0:00

The riveting Paramount Plus original

0:02

docuseries continues. A sailboat

0:04

with four Americans was pirated off of

0:07

Africa. And then all of a sudden, there's bursts

0:09

of gunfire. Real

0:11

FBI agents. As a case agent, you

0:13

have someone's life on your shoulders. And their top

0:16

secret stories. They were gonna cut

0:18

Corey's eyes out and send him into FedEx box.

0:21

I said we will not stop until we get each

0:23

and every one of you. That's what we do.

0:25

FBI True. New season now

0:28

streaming on Paramount Plus. Ready?

0:30

Go! Everyone is raving. Mission

0:33

Impossible is off the charts spectacular.

0:35

Hang in there! Tom Cruise has outdone

0:37

himself. Go, go, go! Prepare for the best

0:39

movie of the summer. This is getting exciting. Mission

0:42

Impossible Dead Reckoning. Rated PG-13. July 12th. Light

0:45

the fuse. Well,

0:47

this is not Mission Difficult, Mr. Hunt. It's Mission

0:50

Impossible. Difficult should be a walk in the park

0:52

for you. It's all got to do

0:53

with the rabbit's foot. Please don't

0:55

make me go through you. Sir, Hunt

0:57

is the living manifestation of destiny.

1:00

And he has made you his mission. Kittredge,

1:03

you've never seen me very upset. And

1:05

you really think we can do this? We're

1:07

going to do it.

1:25

Welcome to Light the Fuse, the

1:27

official Mission Impossible podcast. I'm

1:29

journalist Drew Taylor and I am joined by filmmaker Charles

1:32

Hood.

1:33

Charles, how are you? I am great. It

1:35

is an honor to be here. This is amazing.

1:38

This is the official Mission Impossible podcast. Can

1:41

you believe it? We've loved this franchise for

1:43

years. We've chronicled its existence. And

1:46

now, we're going to be talking about it. And

1:49

we're going to be talking about it. We've loved this

1:51

franchise for years. We've chronicled its

1:53

existence.

1:54

And now, here we are on the eve,

1:56

literally the eve, of Mission Impossible

1:59

Dead Reckoning Part 1. We're here.

2:01

We're the official podcast. It's unbelievable. Yeah,

2:03

it's amazing to be here. And Drew, you

2:05

and I have known each other since high school. We've been obsessed with

2:08

movies and we've been obsessed with these movies

2:10

for years, like you said, chronicling

2:12

every aspect of the filmmaking of them. And we're so

2:14

excited to continue to do that now with

2:16

our brand new show, Light the Fuse, the official

2:19

Mission Impossible podcast, which

2:21

has brand new episodes every Tuesday available

2:24

wherever you get your podcasts. And

2:26

I think for this first month of release of Mission

2:28

Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part 1, we're going to have some

2:31

extra episodes as well, not just Tuesdays. Oh,

2:33

really? Okay. All right. Oh, is that

2:35

news to you? Oh, yeah, I have no idea. Wow.

2:37

I guess, well, I'll be sticking around,

2:40

I guess, after this. But I think that, you

2:42

know,

2:42

we should really start this episode off with a bang.

2:45

Oh, yeah. And you know what? What's better than

2:48

co-writer, director Christopher McCrory and

2:50

the star of the franchise, Tom

2:52

Cruise. Yes. And together

2:55

they produced the movie as well. And they are a

2:57

formidable duo. We got

2:59

to go to Rome to go to the world premiere and

3:02

speak with them in Rome in

3:04

a hotel. So you get to hear a little bit of street

3:06

sounds from Rome in the background. It's hey, it gives

3:08

it some flavor, don't you think? It does. And this is

3:10

the day before the world premiere. We had already

3:13

seen the movie the night before. We were

3:15

super jazzed and it was

3:17

just great to talk to them. Just to set

3:19

everyone's expectations for our first episode,

3:21

we've got Cruise and McCrory today, but they're not the

3:24

only interview we've got today. We've got about 15 minutes

3:26

with Cruise and McCrory. And then we've got some other surprise

3:28

guests, cast and crew

3:30

from the movie Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part

3:33

One, who we will be talking to later in this episode.

3:35

Just wanted to tease that before we get going. And

3:37

you want to do a little, when we refer to Wimbledon,

3:39

Charles, what are we talking about? Well, it's

3:42

actually Tom Cruise who refers to Wimbledon because the

3:45

previous time we spoke with him on our

3:47

old show, he actually was on his

3:49

way back from Wimbledon and we talked to him on

3:51

Zoom. And that was, this was our

3:53

first face to face interview that we had with him.

3:55

So this was, that's why, that's what that reference is

3:57

to Wimbledon. That's great. It's great that he.

3:59

remembers us and I think that you

4:02

guys will enjoy this. So please sit

4:04

back, relax, and this is

4:06

Tom Cruise and Christopher McCrory in Rome

4:09

talking Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning

4:11

Part One.

4:13

["Dead Reckoning Part

4:15

One"]

4:22

Gentlemen, good to see you. Good to see you. Great

4:24

to see you. Congratulations, welcome to Paramount. Thank

4:26

you so much. This is the first episode, too. Amazing.

4:30

So I like the conversation that we had at Wimbledon.

4:33

Yes, yes. You in the car. I

4:35

was in the car, that was amazing. Yeah. That

4:37

was amazing. 2018, you start talking about this movie.

4:40

How closely do those initial conversations

4:43

resemble the movie that we're getting? Not

4:45

remotely. Really? Okay. Yeah,

4:48

we don't... We had that in Fallout

4:50

or Rogue where we're like, oh my gosh,

4:52

we talked about this whole movie or that moment.

