‘Mission Impossible 6’: How Director Christopher McQuarrie Will Make History

Mission Impossible 6 officially has a director — Christopher McQuarrie!

The 47-year-old director confirmed the news himself with a tweet on Monday that spoke volumes, showing that he has “accepted” the challenge.

Mission: Accepted #MI6

— ChristopherMcQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) November 30, 2015

By directing the sixth installment of the blockbuster franchise, McQuarrie is also going to make history within the world of Mission Impossible films.

How so? It will mark the first time that the same person has directed more than one Mission Impossible film. Keep in mind that the franchise dates back to the 1996 film, Mission: Impossible, which was directed by Brian de Palma and introduced the world to Tom Cruise as special agent Ethan Hunt.

Believe it or not, that first Mission Impossible movie (produced by Tom Cruise) was almost 20 years ago (1996). pic.twitter.com/M5WS5U455l — Coolhunter One (@CoolhunterOne) July 29, 2015

Nearly twenty years and four films later, there still has yet to be a single director that serves in that leadership role for two different installments.

John Woo (Face/Off, Paycheck) directed the first sequel, Mission: Impossible 2, which was released in May 2000.

John Woo couldn’t woo moviegoers with Mission: Impossible 2: http://t.co/J4T8Xx86ug #MissionImpossible pic.twitter.com/YRG8uhNOd9

— FanboyNation (@FanboyNation) July 30, 2015

J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Cloverfield) took the franchise to new heights with the 2006 film, Mission: Impossible 3. Many fans and critics may forget that the third installment of the franchise was actually Abrams’ directorial debut in the realm of feature films on the big-screen.

Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Tomorrowland) experienced a career first of his own with the 2011 follow-up, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Even though he had directed animated films before that, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was Bird’s first live-action film.

The fifth, and most recent, installment of the Mission Impossible franchise was directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Therefore, it is true that McQuarrie will be able to make franchise history by being the first to direct two different installments.

Another noteworthy highlight, though, is that J.J. Abrams has remained involved in the franchise behind-the-scenes for nearly ten years. Even though he has not returned as a director, his production company (Bad Robot Productions) has helped the franchise make waves since the fourth film was released in 2006.

Christopher McQuarrie must have a successful working relationship as well since they have worked together several times over the years in one form or another. Before Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, McQuarrie directed Cruise in the 2012 film Jack Reacher, which also starred actress Rosamund Pike.

McQuarrie also worked as a co-writer on two other Tom Cruise films – Valkyrie (2008) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014).

In a July 2015 interview with Deadline, McQuarrie opened up about how he and Tom Cruise envisioned the original concept of the fifth Mission Impossible film during its early stages of development.

“What Tom and I discussed at the very beginning, was about keeping the tone fun. If the audience is telling the industry anything right now, it’s that they just want to go to the movies and have a good time. We wanted to deliver on that. As far as comparisons to those other spy movies in the genre, we really just didn’t think about it. We put it out of our minds as best we could.”

Christopher further explained the dangers of thinking too much about it beforehand and where it eventually leads you.

“The truth is, if you start to think too much about it, you wind up in one of two mindsets. Either you’re trying to top whatever it is you’re comparing yourself to, or you’re desperately trying to avoid whatever it is you’re comparing yourself to, and it just leads to a dead end either way. We just kept drumming story and character, and having a good time.”

The official cast of Mission Impossible 6 has not been confirmed yet, but at least fans and critics of the franchise can rest assured knowing that the upcoming film’s direction is in good hands.

[Image Credit: George Pimentel/Getty Images]