Christopher McQuarrie is among the most integral parts of the Mission: Impossible franchise, and with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning nearing release, the director and writer just got to the heart of what makes those movies special. With stunts from The Final Reckoning set to be among the franchise's best, the film is highly anticipated. In fact, it will likely be a success at the box office when it is released on May 23. Going into the new movie, understanding how McQuarrie looks at the series helps to explain the series’ appeal.

McQuarrie has certainly become an expert on the Mission: Impossible franchise. He was first brought in by Tom Cruise during production on Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, where he contributed uncredited rewrites to the film's script. After that, he became even more instrumental to the series, directing each installment from Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation on. McQuarrie helped the franchise find a more consistent and cohesive state, and his excellent working relationship with Cruise clearly contributed to this, as some of his recent comments can attest.

Mission: Impossible Movies Have A Long History Of Script Changes, Rewrites, & More

Many Of These Installments Have Evolved During Production

For all its success, the behind-the-scenes history of Mission: Impossible is filled with plenty of creative changes and script rewrites. This dates all the way back to the first movie, which entered production without a complete script as writers Robert Towne and David Koepp hashed out the story. When McQuarrie ed the franchise as a writer, this trend persisted and even, in a way, became emblematic of his process with Cruise. For example, they began work on Mission: Impossible - Fallout with a script that was only 33 pages long, and thus came up with most of the story during production.

The large number of unmade Mission: Impossible movies further speaks to the constant behind-the-scenes evolution that comes from working with this franchise. Mission: Impossible was the first film that Cruise ever produced, and he has since become incredibly hands-on within the franchise. His intensity and adaptiveness have finally been matched by McQuarrie, with whom Cruise has built an incredible partnership over the years. It has resulted in a uniquely powerful kind of action film.

Christopher McQuarrie Says Mission: Impossible Scripts Are Always Evolving To Generate More Feeling

They Aren't Just Making It Up As They Go Along

McQuarrie recently provided further insight into the process, making it clear that these movies are made with a focus on being adaptive. This allows every moment of the film to constantly be under careful consideration, letting the filmmakers shape the scenes and the action on the fly to make them as resonant and integral to the central plot as they can be. This has allowed The Final Reckoning to contend with many mysteries from the franchise’s past, tying their significance in with the balletic storytelling through these action sequences. McQuarrie told GQ about this in detail:

We are not making it up as we go along... But we are constantly pushing ourselves to make it better, to make it more immersive, more resonant, more engaging. We don’t trust that just because somebody says these lines on a piece of paper that you’re going to feel those things.

Becoming embedded in the story and the emotion, and tying those into the action, have become core parts of how Mission: Impossible functions. This has helped to make the films feel different, and often more exciting, when compared to other Hollywood blockbusters. By allowing unabashed feeling and ion to drive the storytelling elements, Mission: Impossible has built great characters and told emotional stories in a refreshing and thrilling way. All of this care has contributed to the emotional resonance of each film and the franchise as a whole.

Mission: Impossible's Script Process Is Often Challenging For Actors

This Process Has Worked, But Can Be Daunting For Franchise Newcomers

This process is not an easy one. McQuarrie spoke at great length in the GQ article about the franchise’s learning curve, and how it can be destabilizing to new performers. He noted that this happened with Vanessa Kirby and Rebecca Ferguson when they ed in Fallout and Rogue Nation, respectively. It takes time and effort to become used to the difficult fashion in which these films are made.

Many stars have appeared in the franchise only once, and have not returned to Mission: Impossible due to the intensity of the process. Thandiwe Newton, who played the female lead in Mission: Impossible 2, is a great example of this. Speaking with Harper's Bazaar, Newton shared that she found it to be quite difficult working with Cruise. She said many kind things about Cruise as a person, asserting, "He wasn't horrible. It was just—he was really stressed." Still, it is clear from her comments that the process of making the film was not an easy one, as she said:

I was so scared of Tom. He was a very dominant individual. He tries super hard to be a nice person. But the pressure. He takes on a lot. And I think he has this sense that only he can do everything as best as it can be done.

Cruise is an intense Hollywood star, and it appears that, while this commitment to his craft has helped make so many of his films better, it's also made working on the projects incredibly taxing. McQuarrie acknowledged this, saying that after other directors work with Cruise and spend a great deal of time perfecting the grueling action sequences, "They don’t ever want to f*cking do that again.” Fortunately, McQuarrie and Cruise have found kindred spirits in one another, and this has been to the advantage of their films.

Christopher McQuarrie & Tom Cruise's Approach To Mission: Impossible's Scripts Is Unusual, But The Results Speak For Themselves

McQuarrie And Cruise Collaborated On Some Of The Best Installments In The Series

While making these films has been difficult, there is no denying that this process has yielded some pretty incredible results. Rogue Nation, Fallout, and Dead Reckoning were all made with McQuarrie at the helm, and at least the first two of these are often considered the best in the Mission: Impossible franchise by many. Fallout yielded the best box office results for the series and is still looked back on favorably for its action as well as the emotion that was able to make its way into the story.

Fallout currently holds the franchise's best Rotten Tomatoes score, which is an impressive 98%.

Mission: Impossible is frantic and thrilling, and embedding all of that inside an emotional package is a difficult task, but McQuarrie and Cruise have done an excellent job with it. This has clearly been a difficult process, but responding to ideas and developing the stories even in the midst of shooting has helped to deepen Ethan's character and his connections to his team. With the first reactions to The Final Reckoning now emerging, it appears that this resonant success will continue in the next installment.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning may or may not be the last Mission: Impossible film, but either way, the lessons learned from its production are important. Mission: Impossible has grown into one of the biggest, best, and most beloved action franchises of all time and is sure to be an influence on future projects in the genre for generations to come. Understanding how the films were made, and how different facets contributed to their powerful emotional resonance, is incredibly important when considering the franchise as a whole.