Tom Cruise has maintained to be on the top of the ladder among the A-lister megastars in Hollywood. His career in the industry spanned decades as he appeared in several roles across genres.
But the actor is most notably remembered as an action megastar for his blockbuster franchises like Top Gun and Mission Impossible. The action spy thriller has spanned over seven films and more are on the way. Cruise has left no stone unturned for the success of the Mission Impossible saga. In fact, he was desperate to bring one Avenger onboard.
Tom Cruise Desperately Wanted Jeremy Renner in Mission Impossible Franchise
Tom Cruise could visualize even a grand continuation of the franchise with MCU’s Avengers star Jeremy Renner. However, Renner was skeptical of joining a big franchise at first as he already had Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters and The Avengers lined up. Renner was almost formed into a meeting at Paramount Studios with Cruise when he was going to meet director J.J. Abrams. As per MTV News, Cruise pitched an idea to Renner that was not even spirited then.
“It was a strange experience and an interesting meeting,” Renner told MTV. He did not commit to the film— which later came out as Ghost Protocol— in the meeting, but he promised Cruise that he would contemplate the idea.
“And by the time I get home on my motorcycle, I get off my helmet, and the phone rings, and it’s Tom calling me at my house. I’m like, ‘That’s weird, Tom Cruise is calling me at home’…. So he’s like, ‘Are we doing this? Come on, are we doing it?’ So now all of a sudden I’m signed on to do three Mission: Impossible movies with Tom.”
Later, the Avengers: Endgame actor could not say no to Cruise and appeared in the 2011 Brad Bird-directed Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol as William Brandt, and continued his role in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.
Jeremy Renner Almost Replaced Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible
Apart from his marvelous movies, Cruise will also be remembered for jumping on the couch at The Oprah Winfrey Show as he was showing enthusiasm for his then-girlfriend, Katie Holmes. Cruise’s reputation was at stake after the interview and his career was also hanging on a thread. Paramount also went ahead to cut a 14-year-long relationship with the actor. As per reports, the entire storyline was supposed to change in the movies of the following franchise.
Renner was not very distant from the idea of taking over the franchise. “It’s a franchise to potentially take over…I can’t predict the future and what they want, but that’s certainly the idea,” Renner told MTV. But he was certain that he would not play the lead in the action series. “I don’t think that’s ever really a possibility,” he added. The Hurt Locker actor told Extra,
“I think the possibility, first and foremost, is for audiences to receive this movie and like it, want to see more. And then it’s Tom’s willingness to want to do another one, to put together another big movie like this. These aren’t easy to put together. So if Paramount and Tom want me to do it, I’d be happy to be a part of it. I’d be up for it… assuming my character doesn’t croak. I’m not going to tell ya!”
Cruise was adamant about letting go of the movie even after his character was supposed to meet a career-ending injury in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and Ethan Hunt was supposed to become the IMF Secretary, shifting from agent. But the idea was shut down and the portion of the script was changed.
Source: TheThings
