'Mission: Impossible' director teases Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun 3'
What's the story
Christopher McQuarrie, the director of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, has revealed that he has already cracked the script for Top Gun 3.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he said that co-writer Ehren Kruger pitched the idea, and that the script is "already in the bag."
"It wasn't hard. I thought it would be, and that's a good place to go from, is you walk into the room going, 'Come on, what are we going to do?'"
Emotional core
McQuarrie emphasized emotional depth over action
McQuarrie stressed that the key to films like Top Gun isn't just the action but also the emotion behind it.
"It's as you start to execute it, and as you start to interrogate it... it's not the action, it's not even the level of or intensity of or the scope and scale of the action (or) engineering around the action."
"It's none of those things - it's the emotion."
Directorial role
McQuarrie on directing 'Top Gun 3'
When asked if he'd direct Top Gun 3, McQuarrie said he hadn't thought about it.
"I have given that absolutely no thought, no thought whatsoever... However, I have done a lot of research into how to make a Tony Scott movie."
Notably, Joseph Kosinski directed 2022's Top Gun: Maverick, whose script was co-written by McQuarrie. The original was helmed by the late Tony Scott.
Actor's perspective
Tom Cruise's recent comments on 'Top Gun 3'
Earlier this month, lead star Tom Cruise also teased Top Gun 3 during an appearance on Australia's Today show.
He said they were discussing many different stories for Top Gun: Maverick and Days of Thunder sequels.
"It took me 35 years to figure out Top Gun: Maverick, so all of these things we're working on, we're discussing Days of Thunder and Top Gun: Maverick."
His latest project with McQuarrie was the last installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise.