Mission: Impossible 3's Maggie Q Accidentally Crashed A Car Her First Day On Set
The "Mission: Impossible" series has become easily my favorite film franchise over the course of the last decade. Not only is its consistency unmatched in today's Hollywood blockbuster landscape, but the franchise has pulled off the remarkable feat of remaining consistent; the later entries of the series are actually the best of the bunch. As the series has spanned 27 years now, people come to the "Mission: Impossible" films at different times. I'd say there are two major entry points. Obviously, you have Brian De Palma's original "Mission: Impossible," but I would also say Brad Bird's fourth installment, "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol," would be the other film where a new generation of people hopped in.
Mine wasn't either of these films. My first experience with Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt was J.J. Abrams' "Mission: Impossible III." This was a film that came out at the height of the massive turn against Cruise from the populace, but it came out at the perfect age for me, as I was just a few months short of turning 13. I wasn't saddled with the baggage in any meaningful way. I went to the theater and had a good time. In retrospect, my opinion on the film has fallen, believing it to be the series' second-worst, but there's still quite a bit of fun to be had.
More than anything, the sequence that holds up most takes place at the Vatican, wherein Ethan dons a mask of Philip Seymour Hoffman's Owen Davian. The best part of the sequence is seeing Hoffman perfectly embody Tom Cruise, but the rest of Ethan's team also has some good stuff to do. Most glamorously, you have Maggie Q in a stunning red dress driving a Lamborghini. Although the moment is meant to be very sexy, the making of it couldn't be further from it.
The impracticality of fashion
Part of the scene where Maggie Q drives this Lamborghini involves the obligatory shot of her stepping out of the car, showcasing the massive slit in her dress. It's a shot so many Hollywood productions have used and will continue to use for eye candy. Consequently, this means she needs to be in the car with massive high heels. Something anyone who wears high heels will tell you (or just driving school in general) is that driving with those kinds of shoes on is no easy feat, and in the making of this scene, her shoes caused her to have a bit of an accident. In the DVD special features for "Mission: Impossible III," J.J. Abrams outed Maggie Q for her vehicular mishap, saying:
"Well there was one little incident when Maggie was pulling in and her shoe, which I think was like this, the heel was, like, huge, got stuck in the accelerator and she ended up hitting a car in front of her and she was very embarrassed. So I'm sorry I'm repeating that, but she did an amazing job."
Making things even hairier was the fact that Maggie Q was not much of a driver to begin with. You put an inexperienced person wearing massive heels behind the wheel of an incredibly expensive luxury car, and you are just asking for something to go wrong. Luckily, nobody was hurt, though the Lamborghini received some bumps and scrapes, to be sure. If you watch the final film, there is a cut between the car pulling up and Maggie Q stepping out of it. Maybe they realized they weren't going to get that all in one shot when she crashed the car. But if it was always designed as two shots, why have her drive with the heels on?
The entire "Mission: Impossible" series is available for streaming on Paramount+.