‘Mission: Impossible' director talks about end of Tom Cruise role

Mission: Impossible director, Christopher McQuarrie admitted he wanted to kill Tom Cruise’s alter ego in the film, Ethan Hunt.

Despite in the latest, eighth installment of the franchise, Cruise ultimately survives, the director revealed there was a moment of temptation that contemplated ending Hunt’s story for good.

Speaking about Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the filmmaker told Empire magazine: “Everything is on the table. There was a moment in the editing of the final sequence of the movie where Ethan goes spinning into that cloud bank where I thought, ‘If you cut to his grave right now, you’d feel the sacrifice was sufficient. Wow, that’s very, very effective.’”

He continued, “The idea of a conclusion of a story being the death of that character… they are not one and the same. When you fully tie off the story, the story ceases to be.”

“And that’s not life. Stories go on, whether or not the movies do,” McQuarrie clarified.

Not killing off Hunt also leaves open ground to explore any possibilities of a ninth part for the Mission: Impossible franchise.

The director stated, “Tom Cruise is a force of nature, and a very, very tricky one. I'd only do it if it was the movie I desperately wanted to make.”

Meanwhile, Cruise, for his The Final Reckoning scene, jumped out of a helicopter 16 times while strapped to a parachute pre-soaked in fuel and lit on fire, for which he was awarded the Guinness World Record for “most burning parachute jumps by an individual.”

Guinness World Records editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday, said in a statement:

“Tom doesn't just play action heroes – he is an action hero! A large part of his success can be chalked up to his absolute focus on authenticity and pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do. It's an honour to be able to recognise his utter fearlessness with this new Guinness World Records title.”