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Mission: Impossible 3
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 Mission: Impossible 3 Production NotesTom Cruise, the most exciting and successful star in the world, returns to one of his signature roles, Secret Agent Ethan Hunt, in “Mission: Impossible III.” In this pulse-racing, mind-bending action thriller, Hunt confronts the toughest villain he's ever faced - Owen Davian (Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international weapons and information provider with no remorse and no conscience.
The film is co-written and directed by J.J. Abrams, who brings his unique blend of action, character, comedy, and drama to the franchise. The millions of loyal viewers of Abrams's landmark creations, the television series “Lost” and “Alias,” know what to expect: an enthralling, intricate story with an unexpected and arresting payoff that satisfies on every level.
With “M:i:III,” Abrams and Cruise turn the spy thriller on its ear as they hark back to the best aspects of the original TV series that inspired the films - a well-connected team of agents centered around a bold and heroic leader, the most exciting action stunts imaginable, and elaborate twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. “M:i:III” is the action movie audiences have been waiting for.
About the Production
Producer Paula Wagner says, “Tom Cruise and director J.J. Abrams deliver a breathtaking, action- and suspense-filled movie with humor, drama, and great characters that leaves the audience wanting more.”
Abrams responded immediately to the opportunity to bring a new vision of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise to life. “When Tom approached me about directing this movie, I said `yes' before he asked me the question,” says Abrams. “The promise of a `Mission: Impossible' movie is the ultimate opportunity for a writer and a director. You have the chance, especially with someone like Tom and the other actors we have in the cast, to get into some real emotional character portrayals.
“From the beginning, Tom and I talked about wanting to do a movie that had a surprisingly personal and intimate story,” continues Abrams. “When you hear `Mission: Impossible,' you know you are going to get extreme situations, great action, and incredible stunts. The idea was to take that opportunity, and combine it with an intimate story, a love story, and friendships that were real friendships with characters that you get to know and like.”
To achieve that, the director says, he asked a few questions that probed some parts of the Ethan Hunt character that have gone unexplored. “How do you reconcile being a man who does what Ethan Hunt does?” asks Abrams. “Our approach is not to make a movie about a spy, but to tell a story about a man who is a spy. It may sound like semantics, but when you truly let that guide you, the questions come and the answers that appear are actually relatable, emotional, and fascinating.”
Producer Paula Wagner agrees. “Ethan Hunt has a life separate from his work - which creates a new conflict for him in this world of intriguing missions,” she says. “In addition to overcoming the challenges that confront the IMF, this film looks at how he has to marry his personal life with the danger of his job.
“What sets `M:i:III' apart from the first two is that we also show more interpersonal relationships within the IMF,” Wagner continues. “Ethan Hunt and Luther Stickell have been working together now for a number of years. They have a relationship that is based on a solid friendship that is explored in this movie. Tom and Ving as actors and J.J. as a director handle that relationship all with a wonderful irony, humor, and finesse.”
The third key relationship in the film is that between Hunt and the villain, Owen Davian, played by Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. “Whenever he plays a role, he makes the part his own; he never does what you expect, so his characters are never the same,” says Cruise. “When Ethan Hunt goes up against this guy, it's terrifying - because Philip could go anywhere with Davian, Davian's capable of anything. Ethan's never faced a villain as ruthless and fearsome as Philip's.”
“Mission: Impossible III” also delivers all of the incredible action and breathtaking stunts that moviegoers expect from the franchise. The writing team - Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Abrams - dreamed up new sequences for Hunt to survive… which, says Abrams, put the director in a delicate situation. “When we started writing the action sequences, we would say, `We shouldn't even write this because Tom's going to want to do the stunt himself.' In the end, we realized, of course, we had to give the best we could. Though it's a bit hair-raising, it's inspiring to work with an actor and producer who's so willing to give everything to make the best movie he can.”
About Ethan Hunt
In writing “M:i:III,” J.J. Abrams and his co-writers, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, went back to the drawing board with the character of Ethan Hunt. “From the very beginning, Tom, Alex, Bob, and I wanted to do a movie about a character,” says Abrams. “Not that there isn't a lot of action - that goes without saying - but my favorite kind of spy movie is one where the commitment to the world, as extreme as it is, and as hyper-real as it is, is still emotionally true. You have these characters going through some of the most heartbreaking, most terrifying, most horrifying, most thrilling, most fun moments, and you believe all of them within the context of the genre. That's what we wanted to bring to `M:i:III.'”
“I think a big challenge many people face in their daily lives is how to balance home and work,” says Cruise. “How do you work at a job you love while also spending time with your spouse and kids? What we've done is to raise that to the extreme: not only does Ethan have to balance these two worlds, but because he's a spy, his home world is directly affected by his work. We've started with a real issue and taken it to an incredibly entertaining and extreme level.”
In exploring that, the filmmakers created a new life for Ethan Hunt. When the film begins, Hunt has retired from active duty - he now trains new IMF agents. With this change, he opens himself up to other new possibilities in his life, including marriage.
“In this movie, you get to see Ethan in some dramatic and emotional moments,” says Michelle Monaghan, who plays Julia, the love of Ethan's life. “He's truly in love and he wants it to last. Julia is truly in love with him, but she doesn't know exactly what he does; over the course of the film, she starts to see him become really distressed and she starts to wonder if there's something else that he's hiding. He asks her to trust him - and she does.”
Of course, Ethan cannot tell his new bride the whole truth. “She thinks he studies traffic for a living,” she says.
