Christopher McQuarrie: Tom Cruise is sucking the life out of me

20 July 2018

Christopher McQuarrie thinks Tom Cruise is "sucking the life out" of him in order to keep up with the stunts for 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout'.

Christopher McQuarrie

The 50-year-old director and screenwriter is helming upcoming the sixth movie in the franchise after having also directed 2015's 'Rogue Nation', and has joked that lead star Tom, 56, is still able to keep up with the fast paced action sequences because he's ageing backwards and stealing Christopher's youth.

He said: "Throughout that foot chase - through St Paul's, across all those rooftops, over Blackfriars Bridge - Tom is running faster and faster. He's really hauling. Look at my hair. My hair was dark when I started these movies. I am the portrait and he is Dorian Gray. He's sucking the life out of me."

Christopher also admitted he was "very reluctant" to helm a second 'Mission: Impossible' movie as each of the previous four had been overseen by separate directors, but agreed to come back on the grounds that he could create a film which centred on the life of the main character, Ethan Hunt.

He added: "I was very reluctant for two reasons. First, I felt like we'd run out of vehicles that he can crash, fly, destroy. Second, fans of the franchise have come to expect a different director every time [the first four films were overseen, respectively, by Brian de Palma, John Woo, JJ Abrams and Brad Bird]. [I agreed, but only if I could] make a movie about Ethan. None of these movies are really about him."

The director notes that the franchise's longevity is in part down to the lack of depth given to Cruise's character, but has vowed to make 'Fallout' a "more personal and emotional movie".

Speaking to The Times newspaper, he said: "That's another reason why the franchise has held up as well as it has. It's why Bond has held up as well as it has. Bond remains a cipher, he's kept at arm's distance. The difference is you're allowed to change Bond every few movies. You can't do that with 'Mission: Impossible'; there's one Tom Cruise to play Ethan. So I said, 'I wanna make a more personal movie, a darker movie, a more emotional movie.'"