Tom Cruise's stunts and news of some Chinese investment are drawing people to Mission: Impossible-Rouge Nation. Xu Fan interviews director Christopher McQuarrie.
Ethan Hunt looks unbeatable in Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation.
Tom Cruise, who plays the intelligence agent, does a lot of stunts including latching onto a plane in midflight and holding his breath under water for a few minutes.
But director Christopher McQuarrie says, he was nervous that Cruise, 53, might get injured in bird attacks even as he was strapped onto a plane for the action sequence during shooting.
"I was most nervous for Tom (Cruise) when he was on the side of the A400. I was worried about birds more than anything else. A bird strike would have killed him," the 47-year-old American filmmaker tells China Daily in an e-mail interview.
McQuarrie describes the action sequences of the latest installment of the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise as "uniquely dangerous".
The spy thriller opened on the Chinese mainland on Sept 8 and earned nearly 770 million yuan ($120 million) by Monday at the box office, making it the top imported 2-D grosser in China. Trade figures show that the fifth installment only took 11 days to surpass the mark of 674 million yuan achieved by Ghost Protocol (2012), the last film in the series.
According to domestic media, Rogue Nation has four Chinese investors-the film arm of e-commerce giant Alibaba, government-backed website 1905.com, real estate and film mogul Wanda Group and Contemporary Eastern Investment, a South China-based company.
China, the world's second-largest film market after the United States, has grown at an annual rate of more than 30 percent in recent years, and this gave investors here a chance to tap into overseas markets. The Chinese investors reportedly picked 10 percent of the latest Mission: Impossible film's $150-million budget, making it an example of their interest in such projects.
But the film may pay off in more ways than financially in China.
Trade figures from Chinese cinemas indicate a 55 percent screening occupancy on its mainland debut day, which is high when compared with most homegrown tent-pole films.
"Our partners in China have been incredibly generous and supportive. We are glad to have them on board," McQuarrie says. "I can't predict what the future holds ... for (the) continued partnership, but I'm very interested to see what happens."
While analysts tend to focus more on financial stories, fans show an interest in behind-the-scenes information on such films.
Rogue Nation won high ratings on some Chinese film review sites, such as Douban.com and Mtime.com. Comments from online users mostly centered on Cruise's "death-defying" acting and the film's Chinese elements.
In the film, Cruise is an agent of the Impossible Missions Force who tries to intercept nerve gas being transported to terrorists, and in the process does many stunts himself. The Hollywood star is considered the Western equivalent of Chinese action hero Jackie Chan, who is also known for shooting real fight sequences for films.
Other sensational scenes include a motorcycle chase on the steep, winding roads of the Atlas Mountains.
McQuarrie calls that the "most thrilling time" of his months in the director's chair.
"I was in the chase-car and thought for sure we were going to drive off a cliff. We were going very fast ... I was more worried for myself during the chase," he says.
The real stunts set Mission: Impossible franchise apart from many Hollywood action thrillers that heavily rely on computer-generated imagery.
"There are few, if any, actors willing to go as far as Tom is in the name of on-screen realism," says the director, who has worked with Cruise in three previous films, including Valkyrie and Jack Reacher.
"While there is certainly a villain who presents a greater threat, we focused on the emotional connection between Ethan and the people around him," McQuarrie says.
When asked about his impression of Chinese actress Zhang Jingchu, who shows up as a CIA agent for a few seconds, McQuarrie calls her a "great presence" in the film.
"She is absolutely lovely. There was so much more I wanted to do with her character, but sadly, there just wasn't the time," he says.
Amid the rising wave of international cooperation in movie circles, one of the most frequently asked questions is about Hollywood's secret to conquering international markets regardless of culture and language.
McQuarrie, who won the Oscar for best original screenplay for The Usual Suspects (1995), gives his answer: "People have always loved and always will love a good story. And we are in the business of making dreams come true."
