Tom Cruise and his producing partners have chosen Christopher McQuarrie to step behind the camera and direct Mission: Impossible 5 for Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions.
Cruise will reprise the role of Ethan Hunt in his fifth M:I outing. There is no word at this time if Jeremy Renner, who was introduced in Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, will return to the franchise given his commitment to Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Universal’s Bourne 5.
“I am thrilled to reunite with Chris for the latest installment in the Mission series,” said Cruise in a statement that accompanied the McQuarrie news. “I began producing the films with the goal that a different director with his own vision would make each one. Chris is an extraordinary filmmaker who will deliver the heart-pounding action and thrills that audiences around the world have come to expect from the Mission: Impossible franchise.”
McQuarrie won’t need to get familiar with Cruise as the pair recently worked together on Jack Reacher, a film that McQuarrie wrote and directed. Screenwriting duties for Mission: Impossible 5 are being handled by Drew Pearce of Iron Man 3 fame.
Paramount intends to shoot Mission: Impossible 5 in 2014 and join many other big event pictures by premiering in 2015.