4:54

Yes. Afterwards. Yes. It

4:57

really evolved. Okay. There were

4:59

certain things that we talked about, the train, of course,

5:01

is there. We just talked about all

5:03

the stuff, the submarine, the train, motorcycles,

5:06

cars, those things are there. But

5:09

I mean, the evolution we were talking about, Rome, we

5:11

had an idea in terms of Ethan's

5:14

past, the notion of bringing back

5:16

Kitchrich. And once we talked about

5:18

Kitchrich, it felt only natural that we were delving

5:21

deeper into Ethan's past, but

5:23

all of that really evolved throughout the

5:25

course of production. The whole thing of

5:27

the thief had actually evolved and then meeting

5:30

Hailey, it was just each actor kind of

5:32

brought a different story and another... Layer.

5:38

Layer. So you guys have talked about, for

5:40

years now, developing this visual

5:42

storytelling, less dialogue and

5:45

more of the visuals and does it feel like,

5:47

I mean, to us... It's challenging with the mission because

5:49

of the amount of plot and

5:51

the things, because you have to have that aspect

5:54

in the story, but most definitely, that

5:56

evolution for a mission

5:58

movie to have that. It's...

5:59

This is a luxurious movie. And we really went,

6:02

he came, said, let's, you know, you

6:04

want to do another one? He said, I want to do two because

6:07

the story, we'll always have so much story.

6:09

So we wanted to cut it in half. And

6:11

I think that was a great idea.

6:13

But every, anytime we're going- You did not say that. I

6:16

said, yeah, no. And there were days

6:18

where you looked at me, you went, you wanted this. Yes,

6:21

when he's looking me exhausted, he's like, oh my

6:23

gosh, you gotta do this. And we're heading to another production. And

6:25

I'm like, this is your idea.

6:27

This is your idea. We would have been finished

6:29

with this movie and we would have been working on our next

6:32

movie, okay? Yes. And

6:35

now we're shooting seven going, what's, what

6:37

do we do with- There's no end to this. Yes,

6:41

but it was- But it's pretty exciting.

6:43

It proved to be the right idea in that. It

6:48

gave us the room to really

6:50

explore the story and

6:52

to give every single character in the movie their

6:54

moment. That's just vivid characterization. I mean,

6:56

you guys saw it last night. Yeah, yeah. You see

6:59

every character. We really

7:01

focus on that in every film we make, but

7:04

it did a lot of that kind of the breath and

7:06

the scope of the story, even though the film

7:08

is going at a

7:09

sprint. Yes. The

7:13

only thing that can keep up with you running is the

7:15

pace of this movie. It's the pace of this movie. It's

7:17

right. But

7:19

when did you kind of just, it is kind of a runaway

7:22

chase movie. And I was wondering when you

7:24

kind of settled on that structure, was that something

7:26

that you discovered during production? Was

7:28

it in the edit? I think we

7:30

probably realized that

7:33

as we were watching the movie a couple

7:35

of days ago. It's,

7:38

we're so head down and we're so focused on

7:40

story. We're so focused on making

7:43

it the most immersive experience we can. Just

7:45

like with Fallout, it wasn't really until we

7:47

put the movie together and stepped back from it that

7:50

we understood the scope

7:51

of what it was. And I- The

7:54

impact of something where we're looking at it, there's

7:56

always that moment where thinking, do

7:58

we do enough? Yeah.

7:59

have is it we know everything

8:02

is bigger than us yeah we never think

8:04

is big enough and feeling you know

8:07

but the rhythm of the movie we are we

8:09

do have our eye on the rhythm of the structure

8:11

and the rhythm of the scenes it's very much we're

8:14

in it and we step back and go how's how

8:16

is not just pacing but is it

8:19

the rhythm the emotion the engagement you

8:21

know and musicality yeah the musicality

8:23

and the engagement with the audience right are

8:25

they engaged are we engaged and

8:28

constantly watching that to make sure that you

8:31

know people talk about air or something's too long

8:33

it's not timing it's am I invested

8:35

in the story am I do I know where

8:37

I am in the story in and place where

8:39

I should know where I am and am

8:41

I invested in this journey in the world

8:44

so the things that when you look at

8:46

how luxurious the film is locations

8:48

you know from one thing to the next

8:50

and has all the stuff that we've always wanted to do

8:52

submarines horse riding

8:55

you know the stuff that the Arctic

8:57

you know that's in the next one well no they stole

8:59

these on the ice cake oh yeah yeah sorry

9:02

you spoilers sorry yeah we're

9:05

obsessed with this with having

9:06

a snow scene in a mission impossible movie so we're

9:08

very excited yeah yeah that's a good idea

9:10

yeah that's a very good take that under

9:13

advisement yes I didn't say what I just

9:15

said yeah yeah yeah

9:19

the process of these movies the way you make them is so unique

9:21

and how much of that is

9:23

what while you're shooting when you're shooting a scene and you're thinking

9:25

about the visual storytelling are you it's interesting it's

9:29

interesting because I wasn't raised in film

9:31

that way I the way that I've made movies

9:33

and learned and when you study the history of cinema they

9:35

are made

9:36

in a cauldron of fire and compression

9:39

and you have to be you've

9:41

got to step back and look at it and be able

9:44

to shift your viewpoint and going what's

9:46

working what's not working obviously we're taking it

9:48

to a grand scale I mean every day we worked on Rain

9:50

Man Hoffa and I would drive to set together

9:52

we wrote the scenes give it to the director

9:55

rewrite we are working on that film for two years

9:57

beforehand it's not like we didn't have structure okay

10:00

The stuff, and he and I, when we started with Valka,

10:02

is the same thing. The way

10:04

that I work on films is you're constantly

10:07

working. You don't just read the script and learn your lines.

