25 Things We Learned from John Woo’s “Mission Impossible 2” Commentary

Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 25 Things We Learned from John Woo’s Mission Impossible 2 Commentary.  Here are three of my favorites…

2. He was concerned about competing with Brian De Palma’s style, but Cruise was very adamant that he wanted Woo’s style for the second film. “He loved Face/Off, he loved all of my Hong Kong films.” Cruise said his goal was to have each film — each “episode” — be a different style from a different director. “That made me feel relaxed.”

7. Director and star clashed over some of the stunts as Woo wanted stunt doubles and Cruise was adamant about doing them himself. He told Woo he didn’t like “cheating” and that it’s too easy to spot when the actor is being doubled because of body movement, timing, etc. It didn’t help that Woo is himself afraid of heights. “I admire his courage.”

22. Cruise shared with Woo his love of Bruce Lee, so the director used that as inspiration for designing the end fight between Hunt and Ambrose.