Shortly after Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny crated at the box office with an abysmal $60 million opening weekend, Paramount Pictures released a new clip showcasing the film’s epic train sequence that sees actress Hayley Atwell describe the Mission: Impossible franchise as “the most extraordinary adventure franchise you’ve ever seen.”
The new Mission: Impossible featurette begins with director Christopher McQuarrie saying, “When we started talking about this movie in terms of a sense of adventure, an action sequence on a train, was something that we always wanted to do.”
“We wanted to build upon the previous films and apply all of that knowledge to something practical and real, and bring this train sequence to another level,” he adds.
From there McQuarrie details how they had to build the entire train from scratch explaining, “There was not a surplus of trains available to be wrecked. We had to build the train if we wanted to destroy it.”
“To shoot it practically was extremely challenging,” he continues. “Not just to execute, but to design all the different train cars. And it could actually function on a working railroad track.”
“No one else in the world is doing this level of practical filmmaking and it may never be done again,” he touts.
As for the fight scene on top of the train between Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Esai Morales’ Gabriel , the film’s Stunt Coordinator and Second Unit Director Wade Eastwood explains the difficulty, “The train sequence takes us on an adventure that is absolutely huge. We have this big fight on the roof, going 60 mph, going through a real valley.”
Esai Morales adds, “I’ve done fight scenes, but to do them on a movie train was trial by fire. That’s how Tom likes to do things.”
Hayley Atwell also states, “When you are hanging off a train carriage Tom is a great person to have beside you. Not only is he fearless, he’s always looking to see how it’s going to land for the audience.”
As with a number of the stunts they put together for this film, McQuarrie notes the difficulty is not just in coordinating the stunt work, but actually capturing it on the various cameras in order to turn it into a cinematic experience.
“Crashing the train involved multiplying factors of difficulty. Every single camera had exactly one shot of getting it right,” he shares.
Cruise adds, “It’s not just a matter of going off because if we do it all and we don’t capture it right, what’s the point?”
As the featurette ends with the train plummeting off the bridge, McQuarrie states, “Everything you are seeing in this spectacular train sequence is done to invest the audience in these characters.”
Atwell then asserts, “Mission: Impossible is the most extraordinary adventure franchise you’ve ever seen.”
“You can only do it with a team like this and an actor like Tom,” McQuarrie concludes.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One arrives in theaters on July 12.
What do you make of Atwell’s comment? Do you think Paramount cut the featurette to make a slight dig at Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny or is it innocuous?