Hot car summer continues in the box offices, as the next installment in the Mission: Impossible series is set to premier on July 12. In a new teaser for the film, its star and its director cover some of the automotive stunts that took place on the streets of Rome during its filming.
In the video, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” writer and director, Christopher McQuarrie, reveals that for one of the film’s automotive set pieces, Tom Cruise‘s character, Ethan Hunt is handcuffed to co-star Hayley Atwell’s character, Grace.
As a result, Hunt must drive away from a mysterious baddie through the streets of Rome with only one hand. And to make the effects work practically, Cruise really had to drift through the traffic-filled, cobbled streets of the Italian capital.
“Trying to drift, every time you think you’re going in one direction, the cobblestones on the street say, ‘No, you’re not, you’re going this direction,'” said McQuarrie. “I don’t think we could have made a sequence that was more difficult to shoot if I had gone out of my way to do it.”
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Fortunately, the chase has “really amazing results,” according to the director, and starts in a BMW 5-Series. After backing into two other vehicles with its doors open, they are torn off, leaving the cabin open to the elements.
That means that Ethan and Grace—and by extension Cruise and Atwell, because many of the shots were filmed practically—must race through Rome while nearly being flung out of the car’s open doors.
Fortunately, they decide that a new car is required, and find a vintage Fiat 500 that was modified to be faster (not a tall task) with an electric drivetrain. However, in a tiny vehicle, with a very short wheelbase, and a powerful motor at the back, on cobblestones, is a recipe for a challenging drive.
While McQuarrie called the car “possessed,” the second unit director and stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, described it as treacherous. Neither description is hard to believe, and we’ll be interested to see what the results of all their work is when the movie hits theaters next month.