Impossible Star Recalls Gunfight Stunt With Tom Cruise, Including His Weird Advice If Their Hair Caught On Fire

Mission: Impossible III
Star Keri Russell recalls filming one of the movie’s gun stunts and Tom Cruise’s advice if her hair catches fire. Directed by JJ Abrams, the third installment in the hit Mission: Impossible The franchise was released in 2006, with Cruise returning as superspy Ethan Hunt to retrieve a mysterious item known as the Rabbit’s Foot. Russell appeared in Mission: Impossible 3 As Hunt’s trainee, Lindsay Farris, the beginning of the movie features an extended sequence in which Hunt rescues her from a guarded factory complex.

In a recent video for Variety In which actors try to remember which of their movies certain lines are from, Russell reflects on filming Mission: Impossible 3 with Cruz. The actor recalls a stunt in which she and Cruz jump on a van as a building explodes behind themShare that her costar has some advice for if her hair catches fire from the blast. The advice, she reveals, was to “Just shake it out.”

Russell then recalls filming the gun part of the sequence, touching on one particular gun throwing stunt that Abrams wanted to accomplish with CGI. Cruz, however, pushed to do it for real. Check out Russell’s recollection of her time filming the action sequence below, or watch Varietys video (relevant section starts at 1:17):

“Epic gun battle scene. Epic. Oh my god. First of all, Tom Cruise does most of his own stunts, so because they see his face, I have to do it too. Like, jumping off a building that’s about to explode. , landing on top of a van as it pulls away. And he goes, ‘Sir, if we jump down and your hair catches on fire, just shake it out.’ I was like, ‘Okay, really?’ PS I have a lot more hair than him.

“I think it was around this line, Tom is supposed to look at me and then, in slow motion, chuck me a mag, or chuck me a gun, I don’t even know. And then I grab it and do like some Badass move JJ [Abrams] said, ‘No, so what you’re going to do is he’s going to pretend to throw it and then we’re going to convert, like, something CGI. So just make your hand like this.’

“And Tom goes, ‘No, no, no, she can do it.’ And I was like, ‘Tom, I can’t.’ So, he’s like, ‘We’ll do one, we’ll do one. See if she can do it.’ Did it. It was so cool.”

What Mission: The Stunts of Impossible 3 meant for the franchise

JJ Abrams’ film was a turning point for the franchise

Cruise is now an actor known far and wide for his willingness and enthusiasm to do extreme, dangerous stunts. The Mission: Impossible Franchise, too, has now morphed into a series mostly built around specific stunt sequencesBut it wasn’t always like that. The Burj Khalifa trick in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) is really what cemented this new direction for the franchise, and the third film served as something of a transition film.

The original from 1996 Mission: Impossible was a hit, but the reception to the second film in 2000 was less than stellar. Mission: Impossible 3Reviews were generally positive, but the film experienced a dip at the box office, and still stands as the lowest-grossing entry in the franchise. despite this, The third movie still set the stage for the new direction of the franchiseFeaturing a handful of stunts – most of which were completed for real – that shaped the next four movies. Russell’s narration of Cruise’s attitude to stunts is a perfect representation of how the franchise would evolve.

Our take on Russell’s Mission: Impossible 3 Story

Cruise takes his action movies to the next level

when Mission: Impossible Cast members talk about Cruz, they tend to highlight just how dedicated and serious he is when it comes to entertaining people. He puts a lot of the burden on himself, but as is supported by Hayley Atwell’s stunt stories of filming Mission: Impossible – Dead Account, He also pushes those around him to work at a higher level and to push themselves.

Cruz pushing Russell to try to do the gun trick practically is a testament to that Mission: Impossible Stands apart from other action franchises. While it may be safer, cheaper and more convenient to rely on VFX for certain sequences, That extra effort that Cruz puts in and that he encourages others to put in makes a big difference. Mission: Impossible 3 It may not be the best entry in the franchise, but it’s still a remarkably entertaining action movie, and Hunt’s rescue of Farris remains a standout sequence.

Source: Variety