Christopher McQuarrie was tempted to kill off Ethan Hunt in the final Mission: Impossible movie.
Although Tom Cruise’s alter-ego ultimately survives, director McQuarrie admitted there was one moment during editing of the final movie in the spy franchise when he contemplated killing off Hunt for good.
Speaking about Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the filmmaker told Empire magazine: “Everything is on the table. There was a moment in the editing of the final sequence of the movie where Ethan goes spinning into that cloud bank where I thought, ‘If you cut to his grave right now, you’d feel the sacrifice was sufficient. Wow, that’s very, very effective.’
“The idea of a conclusion of a story being the death of that character… they are not one and the same. When you fully tie off the story, the story ceases to be. And that’s not life. Stories go on, whether or not the movies do.”
Not killing off Hunt also leaves the opportunity open to revisit the franchise in the future and McQuarrie would consider making a ninth movie.
He said: “Tom Cruise is a force of nature, and a very, very tricky one. I'd only do it if it was the movie I desperately wanted to make.”
Meanwhile, Tom was recently awarded the Guinness World Record for “most burning parachute jumps by an individual” for a stunt in The Final Reckoning.
For the scene, Tom, 62, jumped out of a helicopter 16 times while strapped to a parachute pre-soaked in fuel and lit on fire.
Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said in a statement: “Tom doesn't just play action heroes – he is an action hero!
“A large part of his success can be chalked up to his absolute focus on authenticity and pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do. It's an honour to be able to recognise his utter fearlessness with this new Guinness World Records title.”
