Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Director Praises Tom Cruise’s Reshoots Wig

The road to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One wasn’t exactly an easy one. After many delays due to the pandemic, the seventh installment to the franchise finally hit theaters last month. Like many movies, the film had to undergo reshoots, which means Tom Cruise had to wear a wig in some of the scenes, including one pivotal moment at the end of the film. Director Christopher McQuarrie recently spoke with Empire Spoiler Specials (via Screen Rant), and talked about Cruise’s “sensational wig.”

“The one I absolutely love is Ethan and Hailey [Atwell] when he says goodbye to her at the end. And she says, ‘Go.’ That shot was shot two years later than the shots on either side of it. Originally they had a different piece of behavior that, in the course of the new ending of the movie, it just didn’t work…”

He continued, “Tom’s wearing a wig in that shot because he’s got his [Part Two] hair. So keep in mind that any pickups and reshoots that we did after we started shooting Part Two, Tom’s got a different hairstyle. He’s wearing a wig in a lot of the movie. In the [food delivery scene] he’s wearing a wig. And it’s a sensational wig by our amazing makeup department.”

Why Is Dead Reckoning in Two Parts?

It was previously announced that the film would be split into two parts, but it might be a while before fans see Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two due to the current WGA and SAG strikes. During a recent interview with Collider, McQuarrie explained why Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning has been split into two parts.

“Well, we knew with Fallout. Fallout really grew because of all the character and emotion we were putting into the story, all the things that we had discovered in Rogue Nation that was so unexpected,” McQuarrie shared. “I knew I wanted to expand the cast, and I knew I wanted to give each one of those characters more to do, so I knew the movie was going to be bigger and longer than Fallout.”

“And at which point I said, ‘Why are we fighting this? Why are we going to try to jam this into two hours? Let’s just break it in half and make it two movies.’ That really was the rationale behind it being a two-part movie. It just it wasn’t just that the story was bigger but that we wanted more emotion in the movie,” he added. 

“Yeah, it’s massive, and it was complicated by the fact that certain things in Part Two required stopping Part One to shoot them, whether it was because of weather or actor availability. And so, with all the other challenges that were confronting this movie while we were making it, there was the challenge of stopping in the middle, not even knowing what the full movie was, and trying to predict what it was in the second film. It’s a testament to how great this team is and how patient this cast is. It’s really something,” McQuarrie explained. 

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is now playing in theaters.