Monaghan takes on the role of leading lady, her largest role to date, after memorable supporting roles in “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” and the television program “Boston Public.” She says that her character helps the audience to see Ethan Hunt - the man they've known only as a spy - in a different light. “You get to see his vulnerable side,” she says. “You see all the action and intrigue you expect, but you're invested in the character in a completely different way than in the past.”
Abrams says that his high-stakes story is the perfect match for Cruise's on- and off-screen intensity. “Before we started shooting, Cameron Crowe mentioned to me that Tom was so focused, professional, and hard working, he was going to spoil me for the rest of my life,” says Abrams. “Everything he said is absolutely true.”
About the Villain
Abrams notes that the writing team took special care to create a villain worthy of Ethan Hunt - one that could match up to the hero. “This is the first time that Hunt has come up against an adversary that is as scary, clever, mysterious as the character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman,” says Abrams.
Hoffman, who recently won an Academy Award® for his performance in “Capote,” takes on the role of Owen Davian, Ethan Hunt's most ruthless opponent yet. An international information and weapons trader without remorse or conscience, Hoffman describes it this way: “In this type of transaction, there's a good cop and a bad cop. Davian's the bad cop - he takes care of the dirty work.”
For Hoffman, Davian is a role he can sink his teeth into. “He's not just a villain - he's a psychopath,” says Hoffman. “He creates incredible empathy for Ethan; the darker, more evil, more vicious this man is toward the hero, the more you want the hero to take this man down.”
“M:i:III” presented new challenges to Hoffman. “I've never done an action film before,” he says, “and it's something I've always wanted to do. I've known J.J. casually for many years, and I worked with Tom before, on `Magnolia.' When I read the script, I was impressed with the three ingredients - Tom, J.J., and the screenplay - combined. I thought that the time was right to do this kind of project, with these people and with this script.”
According to Hoffman, Davian plays a pivotal role in the central tension of “M:i:III.” “Ethan and Julia - Tom's and Michelle Monaghan's characters - are two people who have a lot of fear as they get married,” says Hoffman. “It comes from the terror about what could happen. Am I going to lose this person? Am I going to lose myself if we unite? On an extreme level, they're going through all the same things that keep people in everyday life from getting married. My character embodies that: the nightmare aspect that keeps people from making that kind of commitment.
About the Team
Joining Ethan Hunt as members of his IMF team are Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames) - the only person to join in on all three missions - as well as Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Zhen (Maggie Q), and Lindsey (Keri Russell). Laurence Fishburne plays Brassel, the director of the Impossible Mission Force, and Billy Crudup is Musgrave, Brassel's right-hand man.
Ving Rhames reprises his role as computer expert Luther Strickell. In this film, says Rhames, it's rewarding to see Luther's relationship with Ethan explored in more depth than ever before. “In the first two movies, they never talked about their private lives,” says Rhames. “These two guys are co-workers and friends; this time, they talk about the things that friends talk about. That's what J.J. has done - he's made these people humans apart from what they do for a living.”
Rhames notes that Abrams's directing style is, in some ways, like that of another director he's worked with. “He reminds me of Quentin Tarantino and the youthful energy he brings to the set,” says the actor. “I think that's contagious with actors.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers joins the team as Declan, the team's transportation expert: if you need it flown, driven, sailed, glided, helicoptered, or motored, he's the man you want - despite his personality quirks. “Declan's a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, mad Irishman,” says Rhys Meyers, who was most recently seen in the lead role of Woody Allen's “Match Point,” a performance for which he received rave reviews. “He's part of the next generation of the IMF - Ethan's grooming him. He's got that risk element that Ethan likes in his team members.”
Declan is also a chameleon, able to blend into any situation unnoticed. “One minute, he's an Italian deliveryman; the next, he's a geeky American tourist; and the next, a Vatican guard,” notes Rhys Meyers. “It's very easy for him to slip into another character.”
Maggie Q comes to “Mission: Impossible III” as one of Asia's most popular actors after starring in such motion pictures as Hong Kong's box-office smash “Gen-Y Cops” and “Naked Weapon.”
Born in Hawaii, Maggie was busy working in Hong Kong when the “M:i:III” call came. “I've been living in Hong Kong for eight years and wasn't planning to do an American film,” she says. “Now, my first American starring role is in a huge Tom Cruise movie. The scale of everything is so much bigger than in Hong Kong. Coming back to America has been a real culture shock.
“Zhen is a very tough, hard woman - a doer, not a talker,” Maggie says of her character. “She works behind-the-scenes; Ethan is the front man of the operation and Zhen is part of the team that helps make everything work.”
To prepare for her role, Maggie underwent a rigorous training regime. In addition to cardio and toning, she underwent some strength training to gain muscle. She also went through martial arts training and boxed. “In movie fighting, you have to be a jack-of-all-trades,” she says. “You can't specialize - you're often called upon to chameleon into different kinds of fighting.”
After witnessing Jackie Chan and other Asian martial-arts stars willing to put their bodies on the line for their films, Maggie Q was impressed with Cruise's willingness to perform his own stunts. “I've worked with Jackie Chan, and watching Jackie, you know he grew up in a Kung Fu school, he was in the circus - he had a tough upbringing and he's a tough guy. There's no doubt he can handle it. When I see Tom do the same things, that, I think, is amazing. Tom earns a lot of respect from the action director and the stunt people who know just how difficult everything is. Tom has an undying energy - when he's acting, of course, but really, all the time.”
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Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt and Michelle Monaghan as Julia Meade in Mission: Impossible 3.
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