At a recent event, actor Tom Cruise appeared on stage not only to promote his new film “Mission Impossible – Final Karma” but also to pay tribute to a friend, a long-time collaborator and, most importantly, an artist with a profound influence on modern cinema – Christopher McQuarrie, who was just honored with the Director of the Year award.
Tom Cruise began his speech in a humorous way, joking that many times people mistook McQuarrie for a child actor in “Jerry Maguire” – the film that brought Cruise an Oscar nomination (in fact, the actor in the photo is not McQuarrie but Jonathan Lipnicki).
Their real collaboration began with “Valkyrie” (2008), when McQuarrie contributed as a sharp screenwriter with a vision beyond the usual Hollywood stereotype. In the film, Tom Cruise played Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his plot to assassinate Hitler.
It was at that meeting with McQuarrie that Cruise realized, “I knew this was an artist I would be with for the rest of my career.” After “Valkyrie,” McQuarrie became the script editor for “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.”
Tom Cruise shared that during the making of “Ghost Protocol,” he felt the story structure was lacking. It was McQuarrie, whom he affectionately calls McQ, who rewrote one of the franchise’s most iconic action scenes, saving the film with his intuitive and coherent storytelling.
Since “Rogue Nation”, McQuarrie has officially become the main director of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, working with Cruise to turn this series from an entertaining action film series into an action franchise with excellent quality in the history of cinema. With “Fallout”, the filmmaker not only surpassed the shadow of the previous part, but also set a new peak in the combination of beautiful action, intelligent plot and complex character system.
In 2019, Paramount made a bold proposal: to make 2 consecutive “Mission: Impossible” parts. McQuarrie agreed. Although the project was interrupted many times by the Covid-19 pandemic and 2 film industry strikes, McQ did not give up. He continues to write, direct and produce – becoming a model of resilience, creativity and leadership in an ever-changing industry.