Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Almost Took An Indiana Jones 5 De-Aging Approach

According to who you ask, digital de-aging is either a blessing or a curse. Martin Scorsese famously deployed the process in "The Irishman," using it to show Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci at various ages throughout the decade. And most recently, digital de-aging was used on Harrison Ford for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." Me? I'm not against digital de-aging. While I admit it can sometimes look distracting, I'm usually able to accept it if it is handled properly. I thought it worked quite well in "The Irishman," and I wasn't distracted at all by the younger Indy in "Dial of Destiny," primarily because the scene takes place at night, allowing plenty of shadows to obscure any issues.

As it turns out, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" wasn't the only 2023 summer blockbuster planning to use digital de-aging. The same idea was considered for "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One." Yep, that's right, we almost got a digitally de-aged Tom Cruise. In the end, though, filmmaker Chris McQuarrie decided against it, and that's probably for the best. 

"Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" does something that no other "Mission: Impossible" movie has done before — it shows us a glimpse of Ethan Hunt's past. While it's all done in a vague, shadowy way, we get to see a younger Ethan dealing with the death of an unnamed woman, killed by Gabriel (Esai Morales), the film's villain. Speaking with GamesRadar+ and Total Film, director Chris McQuarrie revealed this quick flashback sequence was originally longer. "Originally, there had been a whole sequence at the beginning of the movie that was going to take place in 1989," the filmmaker said, adding: "We talked about it as a cold open, we talked about it as flashbacks in the movie, we looked at de-aging."

Having a lengthy scene in 1989 would certainly require Tom Cruise to look younger, and that's where digital de-aging would've come in. McQuarrie began playing around with the technology, but said of looking at the footage, "Never did I find myself actually following the story." 

In other words, it was distracting. In fact, McQuarrie goes on to say that very thing: 

"I was so distracted by an actor that I had known for however long was now suddenly this young person."

Instead of de-aging Cruise, "Dead Reckoning" opts to shoot him in the shadows and from behind, so we never get to see young Ethan Hunt's face. And you know what? It works. This approach probably wouldn't have worked if the scene was originally as long as intended, but as a quick moment, it gets the job done.