J.J. isn’t going to be able to return to the Mission Impossible franchise’s director’s chair for the fourth film, but he has no plans to abandon the franchise. Mr. Abrams is remaining as a producer and is partly responsible for the story, but most importantly he’s looking for a strong director to follow him up. He and Cruise have been looking into a number of candidates, and the list is quite interesting- Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), Edgar Wright (the upcoming Scott Pilgrim), and Brad Bird.
Framed as the lead contender (or at least the most likely choice), Brad Bird is mentioned by THR to be looking for another live-action vehicle while his ‘Frisco earthquake movie 1906 sits idling at Warner Brothers. To meet Paramount’s announced release date of May 27th, 2011 for the fourth Cruise-driven spy thriller, Bird would have to hop on soon.
If 1906 is indeed stalled out, than this could be a great move for Bird. Motherfucker knows action and the Mission Impossible universe is a well-budgeted sandbox to start out his live-action career in. While no entry in the franchise has truly been spectacular, they all average out well above “just okay,” maybe even broaching into “good.” Bird has gifts in the story and cleverly-staged-set-pieces departments, so there’s no doubt he could bring Mission Impossible to a new level. If he’s as eager to break out of the world of pixels and into live-action as is often circulated, this could be quite a break.
Look for info soon- Paramount’s got to get this puppy moving.
7 comments
Brian DePalma and John Woo are hardly slouches in the directing department but Team Cruise managed to find a way to make them turn out something merely OK. Until this series gets a new lead actor, one who is actually interested in a good character not just how good the character looks, no Mission Impossible movie will ever be anything more than average.
As much as I'd like to see Brad Bird do MI4, I can't help but imagine Edgar Wright injecting some Hot Fuzz into the Mission Impossible franchise
ah, sorry…but brad bird is definately no brian de palma, john woo, or even jj abrams…his good days dont even equal their bad days
So I can expect to hear a new score from Oscar winning film composer, Michael Giacchino? I love saying Oscar winning and Michael Giacchino in the same sentence.
Why is it automatically assumed that a guy who can direct an animated movie can somehow now direct a live action one with equal ability?
Weird to blame the actor for every movie turning out OK. He's totally in charge of the movie. He totally rewrites scripts, ghost directs, and executive produces. It's all his fault. The truth is the movies would've been more than average if they had better stories attached to them. The first one was decent enough, but MI2 had the worst story ever. it seemed obsessed with a shallow romance and even more obsessed about Tom Cruise's hair. MI3 had a really decent story and Philip Seymour Hoffman, but Abrams was just coming off Alias so everything felt like a TV show.
"Why is it automatically assumed that a guy who can direct an animated movie can somehow now direct a live action one with equal ability? "
You mean like Tim Burton?
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