10:09

You have to evaluate, is this, where

10:12

is it? Is this, how do you write for

10:14

this actor? Every film

10:16

that I've ever worked on has had this process. And

10:19

it's having the courage to be able to

10:21

shift and know. And in the earlier days

10:23

of Chaplin, Lloyd,

10:26

Buster Keaton, they all shot, re-shot,

10:29

reinvented their movies. Irving

10:31

Thalberg, just about every movie. Yeah,

10:33

you had to. You know, you're evaluating. Casablanca was made

10:35

that way. Casablanca, they didn't know what was going on.

10:38

It happened one night. You know, as they're going through these

10:41

films,

10:42

the point is we want to make a great movie. And

10:45

we're going to push all the way. It's not

10:47

like we're working. What we love is, is

10:49

I

10:50

love being on a movie set. I love working with

10:52

him because he's, his sense of structure

10:54

and how he can pivot so quickly, how

10:56

he can write for an actor

10:59

and grasp a moment and see it and go, no,

11:01

no, no, this is the light. Here, this

11:04

is interesting. And both of us

11:06

together to be able to chase that and move such

11:08

a massive ship. I mean, I've produced

11:10

so many movies,

11:12

spent studying movies from

11:14

as a kid to the studios, to

11:17

distribution, to every aspect of filmmaking,

11:19

to be able to work with him where we can together

11:21

go and shift and say, this

11:24

is working, this is not working, but also to understand the resources

11:27

that we have as filmmakers and

11:29

say, here's the resources we have

11:32

to make this movie. And that includes every aspect,

11:34

our energy, our creativity, the

11:36

artists involved, the crew involved, the time

11:39

that we're allowed to shoot a movie. We don't have

11:41

all the time in the world to shoot this film. There

11:43

are limitations that we have. Yet

11:45

we look at these limitations as these

11:48

barriers as opportunities and

11:50

something that is, that is, requires

11:52

tremendous amount of discipline. And

11:54

the things that we do is we work and teach

11:57

people how to do what we do.

11:59

time with the actors to go, look, this is

12:02

what's going to happen. And you

12:04

have to be fast, so you have to really know

12:06

your craft to be able to move just like that

12:08

when you see the opportunity. And to recognize

12:11

the ripple effect that will be caused by making that

12:13

change. For the entire structure, not just a

12:15

moment. It's not just a matter of going, oh, that's a

12:18

great moment. You have to go, that's a

12:20

great moment.

12:21

That changes everything. Yes. But

12:23

you also have to have the understanding of the structure,

12:25

the tone of the movie overall.

12:28

So that you can have certain actors that are great actors and

12:30

they can create great moments, but is it contributing

12:32

to the overall story? That's our responsibility

12:34

to go, that's a great moment. There'll

12:37

be other great moments. This steers the ship in the wrong

12:39

way. So here's a great moment that aligns with

12:42

the overall motif and structure of the movie.

12:44

And that's what we're constantly encouraging and discovering.

12:47

And here's a great moment. Sometimes there's a great moment.

12:49

How do we shift everything to have

12:51

that because it's so much better? Like with

12:53

new. That's the great example.

12:56

That's the great example of Vanessa Kirby in

12:58

Fallout.

12:59

Her third scene in the movie

13:02

was her first day of shooting. And

13:04

Tom had a completely different backstory.

13:06

That we'd worked on for a year. That we'd prepared

13:09

and we're marketing the film based on

13:11

that idea. And when

13:13

we discovered what made new a more

13:15

compelling, Vanessa, a more compelling

13:18

character, Tom's whole side of the

13:20

scene didn't fit anymore. Didn't work. And

13:22

when we turned the cameras around, we threw out his whole

13:24

backstory. That changed everything.

13:27

And it was better. It's a better movie for it. Absolutely.

13:30

And the point was is that we're... But that's also a very good example

13:33

because I don't

13:34

want to blow past that. That's

13:36

a very good example of what he does for

13:39

his co-stars. That he's not

13:41

sitting there in the scene going, how does the entire scene benefit

13:43

me? And how does your performance serve

13:45

my objective? The ultimate objective

13:48

is the

13:48

engagement to the audience and

13:51

the likability or the affinity

13:54

we have for all the characters. Whether they are

13:56

villains, whether they're antagonists. You

13:59

see Tom constantly.

13:59

elevating the people

14:02

around him and he's serving everyone

14:04

in the scene, not just serving the guy

14:07

on the person. We're serving the story and that's what I love

14:09

about you also and to be able to go, you and

14:11

I together, I remember that day, we were under a lot

14:13

of pressure because the light were

14:15

in Paris, we had to finish this

14:17

day, we were there on the Seine, it was Vanessa's

14:20

first day and it

14:22

was the first day of working with us, where we're throwing

14:25

out lines and doing things. Suddenly she

14:27

did something and you're like, oh my God. That was cool.

14:29

And we walked away, we walked away and both

14:31

of us were like, I think

14:33

we were working on it for a year. I don't

14:36

think yes. We literally shot

14:38

for coverage first and as they were turning the camera

14:40

around, I was like, your side of the

14:42

scene doesn't work. It doesn't work, it's not

14:44

going to work and so we were, and we went back

14:46

and the whole thing about it. You have to quickly play the unshot movie

14:49

through your head and everything you've shot.

14:51

And all the locations and everything. How is this going to affect everything I

14:53

have done and went,

14:55

Yeah, okay, throw it out. We can do

14:57

it. And then it was the whole thing of family,

14:59

what are you going to do? And her whole thing, we

15:01

were discovering those moments. I just

15:03

love that character. I love that character.

15:06

I love what she does, I love that character. But that

15:08

is an example of what we're looking

15:11

with every character. And with

15:13

Ethan and he's doing it with me with Ethan. It's like,

15:15

what? Finding that, what's

15:17

the engagement with the audience? Right. It's

15:19

all about that.

