'Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation': Director Christopher McQuarrie Talks Deleted Scenes

Christopher McQuarrie, director of “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,” recently spoke about the deleted scenes of the movie in a roundtable discussion in New York. According to Collider, some scenes were taken out to maintain the pace of the film.

Reportedly the movie originally ran for two hours, 20 minutes, and there were few scenes starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt that had to be deleted. “There were things going on in the movie specifically about what drove the turn in the members of the Syndicate as told by – there’s a ghost of a conversation when Ethan confronts Lane at the end and says something along the line, ‘You had a crisis of faith. Am I fighting for the right side? ” McQuarrie said, explaining the deleted scene.

The director added that there was another scene in Morocco where Hunt has a confrontation with Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) and Alan Hanely (Alec Baldwin). It was reportedly a 10-minute scene after the car chase but it was removed, as it did not match the tempo of the film.

Also, according to McQuarrie, it made the introduction of Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust chaotic.

“When we went in and pulled all of those things out of the movie, the movie just took off. I was sad to see them go, but at the same time I knew they didn’t really need to be there,” he said.

In the roundtable discussion, McQuarrie also said he and Cruise have a similar approach to filmmaking and that explains why they have done several movies together, including “Jack Reacher” and “Edge of Tommorow”

“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” has went on to become a success and has earned $134 million worldwide. It is the fifth installment in the “Mission Impossible” series.