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Simon Pegg has come a long way since his days inShaun of the Deadand has cemented himself as one of the most prominent characters in theMission: Impossiblefranchise. However, the actor’s inclusion inMission: Impossiblewas not guaranteed from the get-go, as the production for the third installment in the Tom Cruise-led franchise was far from smooth.
Considering the 2000s witnessed some of the biggest blockbusters in cinema history, Paramount was adamant too about boosting the Cruise-led IP to the top. But the third film would suffer major delays as it would go under major recasting and change in its direction.
Also read:“We believe in you”: Jamie Foxx Can Not Thank Tom Cruise Enough For Playing A Crucial Role In Building His $170 Million Worth Hollywood Empire
Simon Pegg wasn’t always on board with the idea of working inMission: Impossible
During the wild development ofMission: Impossible 3, the keys to this film juggled from one director to another until J.J. Abrams was finally confirmed to lead the threequel. However, with Abrams’ arrival, he had his own story to tell and rejected the original script for the movie and started crafting his own take on the threequel. But this led to major recasting and scheduling delays, which would push Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson away from the project, who was initially onboard with the project.
But being a massive fan ofShaun of the Dead,J.J. Abrams would bring Simon Pegg to the threequel as Ethan Hunt’s sidekick, resulting in Ricky Gervais’ exit from the role. On getting the role of Benji Dunn during the threequel’s tumultuous production, Simon Pegg reflected on the irony of the situation as he once joked he was not going to doMI 3and never shift away from his roots. He explained,
“So it was a huge irony that I’d said, ‘I’m not going to go off and do this. But then, at that time, there was this attitude that anyone who went off to Hollywood was betraying their roots in some sense or selling out. It’s not like you cross some misty bridge at night and never come home again.”
Amid the recasting and the change in direction that kept on pushing the film’s release, Cruise would then take a major pay cut to keep the production on, and in 2006 the film would finally hit the big screens.
Also read:“I would have been out in the cow pasture”: While Tom Cruise Fights for Theaters, Sandra Bullock Claimed Netflix Saved Her Career After Stealing Record Breaking Film from Angelina Jolie
We might finally witness Scarlett Johansson and Tom Cruise unite on the big screen
AlthoughScarlett Johanssonmight’ve missed out on the threequel due to scheduling conflicts, it might not be too long before we finally witness her andTom Cruisetogether on the big screen. Both the actors haven’t backed away from commending each other, and the two did express their interest to work together. With theMission: Impossiblefranchise standing strong even after 2 decades since its inception, it’s reasonable to hope that Johansson might be the next big name to star in this franchise.
Also read:After Fast & Furious And Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot All In To Join Tom Cruise’s $3.5B Franchise, James Bond? Heart Of Stone Star Says “I’m a big fan of Mission Impossible and Bond”
Despite the production hell that the film went through, J.J. Abrams’s take on the threequel did receive decent reception but was unable to surpass the box office of the sequel. However, the film did make Simon Pegg a prominent part of this franchise, and even years later, he is still going strong in these movies.
Mission: Impossible 3is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
Source:The Guardian
Santanu Roy
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2540
Santanu Roy is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on movies, with over 2,000 articles under his belt. He has been pursuing a degree in Animation and possesses a deep love for the medium of animation. Having spent the better part of the last two years pumping out articles for FW, Santanu excels at covering movie analysis and news surrounding Pixar, DCU, DreamWorks, and Batman’s cinematic legacy.With psychological thrillers and intimate slice-of-life dramas ranking among his favorite genres, Santanu is a big admirer of Luca Guadagnino, Shane Black, Park Chan-wook, and Brad Bird.