15:30

We'll be back with more from Tom Cruise and Christopher McCrory

15:32

in Rome after the break. I

15:34

know what's ahead. I could feel the future.

15:37

From a producer of Tom Gunn Maverick and based

15:39

on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov

15:41

comes the next Apple TV plus streaming event.

15:45

Empire and our foundation headed

15:47

for war. This could change

15:50

everything. The

15:52

foundation is a threat to my empire.

15:55

We will destroy them. We

15:57

are taking the planet!

15:59

The new season, streaming July 14th. Only

16:02

on Apple TV+. The riveting

16:05

Paramount Plus original docu-series

16:07

continues. The sailboat with four Americans

16:09

was pirated off of Africa. And then

16:11

all of a sudden, these bursts of gunfire. Wheel

16:16

FBI agents. As a case agent, you have

16:18

someone's life on your shoulders. And their top

16:20

secret stories. They were going to cut

16:22

Corey's eyes out and send him in a FedEx box.

16:25

I said, we will not stop until we get each

16:27

and every one of you. That's what we do. FBI

16:30

True. New season now streaming on

16:33

Paramount+.

16:40

You're seen with Haley. Yes.

16:43

His introduction with Haley. He's doing this

16:45

practical... Right. Close up. We love it. Practical

16:48

magic. All real. It's real magic. It's

16:51

all real. And it's a very difficult trick to do. And

16:54

just to get right. And he was doing

16:56

it and we kept having to do it. Kept having to do it. And you could

16:58

see Tom was just getting a little more

17:00

frustrated with it. The day was ending. We had so much we had to shoot

17:02

that day. We were so behind. And he was getting more

17:04

and more frustrated. I was like, we got to get this. We got to get this.

17:07

So finally Tom just started. You just saw him doing the magic tricks. And

17:09

he was like, this

17:10

is key. And he just... It gave

17:12

him this little edge. You could just see him getting

17:14

a little bit edgy with him. And the

17:17

scene had been written that there was real charm between

17:19

the two characters. And

17:21

you suddenly realized this is a much

17:23

more effective energy because it gave them a place to go. They

17:26

didn't start from a place of real affinity

17:28

with each other. You realized,

17:30

actually, Ethan would be very aggravated

17:32

by this person. It wasn't our instinct. It was

17:34

all a matter of... You were pushing that.

17:36

You had a very good note on that. You

17:39

were like, I think it should be... Because

17:41

we're exploring the scene. And when you saw it, you were like, that's

17:43

the scene. I felt it. You

17:45

saw it. You were like, that's it. You saw it and you felt like,

17:47

oh, this is... What were we thinking? This

17:49

is right. This is what the scene needs.

17:52

And the other thing that he's very good at

17:54

doing, he gives options. He'll give

17:56

you the same line five

17:58

or six different ways. that you can shape it

18:00

and tune it, and there's

18:03

a lighter version, a darker version, a funny version,

18:05

a serious version. And so

18:07

there were so many different ways to edit that scene together,

18:10

but

18:11

that little element, that little element

18:13

of edge in the scene created

18:16

a distance between those characters that they had to

18:18

overcome. I was so grateful when I saw you like,

18:20

that's the moment when we were looking, we were looking

18:22

at the cut, I was like, oh, thank you. Thank you,

18:24

this is exactly, thank you so much, thank you

18:26

for doing it. We were doing it, and it was one of these

18:28

things that I'd be doing, and he

18:30

goes, I saw the key. I was like, okay, let

18:32

me just do it again. I was like, he goes, and

18:34

he just goes, I saw the key, do it again. I'm like, so you

18:36

can see, it was a long time, and then I was finally like, I just,

18:39

because my hand position, everything had to be right, because

18:41

I saw the key. We're not using any

18:44

visual effect to take it out, it's gotta be right, it's gotta be right.

18:46

That was our whole thing, it was like, we do not want any digital,

18:49

you don't have to do the magic trick. And you don't, you don't

18:51

want my hands like this. And I finally, I

18:53

was just like, this key. So

18:55

you could just, you know, you could feel underneath

18:57

it. Dude, I'm sick, the scene, the

19:00

scene. Can we just move on? Can I just like, this

19:02

is gonna work, I'm gonna build this to happen.

19:04

And it was just like, and I

19:07

just did it, and there was a pause, and he looks at it and he says, okay,

19:09

we got it, we're gonna do it. Here's what's gonna

19:11

be so funny, is when we're

19:13

watching the movie again, they're gonna be the only

19:15

two people in the theater laughing and staring at us, now

19:19

understanding what your performance,

19:22

I'm just thinking, just, I really hope that

19:24

worked. Just

19:26

trying to be a little charming here about this

19:28

guy, but really frustrated. They're

19:32

telling us to rap, we have to tell you how good your hair looked in the

19:34

movie

19:34

though. I mean, that's really, yeah. You

19:37

know, that's what we're here for. That's what you're here for. Yeah,

19:40

that's what you're here for. There you go. Dead

19:42

jokes for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank

19:44

you guys so much for coming. Thank you, it's

19:46

so good to see you guys. See you soon.

19:49

Bye.

19:59

And we're back Charles

20:02

how do you feel about that interaction?

20:05

I mean it was an honor to

20:07

talk to Cruz and McCory in Rome I

20:10

mean it was so exciting we had to see

20:12

it was overlooking the entirety of Rome.

