'Mission: Impossible' director Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote 'The Usual Suspects', once considered quitting. Meeting Tom Cruise changed that

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

How many times have we seen this quote floating around on the internet? How many filmmakers have borrowed it? Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie probably may not have imagined back then that a line he wrote and the film containing it would attain the cult status it enjoys today (after its popular run on home video, mostly). While speaking at a Masterclass before the Cannes premiere of Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning, McQuarrie reflected on the reception to the 1995 film (his second script) that won him a Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

The Final Reckoning, which premiered at Cannes 2025 (it opens in India on Saturday, May 17) to thunderous applause and a five-minute standing ovation, is possibly the last in the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise that established Tom Cruise as, arguably, currently world's greatest action star. Expressing gratitude to audiences and his actors and technical crew that made the film possible, McQuarrie recalled his beginning as an outsider in the industry and how, in Cruise, he found his own "action figure".

And when we reflect on McQuarrie's journey so far, Cruise was indeed a "superhero" for the filmmaker who once considered quitting the movie business. A meeting with the Hollywood superstar in 2008 gave him a much-needed dose of encouragement after a long dark phase.

“I was truly on my way out the door. When you’re making a Tom Cruise movie, it’s not Tom Cruise going, ‘Here’s how you do it.’ It’s Tom Cruise empowering you and saying, ‘What do you want to do with that spotlight the first time it’s turned on you?’ It’s incredibly intense and clarifying,” said McQuarrie, on his dynamic with the actor with whom he collaborated on 11 films, beginning with 2008's Valkyrie, writing contributions in the blockbusters Edge of Tomorrow and Top Gun: Maverick, and including one in the capacity of an uncredited writer (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol).

What could've possibly led to McQuarrie feeling so disenchanted? The answer is likely found in an old interview with Empire magazine, where he talked about not getting work after making his directorial debut with 2000's The Way of the Gun. McQuarrie had recounted that after the success of The Usual Suspects, he hoped to make other original projects — such as a historical epic about Alexander the Great, for example — but everyone expected another crime thriller. So he made one, the aforementioned Benicio del Toro-starrer, that wasn't received warmly by critics and the public — everyone responded harshly, in fact.

The disappointing response meant it would take eight years before McQuarrie could direct another film — a World War II espionage thriller, Valkyrie, with Tom Cruise. In the meantime, he sustained himself with a few uncredited writing contributions to other directors' films.

Tom Cruise, being the sensible and open-minded cinephile that he is, admired McQuarrie's storytelling approach in The Way of the Gun, especially the way he approached the action sequences in it. After working with him in Valkyrie and Jack Reacher and realising his calibre as an action filmmaker, Cruise invited him to direct Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, the fifth entry in the blockbuster franchise, and the rest was history.

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