In an interview with
What Culture,
Iron Man 3 co-writer Drew Pearce talks about being hired to tackle Paramount's next
Mission: Impossible film, which will see Tom Cruise return as Ethan Hunt and may be directed by
Jack Reacher's Christopher McQuarrie. He compares the franchise to Marvel's approach to its movies (primarily Phase Two), as in that both offer something different with each installment. He also says that he was initially reluctant to work on yet another sequel, but he decided to accept the job since he's a fan of the franchise. He also offers an update on Warner Bros.' next
Sherlock Holmes film, saying that the threequel is "paused" right now due to his working on
Mission: Impossible 5 and Robert Downey Jr. filming another movie this summer. Finally, Pearce shares his thoughts on the possibility of returning for a fourth
Iron Man film, stating that he and Downey need to crack a story that would be on par with the third movie (if not greater). For What Culture's full interview with Pearce (in which he discusses the Mandarin controversy, villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his love of Sherlock Holmes and more), click the source link below.
On His Approach To The Mission: Impossible Franchise:
[The Mission: Impossible franchise] has been doing for a while what Marvel is now doing, particularly for Phase Two, which is trying to bring a different flavour to each of the movies. To be honest, we’ve really only been working on it a week or so. J.J’s very involved, despite the fact he’s got Star Wars. I believe a Director’s about to be announced very soon. Tom is very hands-on, as is Robert [Downey Jr.] in the Iron Man franchise, but in a very different way, as you would expect as per their personalities.
There’s nothing really to talk about yet, but it’s interesting when you look back at the other four movies because there’s a fairly intimidating roster of talent- from De Palma, [Steve] Zallian… Robert Towne (Screenwriter of Chinatown) co-wrote the first film, and obviously J.J. as well. I almost hadn’t considered the lineage when I took on the job.
I’ll hold my hands up and say that I was a little bit reticent to take [on] another sequel, because I’ve got a lot of my own original projects and I want to get them out there and kick in with directing, but the bare-faced truth of it is that I’m very much just starting out and this could all just disappear tomorrow, and I do need to get a couple of movies on the score sheet. The trouble with most things these days is that they’re just very unlikely to happen. So ‘Mission’ felt like a way of working on a franchise that I really love, plus also working on a movie that is virtually guaranteed a greenlight.
On What Influences He's Looking To For MI5:
We’re just getting into that [stage], so even telling you the movies that I want to start screening for the gang would be giving too much away. I think my approach is actually kind of similar to Iron Man- what comes first is as true and genuine as possible an emotional journey for the central character. Everything else- the villain, the action sequences- has to come off of that. Like with Iron Man 3, what we tried to do with the villain was [to have him] reflect or antagonise the areas of emotional difficulty that Tony’s going through at that moment [in time]. It’s not that hard to keep secrets about Mission: Impossible 5 because I don’t have any yet!
On The Current Progress Of Sherlock Holmes 3:
To be honest, right now it’s all about ‘Mission’, and Robert has just moved to Massachusetts to shoot his next movie, which has a brilliant script, called The Judge, so right now my involvement is paused for the moment because of all that.
On The Possibility Of Returning For A Fourth Iron Man Film:
It would involve me sitting down with Robert and Kevin, and working out whether I felt there was a story we could do that could top Iron Man 3, and I know that Robert will feel the same. And by the way, there’s every chance I won’t necessarily get invited to that table- because there’s a chance that what works for Iron Man is what works for Mission: Impossible- a fresh team each time. But who knows? I adore the character- the more I work in this industry, the most I realise the importance of a genuinely magnetic leading man. So, it’s a discussion I’d love to have, but if there is a fourth movie and I’m not involved, I’ll be proud of what we did with the third one.
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