“We f–ked up”: Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible 7 Director Took a Page Out of Zack Snyder’s Justice League to Shoot One Key Scene in $291M Sequel

Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible 7 Director Took a Page Out of Zack Snyder's Justice League to Shoot One Key Scene in $291M Sequel
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Mission Impossible 7 came out to be a major hit among both critics and audiences even after facing a tight schedule. The Tom Cruise film is reportedly the penultimate part of the story of Ethan Hunt and narrates the tale of the IMF Agent on a mission to find an AI threat named The Entity. The mission also brought him close to someone from his past he had been hunting for a long time which made the story more personal than we had thought.

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Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 7
Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 7

The connection between Ethan Hunt and his past is established through a major scene in the movie. According to director Christopher McQuarrie, that key sequence was shot at the last minute in Tom Cruise’s garage.

Also Read: “He has a special place in IMAX’s heart”: Tom Cruise Loses Battle Against Christopher Nolan as IMAX Theaters Kick Out Mission Impossible 7 to Extend Oppenheimer Run

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Which prominent Mission Impossible 7 scene was shot in Tom Cruise’s garage?

Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part 1 presented Esai Morales’ Gabriel as a solid antagonist who is directly linked to Ethan Hunt’s past. More importantly, he was the reason why Tom Cruise‘s character joined the IMF. Gabriel killed a mysterious woman Marie played by Mariela Garriga who seemed to have an important role in Hunt’s life.

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission- Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Tom Cruise performed his own stunts in Mission Impossible 7

Christopher McQuarrie explained in an interview with the Empire Spoiler Specials podcast that he found it difficult to incorporate the story of Marie with a whole lot of stuff already going on. The director stated that it was during the editing process that he realized what he should do. He immediately called up Cruise to shoot a photograph that was needed for the scene.

“I was in the editing room. I cut in the Marie footage and went, ’30 years ago you were given a choice.’ I just laid it out. Stop trying to ask the audience to figure it out and just effing tell them, they want to know. I called Tom and I just went, ‘We f–ked up. There’s one very important photo that’s missing.’ I said, ‘We need a mugshot.’ It’s not enough to say it in the abstract. We need this picture.”

But it was not the end for the Mission Impossible 7 director who came out with more ideas while shooting the photograph. He decided to reshoot the entire sequence which resulted in them taking all the props to Tom Cruise’s garage.

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“That triggered – once I was shooting one photograph, well, might as well reshoot them all. So we brought a desk and some flooring and that bag and some photos and a gun, all the basic props, and went to Tom’s garage in Florida. We had a splinter crew go and reshot everything.”

This story also reminds us of the anecdote shared by Zack Snyder regarding the filming of his Snyder Cut. The director filmed one crucial scene between Batman and Joker from the Epilogue part in his garage.

Also Read: “There’s always a plan in the future”: Mission Impossible 7 Director Promises Marvel Actor’s Return Despite Tom Cruise’s Future Being Nearly Derailed After Box-Office Failure

What’s the connection between Snyder Cut and Mission Impossible 7?

Jared Leto's Joker in Zack Snyder's Justice League
Jared Leto’s Joker in Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Following the highly chaotic scenario of the Josstice League, the studio was forced on fans’ demand to release the original cut of the DCEU movie. Later when Zack Snyder’s Justice League was released on HBO Max, the 4-hour-long cut featured several new scenes for the fans.

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One of the most iconic scenes between Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jared Leto’s Joker in the ‘Knightmare’ sequence featured in the Epilogue of the Snyder Cut. According to Zack Snyder, the studio was against it but he was hell-bent on executing a Batman-Joker meet-up in the DCEU in any way possible. Ultimately, he decided to shoot it secretly in his house. Snyder stated in an interview with The New York Times:

“I added it because this was going to be the last movie I make for the DCU and to have this entire cinematic universe without Batman and Joker meeting up just felt weird. Jared [Leto] and I had a bunch of conversations about it. I had mentioned it to Ben and I was like, Ben, let’s just do it at my house. I could shoot it in the backyard. Don’t tell the studio and I’m not going to pay you guys. I’m just going to shoot it myself.”

This also motivated the director more and he called the others too for the whole apocalyptic scene that was seen at the end of the director’s cut. It is praiseworthy how it was so seamless though the whole cast was not present there for the whole sequence and it was shot separately.

Also Read: “Emotionally intelligent actor with extremely underrated range”: Tom Cruise Fans Laud Him as Action Legend after Oppenheimer, Barbie Twist Mission Impossible 7 Out of Box Office

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Although the SnyderVerse led to nowhere, Mission Impossible 8 is slated to tell us more about the story of Marie. It is expected to be one last run for Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt which also assures that Dead Reckoning Part 2 might bag a greater collection than the critically acclaimed latest part.

Mission Impossible 7 is running in theaters near you. Zack Snyder’s Justice League can be streamed on Max.

Source: Empire Spoiler Specials

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Written by Subham Mandal

Articles Published: 1103

Subham Mandal is currently working as a content writer for FandomWire with an ardent interest in the world of pop culture. He has written more than 1000 articles on different spheres of modern pop culture and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He’s also an experienced student journalist having demonstrated work experience with the Times of India. He aspires to be a column writer in the future.