Photo:Robert Okine/Getty, Granitz/FilmMagic, Bryan Bedder/Getty
Robert Okine/Getty, Granitz/FilmMagic, Bryan Bedder/Getty
Christopher McQuarrie says he briefly considered casting a major actress for what would have been a small role in the latestMission: Impossiblemovie.
AsMission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Onefilmmaker McQuarrie, 54, appeared onEmpiremagazine’sSpoiler Special Film podcastrecently, the director recalled that as the production considered de-agingTom Cruisefor a flashback sequence in the new movie, he briefly wondered whether he could bookJulia Robertsto act alongside the actor.
“I said, ‘OK, if I were doing this sequence, it would be Tom in, say, 1989,’ " McQuarrie recalled on the podcast, noting that he believed the late Tony Scott (True Romance) would have been a good pick to direct a late ‘80sMission: Impossiblemovie.
“We looked atDays of Thunderand we looked at the style of it, and we started thinking what would it look like if Tony Scott had shot this, and who would it have been?” the director continued, according to a/Filmtranscription of the podcast appearance. “I looked back at who was the ingenue, who was the breakout star in 1989? And right around then wasMystic Pizza. And I was like, ‘Oh my God. Julia Roberts, a then-pre-Pretty WomanJulia Roberts, as this young woman.’ "
McQuarrie continued to note that he decided he only would want to de-age Cruise for the flashback if he could “somehow convince Julia Roberts to come in and be this small role at the beginning of this story.”
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As McQuarrie considered his options, though, he decided seeking out digital de-aging — and the fees the production would incur from casting an A-list star like Roberts — were not worth what he envisioned for the scene.
“As you’re conceptually going through it, you’re like, ‘Now all anybody’s going to be doing is thinking about the de-aging of Julia Roberts, and Esai [Morales], and Tom, and Henry Czerny,’ " the director said. “And then I got the bill for de-aging those people before their salaries were even factored into it.”
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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Oneis in theaters now.
source: people.com
