When you think of George Lucas, you automatically probably imagine “Star Wars,” right? Maybe, you think of the “Indiana Jones” franchise because he has been instrumental in the construction of those films, serving as a writer and producer. But we tend to forget that Lucas was part of a group of young filmmakers in the ‘70s that were all friends and became incredibly influential in the industry. One of those folks that Lucas is friends with is none other than Brian De Palma. And without the friendship of Lucas and De Palma, one of the latter’s biggest films, “Mission: Impossible,” would have looked really different.
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Speaking on the Light the Fuse podcast (which is a must-listen if you’re a ‘Mission: Impossible’ fan), via Collider, De Palma talked about the iconic opening scene of the first “Mission: Impossible” feature. For those not familiar, the first ‘M:I’ film opens with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) leading his team on a mission that is, well, impossible. It introduces a group of characters that would eventually, uh, not last very long, as the mission goes south quickly. But the finished scene that you see in the film isn’t what was originally shot, as De Palma explained that Lucas was pivotal in helping to construct the scene and kickstart the ‘M:I’ style and tone.
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“When George saw ‘Mission: Impossible,’ he said, ‘There’s no setup to this thing. You’ve gotta set this thing up! You’ve gotta have that scene where they’re all sitting around the table and everybody gets their instructions about what’s gonna happen.”
De Palma added, “In the beginning we had this very strange scene – it’s hard for me to remember now – with [Jon] Voight and somehow the jealous thing with the wife and Tom, and then we got into the first mission. And when George saw the movie it’s the first thing he said, ‘What are these people doing? This is “Mission: Impossible,” it’s a group of guys going to do something! So you’ve gotta get them all around a table and tell the audience what they’re supposed to do,’ and that’s what we did. We went back and reshot it. So that’s an example of us helping each other.”
For many (including this writer), the first “Mission: Impossible” film is up there with the best of the series. It’s a solid spy thriller that feels very different than many of the sequels. (You could argue that Christopher McQuarrie’s most recent entries in the franchise are the closest in quality.) And that first film does such a wonderful job of throwing the audience into the story right away with that opening scene. So, when you rewatch De Palma’s film, you should say a little thank you to George Lucas for helping out. It’s not all space monks and laser swords with that guy, you know!