Christopher McQuarrie revealed that after the release of Mission Impossible 8, we might see Tom portraying a drastically different character in their next project.
Although Tom Cruise has portrayed countless characters throughout his career, the Mission Impossible films, to which he has devoted an astonishing 27 years at this point, have undoubtedly made him inseparable from the role of Ethan Hunt for many viewers.
And while the upcoming Dead Reckoning Part Two is unlikely to be the last installment in the franchise, it appears that after that, the actor may take a break and appear in a completely different role than what we got used to over the years.
Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie, who was in charge of the last three Mission Impossible films, expressed their desire to make an R-rated movie in 2020, in which the actor would appear as a “very un-Tom character.”
Now, in an interview with Empire, McQuarrie revealed that the so-called “Gnarly Movie” is currently being discussed as the next project after Dead Reckoning Part Two.
“It’s that movie that they’re all [fans] asking for and that we want to do,” the director concluded.
Fans agree that it is time for Tom Cruise to remind everyone of the true range of his talent by moving away, even temporarily, from playing yet another good guy.
After all, he managed to pull it off in 1999’s Magnolia as the unlikable but somehow compelling Frank T.J. Mackey.
Furthermore, he is no stranger to playing outright villains, as evidenced by his brilliant performance as Vincent in 2004’s neo-noir Collateral, who easily became the film’s crown jewel with his charismatic yet dark and menacing presence.
Others bring up Les Grossman from 2008’s Tropic Thunder, although that one was much more comedic, albeit one of Cruise’s most iconic roles to this day.
With all that in mind, fans are eager to see what McQuarrie and Cruise have in store for them.
However, if the movie is greenlit at all, it will be after Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, which is scheduled for release on June 28, 2024.