Finding a director for Tom Cruise’s return to the Mission Impossible franchise has been an interesting ride including rumours they were considering Reben Fleischer and Edgar Wright.
But now news has come out of the left field that Cruise has selected animation director Brad Bird to head up his latest Mission of the Impossible kind.
The writer-director wrote and directed 1999’s “The Iron Giant” and 2004’s “The Incredibles” as well as 2007’s “Ratatouille” (the latter two earned Oscars for best animated picture), but he has never helmed a live-action feature.
On the other hand, nabbing Bird would be inspired. He is praised for his storytelling skills and is known for his strengths in staging thrilling and intricate action set-pieces as well as fusing the action with large dollops of heart and emotion.
mission Impossible is not about “large dollops of heart and emotion”!
Its about splodey goodness and crazy schemes with high tech gadgets and disguises. Thats why we keep going to these films.
I am curious to see how someone who has only ever directed animation will handle a live action feature.
wait a min is’nt he 1906? the earthquake movie?
I love the M:I series. And I actually loved part 2 – saw it plenty of times – believe it or not it was actually my favourite one BECAUSE John Woo – directed it. And the Hans Zimmer soundtrack. I thought M:I-3 had an awesome villain in Philip Seymour Hoffman, but they didn’t give him enough screen time.
Wouldn’t it be M:I:iv ?
Yes… its a joke.
I think this is great. I love the MI series, the third one especially…..
And hey, about animation directors going the live-action way, just check out the director of WALL-E/BURN-E, Finding Nemo and A Bug’s Life…..his next film is a live action film. And considering that two of the three movies he made are Oscar winners for Best Animated Picture, I’ve got a feeling the word “Animated” is just a by-the-way thing. It’s the storytelling that matters.
Brad Bird 4 lyf!
I completely disagree that animation is or should be a “children’s” medium. It is simply another tool available to filmmakers for creating their vision on screen. Given the fact that CGI and blue-screen elements make up a large part of the filming in today’s modern films, especially an action film like Mission Impossible, how is Brad Bird any less qualified because he hasn’t worked with “real” elements? Look at Avatar, mostly animated. The Star Wars prequels, again, mostly animated / CGI.
In other countries, animation is highly regarded as a true art form (specifically Japan), and their animated feature premieres are treated with the same respect and fanfare as are our live-action features over here in the U.S. We tend to focus only on how Americans view animated films, and our view for the most part is simply part of our Western culture; we need to open our eyes and realize animated films and directors are not just “kid stuff” and can tell just as compelling and exciting a narrative as a live-action counterpart (I feel “Up” would have received the Best Picture Oscar had it been a live-action film – it is vastly superior in my opinion to “Hurt Locker”).
Agreed, Japan’s Anime is truly not for children, Akira, Ghost In The Shell, even the Animatrix which was set in the Matrix universe.
But I would love to see someone like David Fincher direct an M.I. film, I just love his style.
Although I haven’t seen “Up” and can’t make a fair critque of the film I don’t see how that movie could have been better than “The Hurt Locker”. Yes, you are entitled to your own opinion but at the same time “The Hurt Locker” focused on an issue that many soliders face while serving. For so long they live this life of combat and some become addicted to it thus severing any real connection to the outside world. There’s no way “Up” would have won Best Picture if the “Hurt Locker” wasn’t in there. There was still “Inglorious Basterds” and “District 9”.
As for animated movies themselves I definitely agree that they are more respected in Japan and not as respected here. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of them. This shouldn’t suggest I haven’t or wouldn’t watch one. My interests just don’t tend to go there. In regards to your comment on Brad Bird, Avatar, and Star Wars I have to say it was totally different for James Cameron and George Lucas. Those two directors already had years of experience working with live action movies. It was only in the last 20 years or so that CGI really evolved. They used it in its infancy but didn’t rely on it. As for today, the technology is so advanced that they canshoot an entire movie in front of the blue screen and still create a good film (thats related to Cameron more than Lucas. Episodes I & II were not what I was expecting as a Star Wars fan and I was disappointed.)
I like the MI series. I thought the first was very good, saw pieces of the second, and thought the third was good as well. I’m sure Bird will do a good job but he’ll definitely be in new territory and will face different challenges. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
You cant compare Up with Hurt Locker.
Neither is a better film than the other. They are both good films. Period.
To say one is better is even FAR more subjective than saying donuts are better than sports cars. There is no reason you can’t like both, but to compare them there really is nothing in common to rank them against.
My favorite was the third one. Is this confirmed?
I’m not a fan of this series either, part 2 was cool for like 1 week untill the silliness of John Woos slow-mo camera shots seeped in for me. I dont know, you re-watch that one and it falls flat these days, part 3 was a decent film. but nothing that really SHOUTED Mission Impossible.Just the Music really.
I’m just a fan of Brad Bird! if you watch the bonus features on Incredibles they take you in the Pixar studios and that guy(Bird)would be great to work for, thats for sure.
Movies like Mission Impossible 2, X-men 3, and any Michael bay film, aren’t meant to be watched a second time. In fact its better not to think about them afterwards(or during) just enjoy them while they are on the screen.
With that said. I am glad they kept going for completely different directors with each of these movies. None of them have the same feeling I’m ok with that.
Who cares? It will suck just like the last three movies did. I think that Tom Cruise needs to do something else, and leave the Mission Impossible franchise for good. The movies are, in my opinion, an insult to the great TV show that they were spawned from.
There are a lot of people that would disagree Andrew.
Ratatouille was also great, like his 2 previous mentioned films.
I say if they can get these MTV music video directors to do feature films, then Having a proven, established and award winning director isn’t too much a leap of faith.
This guy’s a PROVEN winner!
I love brad birds work, not so much Ratatouille but I think that had more to do with the the script than the directing. Incredibles is one of my favorite movies. One of my problems I have with animation is that it is a children driven media. Recently it has been drifting to darker tones and trying to reach more mature topics but it hasn’t quite made it there. Brad Bird has been in the forefront of this drift. With Iron Giant he managed to bring mature aspects to the movie and did an even better job with the Incredibles. However, both of those movies were still animation and still kids movies. In the end I think that if the transition to live action directing is not too challenging then he will probably make the best Mission Impossible movie.