20:14

It was so amazing and It's

20:17

just yeah an honor. I love everything that they talked

20:19

about with us It's just to hear all

20:21

about the close-up magic was

20:23

mind-blowing. I love that. It was so funny

20:25

truly a thrill and We're

20:27

not done yet. Are we Charles? We're not

20:30

actually and I just wanted to quickly point out that for

20:32

those of you who know our old show You know that

20:34

all the music was done by our composer Kevin

20:36

Blumenfeld

20:37

And he was always doing a legally dissimilar

20:39

version of the mission impossible theme so that we wouldn't get

20:42

in trouble when we were unofficial Right,

20:44

we didn't want it. We didn't want to actively make

20:46

enemies

20:47

no, but we're also a little

20:49

worried for him and He's

20:51

but you know we joked that he was on the run a little bit

20:53

in it, but no it's fine

20:56

He's he's totally great, and he's not in trouble

20:58

And it turns out all the music you hear

21:00

today in this episode is legally

21:02

sanctioned, and it's done by Kevin

21:04

Blumenfeld He's finally gotten to do his

21:06

version of the mission impossible theme and the plot

21:09

theme which we've talked about before is the secondary

21:11

music these are all themes by Lalo Schiffman from

21:13

the old television show mission impossible and It's

21:16

amazing to have Kevin

21:17

get the chance to do this music and we think he's

21:19

done an incredible job with it We're so thrilled and

21:21

if you stick around During the credits

21:24

for mission impossible dead reckoning part one

21:26

you might notice a familiar

21:28

name who contributed to the soundtrack to

21:30

the score and

21:31

that name is Kevin Blumenfeld Yeah,

21:34

you might notice him under the additional music

21:36

credit there pretty cool

21:39

pretty cool pretty amazing Yeah, so

21:41

next up. We've got Another interview

21:44

from Rome we talked to Greg Tarzan

21:46

Davis and Shay Wiggum. They are a duo in the

21:48

movie and We've

21:50

actually talked to Tarzan before for Top Gun

21:52

Maverick on our old show, but this is the first time we're meeting

21:54

Shay Wiggum and They are

21:57

an awesome

21:58

duo in this movie. Yes, they play Tarzan

22:01

plays D'Gah, and Shay plays

22:03

Briggs, which

22:05

is a name that if you are familiar with the TV

22:07

show might ring a bell. But

22:10

yeah, we haven't quite gotten to the bottom

22:13

of that, but trust us, we will do our best.

22:16

And yeah, here it is, Shay

22:18

and Tarzan, and we'll be back right after. ["The

22:21

Star-Spangled Banner"]

22:27

This is a question for Tarzan from Macquarie. He

22:29

said to give you a big one. He wanted

22:31

us to know, what was it like the day you got

22:34

the call? So

22:36

the day I get the call from Chris, he's

22:40

been calling me about Top Gun ADR. So I'm like,

22:43

okay, listen Macquarie, if you call me about Top Gun ADR,

22:45

you can go shove it up.

22:46

And he's like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not calling

22:48

you about that. I'm calling you about Mission

22:50

Impossible. And I'm like, I'm listening,

22:53

keep talking. So he explains it to

22:55

me. I have my phone on mute, and I'm just jumping up, and

22:57

we're doing, oh my God, oh my God. And the whole

23:00

time he's explaining it,

23:01

and we don't have, we saw you in Top Gun, we loved

23:04

you, we wrote this character for you, we don't have a script,

23:06

we're working it all out. And I'm like, okay, cool. I

23:08

mean, I didn't see anything. So he's like, hello, hello? And I'm

23:10

like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's

23:12

like, so do you wanna sign on? And I'm

23:14

like,

23:16

yeah, yeah, I guess. And

23:18

I try to hold it in, but I'm like, yes, Macquarie,

23:21

yes, I wanna do it, I wanna do it. And

23:23

he tells the story now. He was like, I

23:26

thought I lost him. I thought he wasn't interested. And I

23:28

was like, no, I was interested. I was just trying to

23:30

play cool. Shay, were you also jumping

23:32

up and down when you got the call? Well, yeah,

23:35

I'd seen McHugh at somewhere,

23:37

and we happened to be in front and

23:40

back of each other. And I said to him, I'm

23:42

a huge fan, I'm not gonna be too cool for school.

