Summary

Mission: Impossible 2 is not remembered fondly despite its success, with John Woo's style diluted.
The high-profile cast of Mission: Impossible 2 included actors who went on to have fruitful careers.
Mission: Impossible 2's production impacted other films, leading to Hugh Jackman replacing Dougray Scott in X-Men.

In the era of the mega-blockbuster franchises, Mission: Impossible perhaps doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. For almost thirty years, it has produced summer spectaculars that have wowed audiences, if only to see whatever death-defying stunt Tom Cruise will try next. As Mission: Impossible’s time on screen seems to be coming to an end with The Final Reckoning, it's the perfect time to reflect on its place in cinema history. The biggest impact the franchise may have had, however, was in shaping two totally unrelated movie series.

tom cruise as ethan hunt in mission impossible 8 - the final reckoning, daniel craig as james bond in no time to die

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By Sandip Kishan Anbuselvan

Mission: Impossible 2 is No One’s Favorite

It took a while before the franchise found its stride and became the movie series we recognize today, but there was franchise potential from the start. After the success of the first outing in 1996, Cruise had his eyes set on an ambitious sequel. He brought legendary action director John Woo on board to helm Mission: Impossible 2.

Despite being the highest-grossing film of the year 2000, Woo’s effort isn’t fondly remembered. For whatever reason, it never quite came. Woo’s signature style seemed to be diluted somehow, and the action was anemic compared to his other works, like Hard Boiled, The Killer, and Face/Off. Woo would not be asked back to direct a sequel, with J.J. Abrams taking over the director's chair for the third film in the franchise. Brad Bird would direct the fourth, before the series would fall under the stewardship of Christopher McQuarrie for all subsequent Mission: Impossible entries.

However, Woo’s Mission: Impossible effort wasn’t all bad. There were some high points, one of which was the cast. And this is where the story of the Mission: Impossible franchise’s true impact on cinema begins.

Familiar Faces in Mission: Impossible 2

dougray scott sean ambrose — mission impossible dougray scott aragorn lord of the rings

The film had a host of actors who have gone on to have extremely fruitful careers, mixed in with established cinematic heavyweights. Despite not having the most positive experience making this movie, it marked an early foray into high-profile projects for Thandiwe Newton, for instance.

The movie, which was filmed in Australia, also starred Aussie actor Dougray Scott as the film’s villain, Sean Ambrose — a sort of anti-Ethan Hunt. It’s not uncommon for actors to have multiple projects lined up when signing on to film, and this was the case for Scott. He was locked in to appear in another movie slated to come out the same year, and that film was X-Men. Not only that, Ambrose was in fact signed on to play none other than Wolverine.

Mission: Impossible’s Production Had Other Plans For X-Men

Anyone who has even glimpsed a cinema in the past 20 years is no doubt aware that Dougray Scott would not end up portraying the iconic mutant superhero. That honor would go to a different Australian thespian. So, what happened?

Filmmaking happened. The production of the second Mission: Impossible installment ran long and began to interfere with Scott’s schedule for X-Men. Efforts were made to accommodate the actor, but ultimately, an injury he suffered filming a stunt for Mission: Impossible 2 would be the deciding blow. Filming on X-Men couldn’t wait any longer, and Scott had to bow out. A hasty 11th-hour recast was in order, and one Hugh Jackman ended up landing the role. The rest, as they say, is history.

But this isn’t the only piece of X-Men casting that has links to Mission: Impossible 2. The troubled production of the film almost impacted a massive fantasy franchise in addition to Marvel’s mutant movie.

Mission: Impossible Almost Fundamentally Changed The Lord of the Rings

There is a small but memorable role in M:I-2 played by an uncredited Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins appears as Mission Commander Swanbeck, who lays out the film’s plot to Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and talks him into accepting this particular impossible mission. This role, however, was originally intended for another legendary British actor. The part had been offered to Sir Ian McKellen, but he turned it down. And for the landscape of 21st-century cinema, it’s a good thing he did.

If McKellan had been tied into M:I-2, its production overrun would have impacted him in a similar way to Dougray Scott. Though the part was small, had McKellen committed to playing Swanbeck, he probably would have found himself unable to start work on X-Men, meaning that someone else would have ended up playing Magneto.

It also would have clashed with the filming schedule for Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. It is almost impossible to imagine anyone else playing the iconic role of Gandalf (even if Sean Connery was initially offered a lucrative contract), but that would have been the case had McKellen not passed on M:I-2

Mission: Impossible Inadvertently Shaped Cinema

There are certain actors, no matter how prolific their careers, whom audiences will forever associate with a single role. This is the case with Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman as Gandalf and Wolverine, respectively. Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the greatest achievements in modern cinema and remains the pinnacle of fantasy filmmaking for many. It’s a huge piece of pop culture. Similarly, Hugh Jackman’s 20+ year stint as Wolverine is tied into the fabric of the success of not just the cinematic X-Men outings, but live-action superhero movies as a whole.

Each actor was a single part of these respective franchises, but they were important parts. Who knows how the cinematic landscape might have differed if they hadn’t played their respective iconic characters? And this particular ‘what if’ hinges pretty much entirely on the production schedule of the worst Mission: Impossible movie.

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