Christopher McQuarrie on if he would return to direct Mission: Impossible 7

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT is the talk of the town right now, and it has just won its second weekend at the box office, coming hot off the best reviews of the franchise. While other franchises would be slowing down six movies in MISSION is pushing the pedal to the metal, and fans are praising director Christopher McQuarrie for taking the series to new heights. The question is will he be back for a third go, and now the man who threw Tom Cruise out of an airplane has opened up about the matter

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The movie is experiencing some of best success of any in the franchise, with critics and audiences praising the even bigger stunts and bolder story elements – all making for one of the greatest action sequels ever. That is a ton to live up to, and McQuarrie said on the Empire Podcast (via Collider) he feels bad for the person who has to take on that kind of pressure, even though the main star and the studio want that person to be him.

“[Fallout editor] Eddie Hamilton, every day in the editing room was like, ‘Come on, man, it’s obviously a trilogy you’re coming back, you have to finish it, you didn’t kill Lane,’ and I was like, ‘It’s somebody else’s problem.’ Tom has asked, the studio has asked, and I was like, ‘You know maybe I’ve got an idea for…’ and then the reviews came out and I was like, ‘Get outta here. Just stop.’ I felt so bad for the director of Mission 6 and I feel even worse of the director of 7. I’d rather have leprosy than be in the position of the person having to confront the pressure of the hyperbole of this movie on their first day of shooting the film. It’s too much to confront. I’d need a long nap before I could contemplate it.”

McQuarrie also pointed out that he started both this movie and ROGUE NATION without a completed script, reworking key chunks at some point during production. This has set an unideal precedent for the director that the studio isn’t shy about reminding him of.

“The worst part is they’re like you don’t need a script, you don’t need to prep—you’ve done it twice!”

Indeed, the pressure would be insane coming off this movie, which currently has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and had the biggest opening weekend of the series. On top of that, he delivered the movie while dealing with the pressure of coming off ROGUE NATION, which also received tremendous reviews and terrific box office results. Hell, living up to such expectations seems like a job for the IMF at this point.

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I totally sympathize with McQuarrie, and if I were in his shoes I’d probably say the same thing he did. Even though the studio is probably keen on bringing him back for round three I can see why he would turn it down. But, still, I love what he’s been doing with the movies and I very much want him to come back to wrap up the story with Lane and Hunt. The man has deserved a break, though, so if it takes him months to decide then we will all should wait patiently like good fans.

Go see MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT again.