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Entertainment Weekly is giving Mission: Impossible fans the first look at new images from the franchise's upcoming installment, including the first images of Pom Klementieff's enigmatic villain. As noted by EW, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has seen its fair share of roadblocks as a result of the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic-related shutdowns, writer and director Christopher McQuarrie (who also directed 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and 2018's Mission: Impossible – Fallout) was working on the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise when the virus hit.
He stated, "We were in Venice, Italy, two days away from shooting in February of 2020. We were at ground zero for the pandemic. Now I'm here talking to you!"
Over the next three years, McQuarrie and series star Tom Cruise (who also served as a producer for the movie) worked on filming the seventh entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise in a variety of locations, including England, Abu Dhabi, and Norway despite the pandemic related roadblocks.
Still, the lengthy shooting time led to other issues as well. For example, while working on Dead Reckoning, McQuarrie and Cruise ended up having to replace Nicholas Hoult with Esai Morales because of scheduling conflicts with Hoult's Hulu show The Great. Likewise, McQuarrie noted that franchise newcomer Hayley Atwee "might have been on this movie for well over 100 days before she had her first dialog scene, owing to the chaotic nature of the production."
You can see the first look at the team's endeavors in the images below, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.
Christopher McQuarrie Never Had Any Doubts About Completing Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Finally, after years of delays, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is expected to release in theaters on July 14th. While speaking with EW at an early premiere of the movie, the director stated that he never had any doubts that the film wouldn't get finished. He said:
"When you're making a movie with Tom, that's not really a factor. And on these movies, we like to say, 'Disaster is an opportunity to excel.' We lean into the chaos. We don't invite it, but we accept it as part of the process."
The writer similarly noted that the upcoming Mission: Impossible film will be worth the wait and will feature plenty of notable action sequences, such as the already publicly revealed stunt which sees Cruise ride a motorbike off a cliff in Norway.
From his office in London, McQuarrie (who is currently overseeing post-production on the upcoming Mission: Impossible film and likewise prepping for Dead Reckoning Part Two) told EW:
"This has been the most unbelievable adventure and the most unbelievable continuum between, in some state or another, working on Top Gun, Mission 7, and Mission 8, all simultaneously. Top Gun is now behind us, and we're in a place where Mission 7 is almost out in theaters, and it's so surreal to think that, in July, I will be working [on] one movie at a time. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself!"