23:45

And I had just done something, he had just seen it. And

23:47

he says, you know what? I'm gonna

23:49

write something for you, mission. That was in January

23:51

of that year. I said,

23:53

cool. If I had a nickel every time somebody

23:55

said that. So the whole calendar

23:58

year goes by, and I'll never forget, it was December 13th. and

24:00

I'm at home and I get it this whole

24:02

year goes by and I get it I get a cryptic text

24:04

that says this is still you McHugh And

24:07

I said I said I said baby. This

24:10

is either really really good or really bad I said it is he gives

24:12

I'm gonna call you and I'm gonna call you five minutes from European

24:15

landline make sure you pick up So

24:18

I go, holy shit. All right, so

24:20

I he calls and I said hello

24:22

you guys age McHugh's Chris McCoy How you doing? I said,

24:25

I think I'm either gonna be really really good or really

24:27

really bad soon He goes wait. I got somebody

24:29

wants to talk

24:29

to you and I said, okay, and he

24:32

goes hey, it's Tom Cruise. How

24:34

you doing? I'm

24:36

not kidding. It buckled me Literally

24:39

buckled me and my wife looks at me and I'm like

24:41

and I said, yeah You just listen, how'd you like to come

24:43

not be a part of one but two mission impossible? And

24:47

I'm not kidding you man I

24:48

I got choked up and I had to hold

24:50

the phone out here for a second because that's

24:53

that's every actors dream

24:56

And I think I went up in my right Reaping

25:01

like a baby, you know and then from there

25:03

on I mean, it's it succeeded every

25:05

expectation that I had going in You

25:08

feel like you're a shrine him the ropes

25:10

Listen up kid. I'm gonna take you on No,

25:18

yes, he actually was showing me the ropes though Like

25:21

I tell the story about how when I first got

25:23

to Norway and he took his

25:25

time He had just landed. He came up there. I was eating by

25:27

myself. He say so I want to introduce myself I'm sure

25:30

you're working with you You know, I'll be your partner

25:32

and from then on we had this great relationship where

25:34

I can he's made me a better Not better actor

25:36

to be honest with you working with the veteran like him. He's

25:39

like, you know

25:40

Giving me his advice and his taste on

25:42

thing. Oh, that's the real story is

25:44

I went up there and you me good Look, I don't even know your

25:46

work And

25:52

look man in all sincerity like they don't make

25:54

movies like this anymore They don't especially

25:57

ones that get better with like the number

25:59

five

25:59

six and seven. They don't get, so

26:02

it's no secret, these guys are story, they chase

26:04

story and they chase character. And that's

26:06

what obviously I'm interested in. In

26:08

addition to all the locales

26:10

that we get to visit. And then for

26:12

him, like I don't, I never wanna be

26:15

in a mentor role,

26:17

but if you have someone that really loves

26:19

acting, I got all the time in the

26:21

world for it. And that's what's gonna build the,

26:24

I knew that was what was gonna build these, but you can't

26:26

create chemistry, you just gotta, it's gotta unfold.

26:29

And then through that, we get a chance to

26:31

really go on a ride and try to chase Ethan.

26:34

You feel that chemistry, it's amazing. Thank

26:37

you, man. Yeah. That means a lot.

26:39

Thank you, man. Good to see you. Oh, man,

26:41

this is sick. Yeah, it's all right, man.

26:44

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

26:50

All right, well, that's

26:52

the dynamic duo right there. Oh yeah, we

26:55

love them. They are a blast. They're the best.

26:57

Love those two. But you know, the

26:59

fun's not over, Charles. Of course not. We talked

27:02

to somebody who we've been dying to talk to for years,

27:04

who's one of our favorite characters from the franchise.

27:07

And I wanna remind everybody too that they can watch all

27:09

the other Mission Impossible films on Paramount Plus

27:12

right now. So if you need to catch up, you know,

27:14

go ahead, do it. But we

27:16

talked to Henry Cerny, AKA, Kittredge

27:19

on the red carpet, and we

27:20

were thrilled. We were, this is,

27:23

oh man, this has been years in the making. We've been waiting

27:25

to talk to Kittredge, Kittredge himself,

27:27

Henry Cerny. This is great. And just to

27:29

set it up also, you mentioned the radio silence

27:32

guys. Can you just say who those people are for us,

27:34

Drew, before we get into this interview? Yes, those

27:36

are the filmmaking team behind

27:39

Ready or Not and Scream 6, both

27:41

of which he performed in and

27:44

is very good. And so that's their, the

27:46

name of their filmmaking team is called Radio

27:48

Silence and

27:50

that's who I was referring to. Yeah, so

27:52

here we go. This is on the red carpets. You're gonna hear

27:55

all kinds of fanfare in the background in these

27:57

interviews. We've got a few of them here, but first

27:59

up is Henry Cerny.

27:59

journey, and we hope you enjoy it.

28:02

We're so excited to have

28:04

you.

28:05

We're a Mission

28:07

Impossible podcast. We're obsessed.

28:10

Awesome. The Radio Silence guys

28:12

told me they'd text you a couple years ago. I never

28:14

took them up on it. Now you're finally here.

28:17

I love those guys. And you're back in the franchise. Yes,

28:19

it's reciprocal. I know, I love it. It's

28:21

fantastic to come up with a role when

28:23

you're 10 and then play it 25

28:26

years later when you're 35.

28:30

It's amazing. It's amazing. We're

28:32

your favorite part of being Kitrich again.

28:35

Go deeper with the guy. Just go deeper.

28:38

He's been through a lot. He's been through all the agencies.

28:40

He's been schooled by Ethan. He's

28:42

coming back to help school Ethan and

28:45

learn from Ethan. He's just

28:47

deeper. He's just richer. He

28:50

thinks he knows more and he shares more.

28:53

Do you think Kitrich has been kind of bouncing around

28:55

the CIA all these years? I think he's been bouncing

28:57

around in all the different agencies trying to figure out

29:00

how this big machine works and what

29:02

he does to make the machine work for

29:04

the benefit of his

29:05

shareholders, which is the American people.

29:07

Oh, I like that. Love it. Thank you so

29:09

much for stopping. Come on along for a longer

29:12

talk. We'd love to talk to you. Kitrich

29:18

in the books. Yes, Kitrich. And

29:21

we might have more from Kitrich down the line. Don't

29:23

you think, Drew? Let me think

29:26

about that. Did we talk to Henry

29:29

Cerny for an extended period

29:31

of time about all things

29:33

Mission Impossible and Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning

29:35

Part 1? That might be true. Yeah.

29:38

Okay. You might want to hit that subscribe button.

29:40

You might want to follow wherever you listen to podcasts,

29:43

if it's on Apple or Spotify or wherever.

29:46

Because we're available wherever you get your podcasts.

29:50

But we've got more red carpet interviews to get through. We've

29:52

got more people we talk to. All right, let's go. So, Dennis, we

29:54

talk to the Big Bad himself, Esaime

29:57

Morales, who plays Gabriel in Mission Impossible

29:59

Dead Reckoning.

