J.J. Abrams Didn't Know What He Was Getting Into With MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 and Was Warned About Tom Cruise

I was working in the Paramount Pictures mail room when director J.J. Abrams came in to direct Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 3. Those were some fun times! We actually used to sneak in and eat lunch with the cast and crew while they were shooting on the lot! While we never ate with Cruise, we did see him on the lot a lot and had brief interactions with him. However, I’ll never forget the time we were eating and Phillip Seymore Hoffman came and sat down to eat lunch with us! That guy was super nice and we all had a good conversation.

Anyway, Mission: Impossible 3 was the first feature film that J.J. Abrams directed, and as you might imagine, he was feeling the pressure of working on such a huge franchise with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. But, the film ended up breathing life back into the franchise and launching a new path for Ethan Hunt’s story arc.

During an interview in a behind-the-scenes video for the film, Abrams talked about his experience coming on board to helm the movie saying: "Mission: Impossible 3 was the first movie that I directed, and it was because Tom gave me the shot.”

Abrams then went on to talk about how he was warned about working with Cruise because not only was he the star, he was also the big producer. He added: "And I didn't know what I was getting into, and people warned me, 'Oh, the movie star is the producer, that could be a real problem.'"

Turns out, it wasn’t really a probably for Abrams at all! He explained that, "It could not have been less of a problem," and added: "Tom was as aware of the process of making the movie, of what it needed, as anyone I could've imagined. Every day I felt that he and I were in the trenches together in this incredible way where we were both sort of pulling each other up this mountain, and he wasn't a movie star looking to do a vanity project. He was an incredibly focused, dedicated producer who also happened to be starring in the movie."

Cruise has recently really been honing in on his craft and developing incredible films with the creative teams that he brings together. He seems like the kind of actor and producer you’d want to be working with because he’s all about making great films that entertain audiences and fans!

Mission: Impossible 3 ended up launching Abrams’ films career and while he’s been recently having issues getting new projects off the ground, he has made some awesome movies over the years. I would love to see Abrams come back and make another great original movie one day!

Via: /Film