Mission: Impossible II
Short description
Mission: Impossible II follows secret agent Ethan Hunt as he is pulled back from a climbing holiday to take on a new assignment. A former colleague, Sean Ambrose, has obtained a genetically engineered virus known as Chimera, and Hunt has to locate the traitor and recover the weapon before it can be used. Working with computer specialist Luther Stickell and driver Billy Baird, he approaches Nyah Hall, a thief who was once involved with Ambrose, and the operation moves between Australia and Spain.
The film was directed by John Woo, the thirteenth of the twenty-two features he has directed in chronological order, arriving after Face/Off and before Windtalkers. Robert Towne wrote the screenplay, and Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner produced. Cruise leads the cast as Ethan Hunt, with Dougray Scott as Ambrose, Thandiwe Newton as Nyah Hall, Ving Rhames returning as Luther Stickell, Richard Roxburgh and John Polson in supporting roles, and 45 credited cast members in all.
Made for 125 million dollars, the film took 546 million dollars worldwide, a strong commercial result. On IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from 412,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.1 out of 10 from 7,824 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 6.3 out of 10 from 208 reviews, so critics and audiences landed in much the same place.
What's left behind the scenes
- Tandiwe Newton had never driven on the right side of the road before, so an instructor was constantly in the passenger seat next to her, ready to press a brake pedal specially extended to his side of the cabin at any moment.
- The first director's cut of this film was 3.5 hours long. Paramount Pictures stated that this was too much and informed director John Woo that the film needed to be cut down to a maximum of 2 hours. This explains the number of inconsistencies and plot holes present in the theatrical release.
- The role played by Anthony Hopkins was originally offered to Ian McKellen, but he was busy with a theatrical production in London, and the role went to Hopkins. McKellen's agent was horrified that he had turned down what was, in essence, a small role. Had McKellen accepted it, budget overruns would not have allowed him to play in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (2001-2003), and, like Doug Gray Scott, he would not have worked with Bryan Singer on "X-Men" (2000).
- During the filming of the fight scene where the opponent tries to stab Tom Cruise's character in the eye with a knife, Cruise insisted on using a real knife, which had to be stopped millimeters from his pupil (and not 'somewhere nearby,' as director John Woo suggested). A cable was attached to the knife handle and slowly released to achieve the desired effect. Cruise insisted that Dougrey Scott, who played his opponent, use his full strength and not hold back.
- The character of Anthony Hopkins was the only one to use the phrase: “Mission: Impossible.”
- In the scene where Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle through flames, he used neither fire-resistant clothing nor special protective gel.
- When Ethan attempts to escape the chase on a motorcycle, he passes the same intersection twice. This can be verified by paying attention to the road sign warning of the sudden appearance of kangaroos, and the sand-colored van that passes through the intersection twice in the same spot.
- The scene where Tom Cruise 'rips off the face,' which turns out to be just a mask concealing the antagonist played by Dougrey Scott, was filmed in one take using a green screen. Cruise was instructed to place his hand in the correct position under his chin and then move it upwards. Scott, wearing a mask with sensors that transmitted a three-dimensional image of his face to a computer, removed the mask, after which Cruise's face was 'superimposed' onto the mask at the moment of removal, and both images were combined into one. Instead of the green screen, an image of the airplane cabin was inserted into the background.
- Thandiwe Newton became Ethan Hunt’s partner. She was suggested for the role by Cruise’s then-wife, actress Nicole Kidman, who had worked with Newton on John Dagan’s melodrama “Flirt” (1990). Newton was cast before the script was even finished.
- Tom Cruise personally oversaw the final editing, and John Woo was barred from entering the editing suite.
- According to one of the screenwriters, Robert Towne, a significant part of his contribution to the plot focused on the action scenes that John Woo, as he told Towne, wanted to film in this movie.
- Due to circumstances beyond his control, Tom Cruise had to cover the budget overruns from his own pocket.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