29:59

part one this was also a thrill very

30:02

excited to have you all hear our interview with

30:04

E-Sai

30:05

he is a trip how

30:11

fun is it to play the villain I

30:14

mean come on and get

30:16

paid for it you know

30:19

it's it's one thing to to

30:22

be the hero but I think to be the villain has

30:24

a special kind of joy

30:26

that you know in

30:29

life I try to be as good a person as I can so

30:32

then on film I can be a dastardly

30:37

exercise those demons and keep them on

30:39

camera if you know what I mean plane

30:41

was I mean the train was going 60 miles an hour

30:44

were you up there with Tom train blows

30:46

yeah okay that was the first thing

30:48

we did after training that was the whole thing the training

30:50

and then the train and you

30:53

know I hadn't done some stunts like that in a while

30:56

in my tender youth you know and

30:59

it was just amazing it was amazing singing

31:02

in the Alps on the way back and forth from the tanks

31:05

like I'm an I singing

31:08

you know the hills are alive you're singing with Tom

31:10

yes

31:11

he's got a great voice and we were harmonizing we're

31:13

doing Beatles song okay what songs were you

31:15

singing oh my god Queens

31:18

you know we are the champions on the

31:20

train were you doing together

31:23

yes on the train Wow it's something I'll never

31:25

forget you know singing

31:28

the hills are alive and I think I'm the

31:30

one that started cuz I'm a little crazy and just

31:33

join cuz yeah he's a stat he's professionally

31:35

crazy my crazy

31:38

doesn't net as much as his crazy nets and I'm

31:40

gonna learn

31:41

but it was it was an unforgettable

31:43

experience

31:53

we'll be back with more Eastside Morales on the red carpet

31:56

after the break raving

32:00

about Mission Impossible dead reckoning. Hang

32:02

on! Ethan! Go,

32:04

go, go! Tom Cruise has outdone

32:07

himself. Listen to me. The

32:09

world's coming after you. Stay

32:11

out of my way. With

32:13

a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yes!

32:17

It's the thrill ride of the summer.

32:19

What is happening? This

32:22

is why we go to the movies. This

32:25

is getting exciting. It's pulse

32:27

pounding. It will rock

32:29

your world. With jaw

32:32

dropping action. Is

32:34

this where we run? Well,

32:37

come on. It's one of the best action

32:39

movies ever made. What more

32:41

can I say? See it in the biggest,

32:43

most seat shaking theater you can find.

32:46

It will take your breath away.

32:49

Ethan, did you make it? Are you okay? Tom

32:51

Cruise.

32:52

Mission Impossible dead reckoning. Rated PG-13.

32:55

The material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

32:58

What is the most important movie you've

33:00

ever seen?

33:03

Have you seen the movie yet? Oh, yeah.

33:06

And let me tell you, I jumped a

33:08

few times and I'm in it. But

33:12

it was, ultra-whelming

33:14

is a word I've come up with. It's super sensory. And,

33:18

you know, some people can't travel.

33:20

Some people don't have the opportunity to

33:23

travel their whole lives. And I hope

33:25

they will feel like they took more than, you

33:27

know, a journey. I mean, it's not just being

33:29

there, but it's being there in the perspective of

33:32

the filmmakers

33:33

and the characters. It's

33:35

feeling the spirit and the soul of the

33:38

locations. Rome, Venice,

33:41

you know, the Alps. I mean, Abu

33:43

Dhabi, you're talking David Lean,

33:45

like, you know, classic movies are...

33:48

These two guys, you know who I'm talking about?

33:51

Oh, yeah. T and McHugh. They

33:53

know film so well that

33:56

it's amazing how they

33:58

borrow from the best.

33:59

and make it their own. Very

34:02

well said. Thank you so much for talking. Thank

34:05

you. Come back on for longer or sometime. Yes, we love that. All

34:07

right, good seeing you.

34:12

Love Desai. Yes. I

34:15

love ultra-whelming. Ultra-whelming is great. It's

34:18

pretty much the only word to describe this

34:20

movie, and Esai Morales just made it up on

34:22

the red carpet. So, you know, that's what I love.

34:26

One of the many things I love about him. He is scary in

34:28

this movie. He is very, very bad. And

34:31

yeah, we can't wait to... Hopefully we'll get him for

34:33

a little longer too, because we got to figure out

34:35

what Gabriel's whole deal is, you know? Oh, yeah.

34:38

He's a slippery weirdo. Yeah. All

34:41

right, and now we've got one more interview

34:42

from the red carpet. This is Eddie Hamilton,

34:45

the editor of Mission to Possible Dead Reckoning Part 1.

34:47

He also edited Top Gun Maverick and Mission

34:49

to Possible Fallout and Mission to Possible Rogue Nation.

34:52

He is the most brilliant editor, and we've

34:54

talked to him multiple times on our old show. He is

34:57

a wonderful human being. We just adore

34:59

Eddie. So excited for everyone to hear

35:01

us talk to him on the red carpet. Right,

35:03

Drew? Oh, yeah. I mean, not only the

35:05

loveliest person, but also the most talented. I can't imagine

35:08

what it was like putting this movie together. And

35:10

boy, does he knock it out of the park. So

35:12

this

35:12

was the first time we had seen him after seeing the movie,

35:15

and I think the excitement is palpable, Charles.

35:17

Would you say that? Absolutely. Yeah.

35:20

So take a listen.

35:21

Eddie Hamilton, you're here! How

35:24

you feeling? I'm very excited. I

35:26

can't. I mean, this is insane, isn't it? It's so... considering

35:28

we started, when

35:28

was it, in 2020, fall of 2020, there was nobody in

35:34

Rome because everyone was locked down and we were

35:37

filming. If

35:39

you look at the movie and the three establishing shots of Rome,

35:41

there are no cars and no people on

35:44

the road because it was like in the middle, the height of COVID. And

35:46

yeah, it's a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,

35:48

very, very, there

35:52

is a lot of COVID.

35:53

And yeah, here we are. Wow. It's

35:55

amazing that we're here. It's so exciting. What was

35:58

the most challenging part? I mean, seeing the movie.

35:59

crying yourself to sleep every night for three years.

36:02

I wasn't crying myself to sleep. We have a great team

36:04

on these films. I've got a great team of assistant

36:07

editors and McHugh is

36:09

an additional editor. I mean quite frankly people

36:12

go why aren't there more than one editor on this movie?

