TheMission: Impossiblefranchise is largely agreed to beone of the best and most successfulfranchises running right now, and a great degree of its longevity is owed to how directorBrian De Palmalaid the foundation with the very first movie in 1996. But as it turns out, theMission: Impossiblethat we now know and love was not always theMission: Impossiblethat existed, as a very astute note from filmmakerGeorge Lucasinspired De Palma to go back and reshoot the opening scene of the movie.
As you’ll recall, the firstMission: Impossiblemovie begins with the Impossible Mission Force team completing a mission in Kyiv, after which they’re sent to Prague to begin yet another mission. But first, the group sits around a table and banters as Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) runs down what, exactly, their mission is and what they’ll each be doing. And as originally shot by De Palma, this scene didn’t exist.
Appearing on the excellent Mission: Impossible podcastLight the Fuse, De Palma revealed that he screened an early cut of the film for his friend George Lucas, who told him he needed a scene setting up the mission:
“When George saw Mission: Impossible he said, ‘There’s no setup to this thing. You’ve gotta set this thing up! You’ve gotta have that scene where they’re all sitting around the table and everybody gets their instructions about what’s gonna happen.”
De Palma admitted that it’s been so long it’s hard for him to remember what the original opening scene was, but suffice it to say Lucas’ note inspired him to bring the cast back for some additional photography and add the new sequence:
“In the beginning we had this very strange scene – it’s hard for me to remember now – with Voight and somehow the jealous thing with the wife and Tom, and then we got into the first mission. And when George saw the movie it’s the first thing he said, ‘What are these people doing? This is Mission: Impossible, it’s a group of guys going to do something! So you’ve gotta get them all around a table and tell the audience what they’re supposed to do,’ and that’s what we did. We went back and reshot it. So that’s an example of us helping each other.”
This isn’t the first time aMission: Impossiblemovie was changed during or after production, asMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocolfamously brought inChristopher McQuarrieto perform rewrites in the midst of filming, and his work was so good he ended up directing the next fourMission: Impossiblemovies himself.
RELATED:Christopher McQuarrie Details His Rewrites on ‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’
But this franchise would be nothing had the first movie not worked, and it’s a testament to De Palma’s talent that he not only nailed the adaptation of the TV show the first time out, but also took Lucas’ note to heart and improved what he had already shot.
The revelation in the podcast comes on the heels of De Palma discussing the legendary first screening ofStar Wars: A New Hope, for which De Palma,Steven Spielberg, and others were in attendance. The entire podcast discussion is a must-listen for fans ofMission: Impossibleor De Palma, as he gets candid about the challenging experience of making that first movie when his and Tom Cruise’s creative ambitious were not always aligned.
It also goes without saying that Light the Fuse is worth checking out in its entirety, as other podcast episodes feature deep-dives into the making of all theMissionmovies with the likes of McQuarrie,Brad Bird, writerDavid Koepp,and many, many others.
KEEP READING:Tom Cruise Explains Why This ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Stunt Was the Most Dangerous of His Career
