Tom Cruise speaks during a press conference held as part of his promotional world tour for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Seoul, Thursday. (Yonhap)
Tom Cruise, the “Mission Impossible” franchise star, urged fans to watch the seventh installment of the world famous spy series in the cinema for a “shared experience.”
“I love cinema. I love the people and people from all cultures and walks of life. We sit down at cinemas and share community experience. I think it’s one of the joys in the life for me,” Cruise told reporters during a press conference in Lotte Cinema World Tower on Thursday.
“I don’t make a movie just to make a movie. It requires a tremendous amount of time and effort and there’s a fun process but (it’s also a) dedication that staffs and actors bring to craft this movie,” he added.
Cruise arrived in Seoul on Wednesday afternoon along with “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” director Christopher McQuarrie and other members of the main cast to promote the blockbuster opening here on July 12.
Before coming to South Korea, the crew participated in world premieres last week in Rome, London and Abu Dhabi, where the seventh "Mission Impossible" film was shot in addition to Norway. The film’s wild car chase scene involving a tiny yellow Fiat 500 and a giant Hummer was shot at the Italian capital’s Spanish Steps.
“We were excited to shoot in all of those locations. When we’re scouting the city we hope to show the places that people don’t get to see. Those were the places we wanted to celebrate and offer cinematic journey to our audience,” Cruise said.
The film follows Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the IMF team as they try to prevent a new weapon falling into the wrong hands in order to save all of humanity.
Tom Cruise arrives in Seoul on Wednesday as part of his promotional world tour for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” (Im Se-jun/The Korea Herald)
With every Mission film raising the bar for more jaw-dropping stunts, Cruise said this movie is packed with plenty of action, such as speed diving and jumping off from his motorcycle from a Norwegian cliff.
“Speed diving is very unpredictable compared to skydiving,” said director McQuarrie, adding that he just had to stare at the monitor and wait for Cruise’s parachute to launch while shooting.
“But we’re so focused on safety and execution plans, we have many departments functioning together and doing it (like that) for long time. If you are thinking too much about being dangerous, that’s where your focus goes to,” McQuarrie told reporters, adding that the whole team does all the stunts in the “safest place in the world.”
Cruise said his stunts were very weather-dependent, which made jumping off a cliff and landing at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour with his parachute even more challenging. But his passion for storytelling, life, adventure and entertaining the audience powers him to confront all those dangers.
“I’ve been skydiving for many, many years and riding motorcycles since I was a kid. I did have a training for five months but it really is the years ahead before the training and an accumulation of my lifetime (that make me do the stunts),” said Cruise.
“I’m a human being to confront (fear). It’s not that I’m not scared, I don’t mind doing things that scares me. I don’t mind feeling scared. I want to confront them,” he added.
Cruise, who visited Korea last year to promote “Top Gun: Maverick,” has visited Korea 11 times since 1994.
Cruise and director McQuarrie have worked together for the past 16 years. None of Cruise’s works for the past 16 years have been without McQuarrie, who are together dubbed the “creative brothers.”
Tom Cruise (left) and director Christopher McQuarrie pose for a photo during a press conference held as part of the promotional world tour for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Seoul, Thursday. (Yonhap)
“The reason we work together is that we care about audience’s experience. We love entertaining our audience,” said McQuarrie.
“We’re not taking any of this for granted. We’re always thinking about audience and I admire (McQuarrie’s) talent as a person and an artist and we have a lot of fun together. We’re always learning and challenging together,” Cruise told reporters.
Four other lead actors, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby and Pom Klementieff, also attended the press conference. Atwell and Klementieff are newcomers to the Mission series.
“I’m a villain (in the movie) and it’s great. It was one of my dreams to be in ‘Mission Impossible,’ it was my first movie when I watched in a tiny black-and-white TV when I was 11,” said Klementieff, who said it was her “dream Tom true,” to star in the film.
She added that she had gotten martial arts lessons even before she was cast and wrote “Mission Impossible” in her calendar to manifest being in the film.
For the car chasing scene in Rome, Atwell said she cared a lot about doing it safely.
“I had to learn how to drift and learned for five months in the UK. But having to take it to the location in Rome’s cobbled streets, there was a new level of obstacles. But I had the foundation of training so I was able to do it safely,” Atwell noted.
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” opens in local cinemas on July 12.
From left: Director Christopher McQuarrie, Pom Klementieff, Hayley Atwell, Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Vanessa Kirby pose for a photo during a press conference held as part of the promotional world tour for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Seoul, Thursday. (Yonhap)
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