36:14

And I say well there is another editor

36:16

on this movie, it's Chris McCrory. He sits

36:18

with me and we work on it shoulder to shoulder

36:21

every day and he really

36:23

understands the power of editing. He

36:25

really discovers these movies in the editing

36:27

room. Up to the point of editing

36:29

he's just kind of gathering ingredients. He's

36:32

not quite sure how it's all going to go together but

36:34

he knows that in some way like

36:37

the big airport sequence which is intercut

36:39

with all kinds of stuff with Ethan doing this,

36:41

Benji doing this, Luther doing this. It

36:43

was a real challenge and we iterated

36:45

it for two years. First

36:48

assembled that scene in like

36:50

Christmas 2020.

36:53

But it's refined and refined

36:55

and refined and refined and refined and

36:57

we never settled for just okay. We

37:00

always strive to make sure every frame

37:02

is as good as it can be from beginning to end.

37:05

How do you feel about the podcast being official? It's

37:08

amazing. I'm so thrilled for you guys.

37:11

You can't get rid of us. I know. I'm

37:14

so excited. It's very very cool that

37:17

two Mission Impossible fans started

37:20

a podcast where they were talking just about

37:22

the TV show and the movies and then

37:24

it rolled into kind of interviewing 200 people

37:27

involved in the franchise and then magically

37:30

you get Tom Cruise on the show on

37:33

your 200th episode and then

37:35

magically we're here at the premiere for Mission Impossible

37:38

Dead Reckoning Park. Thank you.

37:40

So good to see you.

37:47

And that's it for Eddie Hamilton. If you want

37:49

more of Eddie Hamilton, let us

37:52

point you in the direction, Charles. Let's point

37:54

everybody to ... Let's point. Let's

37:56

point them. Over 200

37:58

episodes of our old show.

37:59

Light the Fuse, the unofficial

38:02

Mission Impossible podcast is available on

38:04

SoundCloud as well as our website,

38:07

LightTheFusePodcast.com. Yep,

38:10

and there you can find an episode guide on our website

38:12

that gives you a way to search through all our

38:14

old episodes if you're so inclined.

38:16

You can check out everything that we did back there for

38:18

the first five years of that show, which was

38:21

an amazing time for us. Many, many hours

38:23

with Eddie Hamilton about his work on Fallout

38:26

and Rogue Nation as well as

38:28

Top Gun Maverick,

38:29

so check that out. Yes. And

38:31

what else should people check out, Charles? Well, I think

38:33

people should make sure to rate and review

38:35

Light the Fuse, the official Mission Impossible podcast on

38:38

Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Maybe

38:40

leave us a five-star review if you get a chance. I

38:42

don't know, if you like it. Yeah, five

38:44

stars or nothing. If you're thinking about a four-star

38:46

review, just- Just walk away. Pull your finger

38:49

away from the phone and just- Just walk

38:51

away. Keep moving. Yeah, keep moving. But

38:54

also, everyone should see Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning

38:56

Part One only in theaters July 12th.

38:59

Yeah, that's tomorrow, Charles. Yeah.

39:01

Do you have your tickets?

39:02

Yeah, it's time. I've got my tickets, of course. Yeah,

39:05

I'm super excited.

39:06

All right, good. And yeah,

39:08

just be sure to follow- If you wanna follow me and Charles,

39:10

too, on social media, I'm at DrewTaylor, like a

39:13

tailored shirt. Charles is Charles Hood,

39:15

but with zeros instead of O's,

39:18

and that's on Instagram and Twitter. And obviously,

39:20

the podcast itself, Light the Fuse Pod

39:23

on Instagram and Twitter. And what

39:25

else, Charles? I think that's it. We've got plenty

39:27

more coming your way. We're very, very excited

39:30

for you to hear all our episodes coming up. Just

39:33

so much more on the way. Can't wait for you

39:35

to hear it. So you're saying guaranteed

39:36

episodes on Tuesday, but

39:38

this first month, just gonna be- But maybe some bonus

39:41

episodes as well. You're gonna get it, yeah. Be coy,

39:43

are we? Okay, all right. Well, looking

39:46

forward to it, Charles. And we can't thank you guys

39:49

enough for listening to Light the Fuse, the

39:51

official Mission Impossible podcast.

39:53

Thanks to Pharoah! And

39:56

the audience for all supports. The official Mission

39:58

Impossible

39:58

podcast has made it Mission Impossible podcast

40:01

is produced by Charles Hood, that's me, and

40:03

Drew Taylor. This episode was edited by Luke

40:05

Berson with music by Kevin Blumenfeld.

40:07

Original Mission Impossible themes by Lalo Shiffrin. This

40:10

podcast is a production of Paramount Pictures All Rights

40:12

Are Reserved.

40:18

This

40:18

message will self-destruct in five seconds.

40:25

The riveting Paramount Plus original

40:27

docuseries continues. The sailboat

40:30

with four Americans was pirated off of

40:32

Africa and then all of a sudden these bursts

40:34

of gunfire. Wheel

40:37

FBI agents. As a case agent

40:39

you have someone's life on your shoulders. And their

40:41

top secret stories. They were gonna

40:43

cut Corey's eyes out and send them in a FedEx

40:46

box.

40:46

I said we will not stop until we get each

40:48

and

40:48

every one of you. That's what we do.

40:51

FBI true new season now

40:53

streaming on Paramount Plus. Ready?

40:56

Go! Everyone is raving. Mission

40:58

Impossible is off the chart spectacular.

41:01

Hang on! Tom Cruise has outdone

41:03

himself. Go go go! Prepare for the best

41:05

movie of the summer. This is getting exciting. Mission

41:07

Impossible dead reckoning. Rated PG-13, July 12th.