Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is already the longest entry in the entire cinematic franchise, but according to editor Eddie Hamilton, one of the earlier cuts of the movie was nearly four hours long. Arguably the film’s most thrilling sequence unfolds on a train (and ultimately unfolds off of a train) and lasts for 50 minutes, but Hamilton noted that one version of the film’s climax spent 90 minutes on the train. Rather than excising major components of the sequence, Hamilton detailed how it was a process of whittling down every shot to try to shave off time throughout the impressive ending. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is in theaters now.
While speaking with Variety, Hamilton revealed that the ending on the train “was about an hour-and-a-half long in our first iteration. We got it down to like 50 minutes in the finished movie.” The final moments of this sequence saw Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) attempting to escape the train, with Hamilton pointing out that the escape “was originally a bit longer and we lifted a few sections out because they were saying it was too much.”
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He continued, “If it’s three minutes, it’s too long, so we combed through every shot and asked if we needed this frame and, ‘Can we cut this any tighter?’ … We’re really trying to squeeze every bit of air out of the movie.”
One element of those final moments included some exchanges of dialogue between Ethan, Grace, and Pom Klementieff’s Paris, with Hamilton noting that, while the action could be breathless, this trio interacting needed room for dramatic weight.
“There was a great dialogue scene. I did a much tighter version of that scene that was about half the length,” the editor recalled. “It was just information, but we watched it and there was nothing there. There was no emotion at all. We realized we had overcooked it. I went back to an earlier edit and trimmed it a little… What you see is pretty much what they did on set.”
Despite much of the film being kept a tightly guarded secret from audiences, Hamilton confessed that McQuarrie was happy to show people these scenes to get their input.
“Even if a friend is visiting for tea, he’ll say, ‘Come on, let’s watch this scene, tell me what you think,’” Hamilton admitted. “The first time we watched it, it was nearly four hours long and had no music. It was a tough watch because it was the first time Chris and I had ever watched the movie from beginning to end. Not having any score was a very strange experience. It’s almost a silent movie because there were no sound effects either.”
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which premiered in theaters on July 12th. It’s the beginning of the end for the action-packed franchise, as Cruise reteams with longtime collaborator and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie for more death-defying and breathtaking stunts. Hunt and allies Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) attempt to track down a new weapon with the power to tear the world apart. Actors Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Esai Morales join the cast for the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, which is set to wrap up with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.
Do you wish the train scene had lasted longer? Let us know in the comments!
