Mission: Impossible III Full Production Notes

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.