10 Recent Movies That Were Absolute HELL To Make
5. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
It was almost three years between principal photography on Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One beginning and the film being released, largely due to production being stalled numerous times by the onset of the pandemic.
The stop-start nature of the shoot would be nightmarish for any blockbuster production, but it proved especially challenging for a Mission: Impossible movie, given the tendency for Tom Cruise and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie to basically write the films as they go along, coming up with the set-pieces first and then shaping the story around them.
The pressure on the duo was evident, elucidated by a leaked audio clip of Cruise chewing out crew members for skirting COVID protocols and threatening to further delay production.
And because the shoot wasn't yet tough enough, pandemic-related travel restrictions resulted in numerous casting changes. Oh, and a large fire broke out on one of the sets.
That the end result is such a polished film is impressive considering all the turmoil, but Cruise and McQuarrie aren't quite out of the woods yet.
The upcoming eighth Mission: Impossible still hasn't wrapped shooting despite beginning filming over two years ago, with recent reports indicating the budget might be as high as $400 million.