3Back to Homepage     mission: impossible III  Full Production Notes About Tom Cruise
4CHAPTERS About Tom Cruise Tom Cruise has achieved success as an actor and producer in a career spanning two and a half decades. About the Cast Ving Rhames, Philip S. Hoffman, Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne, Sasha Alexander, Keri Russell, Simon Pegg, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Michelle Monaghan, Maggie Q About the Filmmakers J.J. Abrams, Paula Wagner, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Stratton Leopold, Dan Mindel, Scott Chambliss, Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey, Colleen Atwood, Michael Giacchino, Vic Armstrong, Roger Guyett, Dan Sudick.	TOM CRUISE (Ethan Hunt / producer) has achieved unprecedented success as an actor and producer in a career spanning two and a half decades. In that time he has put forth an array of memorable performances that has firmly ensconced him at the pinnacle of the pop culture lexicon. He is a three-time Academy Award® nominee whose films have earned in excess of seven and a half billion dollars in worldwide box office. Cruise has starred in an unprecedented 13 films that have earned more than $100 million in domestic box office, 13 films (including his last six in a row) that have earned more than $200 million in worldwide box office, and is the only actor with five films that have grossed more than $400 million in worldwide box office. Recently, Cruise was named the top money-making star of 2005 by the International Motion Picture Almanac's Quigley Poll, an annual survey of motion picture exhibitors which asks them to vote for the ten stars that generated the most box office revenue for their theaters.  Cruise has received this distinction a record seven times, the most of any actor since the poll's 1932 inception, and has appeared on on Quigley's top ten list 18 times.  Cruise was also recently voted “the biggest movie star ever” in a reader's poll conducted by Britain's Empire Magazine. In addition, while continuing to explore new artistic challenges, Cruise has maintained and is recognized globally as an untiring ambassador of goodwill for his commitment to working towards bringing about positive change to the world by becoming an international advocate, activist and philanthropist in the fields of health, education and human rights. His most recent film, the critically acclaimed “War of the Worlds,” marked Cruise's second collaboration with director Steven Spielberg.  In the U.S., the film set a new career high for Tom Cruise as well as a new mark for Paramount Pictures by scoring the largest opening day, largest single day, and largest opening weekend the star and the company have ever had. In addition, the film reached a worldwide gross of $591 million, becoming the biggest hit in Tom Cruise's extraordinary 25 year career and established him as the actor who has generated the most box office for a single studio in the history of film, $2.6 billion for Paramount Studios alone.  In 2002, Cruise also starred in Spielberg's critically lauded futuristic thriller “Minority Report,” which went on to gross $358 million at the worldwide box office. Through Cruise|Wagner Productions, which he founded in 1993 with Paula Wagner, Cruise has moved seamlessly into the broader role of producer, bringing a range of diverse projects from new and established talents to the screen.  The first film released under the C|W banner was the international hit “Mission: Impossible,” and in 1997 resulted in the company being honored with the Nova Award for Most Promising Producers in Theatrical Motion Pictures. The company went on to produce the critically acclaimed films “Without Limits,” “Shattered Glass,” “Narc,” and the period thriller and box-office hit “The Others.”  The last marked Cruise's first collaboration with director Alejandro Amenabar, whose film “Abre Los Ojos” became the basis for the C/W production “Vanilla Sky,” under the direction of Cameron Crowe.  In January 2004, Daily Variety honored the producing team as “Billion-Dollar Producers”; most recently, they were presented with the UCLA /Producers Guild of America Vision Award.  Last fall, Cruise|Wagner produced Cameron Crowe's “Elizabethtown.” Cruise made his feature film debut in 1981 at the age of nineteen in the romantic drama “Endless Love,” followed by the critically acclaimed “Taps,” co-starring Sean Penn, Timothy Hutton, and George C. Scott, and Francis Ford Coppola's “The Outsiders.”  His breakout performance in “Risky Business” earned him his first Golden Globe nomination in 1983. The role of Maverick in Tony Scott's “Top Gun” catapulted Cruise to international stardom as the film went on to become the highest grossing picture of 1986.	3Introduction 4CHAPTERS Movie Info Short Synopsis Full Cast & Crew List Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams, Ving Rhames, Philip S. Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne, Sasha Alexander, Michelle Monaghan, and more. Production History Director David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en) was slated to direct M:i:III but dropped out in favor of another film. About the Production  “M:I:III” delivers all of the incredible action and breathtaking stunts that moviegoers expect from the franchise. About Ethan Hunt In exploring that, the filmmakers created a new life for Ethan Hunt About the Villain Writing team took special care to create a villain worthy of Ethan Hunt. About the Team Let's talk about Ethan Hunt's IMF team members. About the Stunts and Action Sequences J.J. wanted to put his own stamp on the action sequences. About the Locations The locations were chosen because they were specifically part of the story. About the Theme The theme to “Mission: Impossible” is originally written by Lalo Schifrin, the theme sets the stage for all the action and suspense to come. About Directing Style This is J.J. Abrams's vision, with his voice as a filmmaker.

	Actor		Producer
2006	Mission: Impossible III	2006	Mission: Impossible III
2005	War of the Worlds	2005	Elizabethtown
2004	Collateral	2003	The Last Samurai
2003	The Last Samurai	2003	Shattered Glass
2002	Minority Report	2002	Narc
2001	Vanilla Sky	2001	Vanilla Sky
2000	Mission: Impossible II	2001	The Others
1999	Magnolia	2000	Mission: Impossible II
1999	Eyes Wide Shut	1998	Without Limits
1996	Jerry Maguire	1996	Mission: Impossible
1996	Mission: Impossible
1994	Interview with the Vampire
1993	The Firm
1992	A Few Good Men
1992	Far and Away
1990	Days of Thunder
1989	Born on the Fourth of July
1988	Rain Man
1988	Cocktail
1986	The Color of Money
1986	Top Gun
1985	Legend
1983	All the Right Moves
1983	Risky Business
1983	Losin' It
1983	The Outsiders
1981	Taps
1981	Endless Love