallout. For filming purposes he had to make the jump 105 times!
Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill almost co-starred in an adaptation of another 1960s spy television show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Cruise dropped out of the film and Cavill took on the role of Napoleon Solo, sharing the screen with Armie Hammer.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the sixth time that Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie have worked together. With McQuarrie having a hand in The Mummy, Valkyrie, Jack Reacher, Edge Of Tomorrow and two Mission: Impossible films.
Tom Cruise broke his foot whilst shooting a rooftop stunt for Fallout. Production on the film was shut-down for seven weeks to allow him to recover from the injury.
Henry Cavill needed to reshoot scenes as Superman for Justice League during the production of Fallout, but his character has a moustache throughout the film. The facial hair was digitally removed for the DC Comics pic at a cost of millions – making headlines and memes around the globe.
Mission: Impossible 7 is already in development.