Mission: Impossible 7's Rome Shots Were Made Extra Difficult Thanks To An Architectural Quirk
Partway through Christopher McQuarrie's 164-minute action epic "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part 1," super spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and in-over-her-head cat burglar Grace (Hayley Atwell) have to flee a cadre of pursuers through the streets of Rome. Luckily, thanks to their forward-thinking compatriots, Ethan and Grace are provided with a high-tech escape vehicle. Unfortunately, the two are handcuffed together, making driving difficult for either one of them. Whimsically, their escape vehicle isn't a sleek, million-dollar Italian sports car as one might assume in a spy movie, but a tiny, mustard-yellow Fiat. The ensuing Fiat chase is amusing and exciting, fulfilling all of the twists, turns, crashes, and exotic locations the genre typically dictates. Cruise and Atwell look appropriately rattled throughout the scene.
The "Mission: Impossible" movies have, since at least "Ghost Protocol," sought to present some of the most amazing stunts that could be staged in front of a camera. Cruise famously pushes his limits in these films, seeking to risk his life in bigger and bigger ways with each passing sequel. No chase in a "Mission: Impossible" film is minor, and no crisis is not life-threatening (sometimes literally). When making "Dead Reckoning, Part 1," the filmmakers didn't want a generic Fiat car chase through the streets of Rome. They wanted a Fiat car chase to end all Fiat car chases.
In order to achieve this goal, however, the filmmakers stumbled upon something strikingly authentic. It seems that Cruise and Atwell appeared rattled because they actually were. The streets of Rome, being constructed out of cobblestones, provided a rather bumpy ride, making the chase sequence just a hair more difficult to film. McQuarrie briefly talked about the difficulties on the film's Blu-ray commentary track.
Teeth-rattlingly authentic
Chases through the streets of Italy, incidentally, seem to be in vogue in 2023. Not only was there Cruise's and Atwell's high-stakes jaunt, but there was a similar chase in the first act of Louis Leterrier's ultra high-octane mega-sequel "Fast X" earlier in the year. Additionally, Denzel Washington brought some mayhem to a small Italian seaside village in "The Equalizer 3." Something about the old-world architecture seems to attract American action productions.
McQuarrie shared that the quaint building and colorful setting came with its issues, causing headaches for his film's stunt drivers. He said:
"We came to Rome to shoot a chase scene. Something with more ambition and more unpredictability that we haven't had in previous chases. Rome is a famously tricky city to shoot in. The cobblestone streets make all of the driving unpredictable. Every time you think you're going one direction, the streets say 'No you're not, you're going this way.'"
Anyone who has driven in Rome can likely confirm McQuarrie's statements; they are notoriously difficult to traverse.
One of the creative mandates of the "Mission: Impossible" movies seems to be to make the stunts as practical as possible. If a car is whirling around a corner, it's likely that a real stunt driver did that with a real car, perhaps only with minimal CGI assistance. The Rome/Fiat chase seems raggedy and difficult, but as it turns out that was because it was raggedy and difficult. And that was merely one sequence in a massively long action spectacular that featured Cruise actually driving off a cliff, a sequence with a dangling train, and many fight sequences in narrow alleyways. By the end your eyes — and your teeth — will have exited your skull.