In writing “M:i:III,” J.J. Abrams and his co-writers, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, went back to the drawing board with the character of Ethan Hunt. “From the very beginning, Tom, Alex, Bob, and I wanted to do a movie about a character,” says Abrams. “Not that there isn’t a lot of action – that goes without saying – but my favorite kind of spy movie is one where the commitment to the world, as extreme as it is, and as hyper-real as it is, is still emotionally true. You have these characters going through some of the most heartbreaking, most terrifying, most horrifying, most thrilling, most fun moments, and you believe all of them within the context of the genre. That’s what we wanted to bring to ‘M:i:III.’”
“I think a big challenge many people face in their daily lives is how to balance home and work,” says Cruise. “How do you work at a job you love while also spending time with your spouse and kids? What we’ve done is to raise that to the extreme: not only does Ethan have to balance these two worlds, but because he’s a spy, his home world is directly affected by his work. We’ve started with a real issue and taken it to an incredibly entertaining and extreme level.”
In exploring that, the filmmakers created a new life for Ethan Hunt. When the film begins, Hunt has retired from active duty – he now trains new IMF agents. With this change, he opens himself up to other new possibilities in his life, including marriage.
“In this movie, you get to see Ethan in some dramatic and emotional moments,” says Michelle Monaghan, who plays Julia, the love of Ethan’s life. “He’s truly in love and he wants it to last. Julia is truly in love with him, but she doesn’t know exactly what he does; over the course of the film, she starts to see him become really distressed and she starts to wonder if there’s something else that he’s hiding. He asks her to trust him – and she does.”
Of course, Ethan cannot tell his new bride the whole truth. “She thinks he studies traffic for a living,” she says.
Monaghan takes on the role of leading lady, her largest role to date, after memorable supporting roles in “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” and the television program “Boston Public.” She says that her character helps the audience to see Ethan Hunt – the man they’ve known only as a spy – in a different light. “You get to see his vulnerable side,” she says. “You see all the action and intrigue you expect, but you’re invested in the character in a completely different way than in the past.”
Abrams says that his high-stakes story is the perfect match for Cruise’s on-and off-screen intensity. “Before we started shooting, Cameron Crowe mentioned to me that Tom was so focused, professional, and hard working, he was going to spoil me for the rest of my life,” says Abrams. “Everything he said is absolutely true.”
Abrams notes that the writing team took special care to create a villain worthy of Ethan Hunt – one that could match up to the hero. “This is the first time that Hunt has come up against an adversary that is as scary, clever, mysterious as the character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman,” says Abrams.
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