Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

About the film

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a 2011 American action spy film directed by Brad Bird (in his live-action directorial debut) from a screenplay by the writing team of Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, who also serve as co-producers. Produced by Tom Cruise, J. J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk, it is the sequel to Mission: Impossible III (2006) and the fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. The film stars Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton, with Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Josh Holloway, Anil Kapoor, and Léa Seydoux in supporting roles. In the film, the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is shut down after being publicly implicated in a bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team to go without their usual resources or backup in a life-threatening effort to clear their names.

Development for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol began in August 2009, when Appelbaum and Nemec were hired to write the screenplay (which was later rewritten by eventual series director and writer Christopher McQuarrie). Cruise's return was confirmed by March 2010 after Bird was announced to direct the film, replacing Abrams (who directed the predecessor), who stayed on this film as a producer. The film was officially titled in October 2010, after which, principal photography took place and lasted until March 2011, with filming locations including Bangalore, Mumbai, Budapest, Moscow, Dubai, and Canadian Motion Picture Park Studios in Vancouver. Like previous entries in the franchise, the cast, most notably Cruise, completed most of their own stunts, while parts of the film were shot in IMAX.

Plot

IMF agent Trevor Hanaway is killed in Budapest by assassin Sabine Moreau, who steals Russian nuclear launch codes to sell to a man named "Cobalt". IMF agent Ethan Hunt is extracted from a Moscow prison, along with an asset named Bogdan, by Hanaway's handler and girlfriend, Jane Carter, and newly promoted field agent Benji Dunn. The team is ordered to infiltrate the Kremlin for information on Cobalt. While they are inside, Cobalt blows the team's cover, and they escape before a bomb destroys the Kremlin. Ethan is arrested by SVR agent Anatoly Sidorov and is blamed for the bombing.

Ethan escapes and meets with the IMF Secretary in Moscow with analyst William Brandt. Brandt identifies Cobalt as Kurt Hendricks, a strategist seeking nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. They determine that Hendricks bombed the Kremlin to cover his theft of a Russian launch control device. The Secretary explains that the President has initiated the "Ghost Protocol", disavowing the IMF. He secretly orders Ethan to continue pursuing Cobalt before being killed along with both his driver and bodyguard in an ambush by Sidorov's forces. Ethan escapes with Brandt and regroups with Jane and Benji. They plan to infiltrate a meeting between Hendricks's associate, Wistrom, and Moreau at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, where Wistrom will buy the stolen launch codes.

The team plans to intercept the codes by faking two meetings: Ethan and Brandt posing as Wistrom and Leonid Lisenker, a cryptographer, to receive the codes from Moreau; Jane poses as Moreau, passing counterfeit codes to the real Wistrom and Lisenker. They are forced to give the actual codes when they discover that Lisenker can immediately authenticate them, relying on radioactive isotopes on the paper to track Wistrom afterward. Completing the buy, Wistrom double-crosses and murders Lisenker. Having deduced that the buy is a setup, Moreau attempts to flee, but Jane intercepts her. When Moreau attacks Benji while trying to escape, an enraged Jane breaks her promise to Ethan earlier about fighting assets and attacks Moreau. Brandt overhears the gunfire and rushes into the room but fails to stop Jane from killing Moreau. Sidorov attempts but fails to apprehend Ethan, who flees the Burj Khalifa and pursues Wistrom.

Production

Despite Mission: Impossible III (2006) earning less than its predecessors at the box office, Paramount Pictures was keen on developing a fourth film in the Mission: Impossible film series. In August 2009, Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec were hired to write the film's screenplay. Due to commitments to his film Super 8, J. J. Abrams said that it was unlikely for him to return as director but made note that he would produce the film alongside Tom Cruise. By March 2010, director Brad Bird was in talks to direct the film (beating out other contenders such as Ruben Fleischer and Edgar Wright) with Cruise returning to star as Ethan Hunt.

The film was originally announced with the working title of Mission: Impossible 4 and code-named "Aries" during early production. By August 2010, title considerations did not include the Mission: Impossible 4 name, and thought was given to omitting the specific term "Mission: Impossible", which Variety compared to Christopher Nolan's Batman sequel film The Dark Knight. In late October 2010, the title was confirmed as Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Jeremy Renner was announced to have joined the film on August 26, 2010. Deadline Hollywood reported that Renner's character would be a potential lead for future films if Cruise decided to quit the franchise. Cruise subsequently denied this. On August 27, it was reported that Lauren German, Paula Patton and Kristin Kreuk were auditioning for the role of a young female operative. On September 1, Patton was announced to have been cast in the part. Vladimir Mashkov was announced on September 23 as a Russian agent. On 28 September Josh Holloway was announced as a member of the Impossible Missions Force. On October 7 Anil Kapoor was announced in a supporting role. The same day, Léa Seydoux was announced as a female villain.

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