Tom Cruise makes it his mission to defy death in all the Mission: Impossible movies with increasing levels of “world-topping sh*t.” Back before he was clinging onto the side of an airplane and scaling a Dubai skyscraper, he pulled off some daredevilish, stomach-dropping rock-climbing moments in the John Woo-directed second installment for the franchise. Now, one of that movie’s writers, Ronald D. Moore has opened up to the Hollywood Reporter about how he helped retool the movie following the departure of Oliver Stone and previous writers. To no one’s surprise (nowadays), the rock climbing inspiration came straight from Cruise’s recreational moments. Yet the best nugget in this interview delivers a spark of morbid humor, given that Cruise had shared his random encounter with Dr. Death himself.
As Moore relates, Cruise got pretty candid behind the scenes, telling stories while they worked on fine-tuning the script at the Top Gun: Maverick star’s home. Apparently, Kevorkian used his notoriety as a joke about sort-of recruiting Tom for his own cause when they bumped into each other at a Time magazine event. Cruise had been sitting close to Henry Kissinger, which sounds surreal enough, and then Kevorkian threw out his sales pitch of sorts:
Moore recalls Cruise saying that Kevorkian approached the actor. “Tom goes: ‘Kevorkian shakes my hand and says, “So, how you feeling?” And Tom laughs and says, ‘Oh, I’m fine.’ And Kevorkian snaps his fingers and goes: ‘Ah, too bad.'”
Hmm, was this a standard Kevorkian opening line or something that Jack crafted especially for the A-list actor? It’s tough to say, but recycling a line for Tom Cruise seems like something that even Dr. Death (who passed away in 2011 from natural causes) wouldn’t do.
Yet it’s slightly sobering to recall that M:I 2 (which is still maligned by franchise fans) did in fact have a plot beyond the stunts. In the movie, Ethan Hunt worked against the clock to halt the a deadly virus before it landed in terrorist hands. Perhaps we can call in Hunt to repair our current situation, sooner rather than later? And then M:I 7 can unleash production once more and get everyone safely back into movie theaters.
(Via Hollywood Reporter)
