Paul Thomas Anderson has never hidden his eclectic taste, often embracing movies far outside the arthouse canon. In interviews, he’s admitted to enjoying “Venom 2,” “Big Daddy,” “Men in Black 2,” “Ted,” and even praised Marvel’s “Shang-Chi” for its energy, noting that he lives in a Marvel-obsessed household.
PTA recently sat down with Le Figaro and admitted he was bummed that his “Magnolia” star Tom Cruise never called him to direct a “Mission: Impossible.”
I would have loved to [direct a Mission: Impossible], but I never got that call. I was very disappointed. I think he’s done with Mission: Impossible now, so it won’t happen.
The line raises the question: was PTA being tongue-in-cheek, or genuinely lamenting a missed opportunity? It’s not entirely out of the blue. Anderson has, in the past, admitted to being a fan of “Mission: Impossible,” a series that, under Cruise’s control, has evolved into one of Hollywood’s most enduring franchises.
Still, the thought of the director of “There Will Be Blood” and “The Master” helming death-defying set pieces is almost too surreal to imagine. Can you picture PTA directing such a film? Would he have actually done it? That’s another story.
Anderson has never shown much appetite for directing franchise fare, preferring deeply personal, often idiosyncratic projects. And even if he wanted to, would Paramount or Cruise ever hand him the keys to their billion-dollar car chase?
Cruise’s tight bond with Christopher McQuarrie — his trusted collaborator since “Jack Reacher” — has largely defined the franchise’s creative DNA. That partnership also seems to have run its course, with the last two instalments having underperformed at the box office.
Regardless, a recent Variety report noted that Cruise is planning his post-‘Mission: Impossible’ career by “wanting to work with auteurs like Paul Thomas Anderson.” So a Cruise/PTA collaboration isn’t completely out of the question. On a related note, whatever happened to PTA’s rumored plans to direct that sequel to “The Color of Money”?