Mission: Impossible III Release Date: May 5, 2006 Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup, Keri Russell Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Think Cruise is high on life? Not compared with first-time feature director J.J. Abrams (TV’s Alias), who delivered this report from the L.A. leg of the production, which also shot in China, Germany, and Italy: “Doing this movie is like doing Alias, but with a condom of rock cocaine broken in your stomach. It’s such a rush.” Perhaps Abrams—who signed on to the project after both David Fincher and Joe Carnahan dropped out—is referring to the scene in which Cruise dangles from a truck going 80 miles per hour, his face two inches from asphalt. (Really him.) Or the one where he jumps off a Shanghai high-rise. (Ditto.) Even Felicity’s Keri Russell is getting in on the action. “Everything I’ve done before has been kind of slow and thoughtful,” she says, “and this is just go, go, go! I’m stick-fighting, assembling machine guns blindfolded . . . ” So, does her character get in over her head? “J.J. would kill me if I gave anything away.” That, or this magazine would self-destruct in five seconds. —Tom Russo
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