Edgar Wright Helped Change Mission: Impossible 7

The road to get "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1" into theaters has been a long and treacherous one. There were multiple delays due to COVID-19 and the budget reportedly ballooned to upwards of $290 million. Writer and director Christopher McQuarrie and star Tom Cruise have been working and re-working the story for years, and they've been living with the project, thinking about little to nothing else to ensure that fans are going to be blown out of the back of the theater. Audiences may return more than once to watch the new action blockbuster, but McQuarrie and Cruise have already watched it countless times. As a comparison, when Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski were perfecting "John Wick 4" they watched it nearly 100 times over the course of filming.

Trying to fine-tune and perfect a movie of this size requires constant attention and care that can sometimes result in being a little too close to the material. That's why it's crucial to get a fresh pair of eyes every once in a while, especially if another filmmaker can take an objective look that may help a crucial point in the story make a little more sense to the masses. The tiniest tweak can make a big difference, and it appears that one minor suggestion from one of the UK's brightest directors pointed out something that McQuarrie and Cruise might have missed. Edgar Wright attended one of the last public screenings of "Dead Reckoning Part 1" and noticed a small detail that resulted in a major change in the sound choice for one key sequence. 

As a longtime friend and collaborator of Simon Pegg — who has co-starred in every entry in the franchise since "Mission Impossible III" — it makes sense for Wright to be at a screening for "Dead Reckoning – Part 1." In the new issue of Total Film magazine (via Games Radar), McQuarrie spoke about Wright's ability to notice something that no one else had up until that point. Per the director:

"Edgar came to one of the later screenings, and asked one simple question about a specific sound, kind of an audio cue, and I thought I'd addressed that note. It was so obvious to me. But it wasn't obvious to Edgar."

McQuarrie thought this specific sound choice made perfect sense to him until Wright mentioned it, leading him to turn it over to the rest of the moviegoers at the screening. He continued:

"And when I asked the audience, it wasn't obvious to them either. Nobody thought to bring it up until Edgar did. And that changed the entire movie. It changed the entire movie for the better. You just need honesty and clarity and awareness. No one person, Tom included, can really sit there, and look at the movie 24 hours a day, objectively. Tom and I will just look one another in the eye, and say, 'Do we want to change this? Or is this what we prefer?'"

It's impossible to know exactly what sound Wright was talking about specifically, but I'm curious if it's something that will be fairly noticeable in the finished film. Maybe it has something to do with the mostly practical action sequence filmed aboard a fully functioning Britannia Class train? Regardless, it seems fitting that the man behind the masterfully directed sound design of "Baby Driver" would be the one to notice if a crucial sonic cue was out of place.