Though still in the thick of promoting “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” writer/director Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise are already working on their next pair-up — it just might not be what you expect.
“The conversations we’ve had about Les Grossman are so fucking funny,” McQuarrie said in a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on his “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.
Cruise played the fictional Hollywood power player in the 2008 satire “Tropic Thunder” from director Ben Stiller. Heavily modeled on Scott Rudin, Grossman is a Diet Coke-swilling, obscenity-prone producer with no filter and tendencies toward anger, as well as dance. It may sound silly to center an entire film around him, but McQuarrie and Cruise are actively looking for a way in.
“We’re having serious conversations about it and how best to do it,” McQuarrie said. “It ultimately comes down to what that character is.”
The big question remains whether people will want to watch a film with Grossman as the lead character. McQuarrie explained that the “leading man” status Cruise holds makes it difficult to place him in roles that are so monstrous. Even with “Magnolia,” which earned Cruise an Academy Award nomination, the actor was part of a very large ensemble, making it easier for him not to have to carry the whole film.
“Ethan Hunt, a character of whom people can be critical, is on rails,” said McQuarrie. “There’s so little he is able to do outside of his responsibilities as a leading man and when you try and push those boundaries, ‘Mission’ instantaneously cease to become ‘Mission.’”
Right now, McQuarrie and Cruise are not trying to figure out a plot to drop Grossman into as much as they’re thinking of specific scenes they’d like to see him play. Moreover, discussing ideas around this character has offered a welcome reprieve from their other responsibilities, particularly on “The Final Reckoning.”
“Just to be sitting at the breakfast table, not talking about the movie we’re making for a minute,” McQuarrie told Horowitz, “is such decompression. And just riffing with Tom, playing to Les Grossman — it was one of the real joys of making this movie.”
In addition to this possible “Tropic Thunder” spinoff, McQuarrie and Cruise are also working on a number of other ideas, including a “Days of Thunder” sequel, another installment in the “Top Gun” franchise, and a musical.
Watch McQuarrie’s full interview on “Happy Sad Confused” below.
“Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” is currently in theaters from Paramount Pictures.
