Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 Production Had To Be Paused After Clash Between Tom Cruise and Paramount

The CEO of Paramount Pictures has spilled more information from behind the scenes of the troubled production of Mission: Impossible 7. Brian Robbins spoke about a disagreement that the production house, Skydance Media, had reached with the studio over a scene with the Russian submarine.

Mission: Impossible 7, announced by Tom Cruise in 2019, was recently released on July 12th after facing numerous challenges during its production. The film had to navigate through the difficult times of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which led to multiple pauses in filming. The crew faced difficulties while shooting in Italy, which became a pandemic hotspot at the time, leading to a temporary halt in production. These setbacks, along with others, caused the production cost to skyrocket to nearly $300 million, far exceeding the initial estimates.

Cruise and McQuarrie’s disagreement with Paramount paused the production

Robbins recently revealed in an interview with Variety another reason that led to Paramount hitting a pause on the production of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1. The lead star, Tom Cruise, and director Christopher McQuarrie had a disagreement with Paramount over a scene involving a Russian submarine that they wanted to include in the film. Originally planned for Dead Reckoning Part Two, the scene became the opening sequence of the film. It was a costly sequence, and Paramount ended up bearing the entire cost because Skydance Media, the co-financier, was contractually limited to financing costs up to $240 million only. Robbins explained:

“Let’s just say that the studio and the production and Tom were in a disagreement over direction, and there was a stalemate going on. We had to hit the pause button. They were stuck on how they were going to move forward with ‘Dead Reckoning Part Two’ while finishing Part One. It was a production issue, and it was about the scope of what was being asked for. And the question we needed to ask was do we need this and why? And then how big is it going to be, and how long is that going to take?”

Fans who have watched the film know that Robbins ultimately had to give in to Cruise and McQuarrie’s demands, which were reportedly presented to them during the middle of the production. They would also understand the significance of the scene in setting up the core storyline, not only for Dead Reckoning Part One but also for Part Two.