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Every ‘Mission: Impossible’ Mask Reveal, Ranked

By David Viramontes

David Viramontes

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The “Mission: Impossible” movies promise two things: Tom Cruise risking his life to entertain audiences and a plethora of mask hijinks. The films, based on the 1966 television series of the same name, follow the adventures of Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his team of spies traveling the globe. Members of the Impossible Mission Force, A.K.A. the IMF, the team is dispatched to take care of only the most insurmountable tasks. From stopping nuclears to preventing the spread of a deadly virus, the IMF works behind the scenes to protect the lives of people the world over.

The film franchise began with Brian De Palma’s 1996 film about a mission gone wrong and features a wire-dangling stunt so tense that subsequent filmmakers still strive to match it. The movies, produced by Cruise, have largely been helmed by different directors. Following De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird and Christopher McQuarrie all took a swing at the series with McQuarrie directing the most recent two and the two that are upcoming.

Using masks to disguise characters, usually with a surprise reveal, got started on the TV show and directors in the film series brought their own spin to the gag. Some use the masks to pull the rug out from under viewers’ feet while others let the audience in on the deception. With six films, there has been plenty of variation in the execution of the reveal. In honor of the release of “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” five years ago today, this is every mask reveal, ranked.

“Living manifestation of destiny” - Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

“Rogue Nation’s” second mask reveal is a franchise standout in no small part thanks to composer Joe Kraemer’s brass-heavy instrumentation. In a confrontation with the Secret Intelligence Service chief Atlee (Simon Burney) and the Prime Minister (Tom Hollander), CIA director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) emphasizes Ethan Hunt’s skill and dedication, delivering the ultimate praise of the agent he’s been outwitted by at every step. “Hunt is the living manifestation of destiny,” says Baldwin. The praise doubles as a testament to Cruise’s commitment to entertaining audiences with death-defying stunts in the film series. Then, Atlee shoots the Prime Minister with a tranquilizer and reveals himself to be Hunt as the theme song kicks in. It’s a perfect reveal that shocks viewers and brings every character’s allegiance into focus.

Henchman reveal - Mission: Impossible II

Late in the second film, director John Woo executes a double mask reveal so bold that it ranks among the franchise’s best. Sean Ambrose’s (Dougray Scott) top henchman, Hugh Stamp (Richard Roxburgh) has had it out for Ethan the whole movie. When Stamp drags Ethan’s body into the rogue agent’s compound, he says he can’t speak because he broke his jaw. What follows is Woo operating at the top of his operatic action best. Choirs and strings fill the air as Ambrose fires a round of bullets into Ethan’s body only to realize that the man he shot bears the same injured finger as his right hand man. Pulling off the mask reveals that Ethan “swapped” faces with the henchman to steal the biochemical weapons and escape without being noticed, before pulling off his own mask as the guitar wails a hard rock cover of the theme song.

Vatican kidnapping - Mission: Impossible - III

The fun of this reveal is the knowledge that Ethan is the one we are watching the whole time. We see as Tom Cruise pulls the rubber face of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s villainous Owen Davian over his own and, with the magic of visual effects, he seamlessly becomes Seymour Hoffman. After successfully impersonating Davian, Ethan removes the mask in what appears to be a “Texas switch,” where Seymour Hoffman and Cruise physically move in and out of frame as the camera pans from right to left and back again.

Grown men wearing Halloween masks - Mission: Impossible - Fallout

“Fallout” keeps the action moving along at a breakneck pace. Before the massive foot chase across London, Ethan and the IMF team gather their forces in an underground safehouse where they trick Henry Cavill’s CIA operative August Walker into revealing himself to be a member of the terrorist group known as the Apostles. Calling back to prior dialogue, Cavill’s character, through perfectly gritted teeth, repeats the line that the IMF is playing dress up in Halloween masks. Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie’s trick here is not in surprising the audience with a mask reveal, but making them a member of the team by hinting at the use of a mask. Ethan and the audience watch as Walker slowly realizes he’s been fooled by a simple mask.

Train reveal - Mission: Impossible

The fourth and final mask gag in Brian De Palma’s “Mission: Impossible” film is a pitch-perfect use of the franchise staple. Claire Phelps (Emmanuelle Béart), having seemingly fallen for Ethan, finds her husband Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) alive in the train’s storage car. Instead of expressing surprise that he is alive, Claire asks if they should really kill Ethan, revealing that she’s been in on the plan to bring down the IMF since the beginning. Then, Phelps peels off his face and pulls the rug out from under the audience to reveal Ethan Hunt.

The first unmasking - Mission: Impossible

The mask reveal that started it all is a textbook execution of the iconic tradition. After extracting the information the IMF needs, a Russian man knocks out his suspect before pulling off his rubber face revealing Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, setting the precedent for every “Mission” to follow.

Wolf Blitzer reveal - Mission: Impossible - Fallout

“Fallout’s” cold open stretches a whole 16 minutes into the film’s runtime before the opening credits roll and features one of the series’ only cameos. Real-life news anchor Wolf Blitzer addresses the camera from the seat of his “Situation Room” desk, announcing a series of nuclear detonations. Having captured the scientist who designed the weapons, Ethan and the team get him to hand over the phone he used to contact his associates before revealing their setup: The bombs haven’t been detonated and the hospital room he’s staying in is part of a soundstage next to a fake “Situation Room” set. The walls of the room fall away much like the cold open of the original film and Wolf Blitzer reveals himself to be Simon Pegg’s character Benji. The reveal establishes the film’s nuclear stakes and gives Benji the rare chance to wear a mask.

Ambrose as Ethan & Ethan as Nekhorvich - Mission: Impossible II

Sean Ambrose poses as Ethan Hunt to lull Thandie Newton’s character into revealing her escape plan. The scene is intercut with Ethan posing as the deceased scientist who created the film’s MacGuffin virus. Hans Zimmer’s vocal- and guitar-heavy score drips with what can only be described as late a ‘90s coolness.

Cold open - Mission: Impossible II

Deep undercover, Ethan escorts a scientist carrying a deadly virus on an international flight. After taking possession of the cure and hijacking the plane, Ethan pulls off his mask to reveal that he is actually the film’s villain – rogue IMF agent Sean Ambrose, played by Dougray Scott. This unmasking adds a wrinkle to the action series’ famous mask gags by introducing the voice modulation element. Ambrose addresses his co-conspirators in Tom Cruise’s voice before removing a sticker from his neck.

Benji fakeout - Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

The standout setpiece from “Rogue Nation” involves bypassing a gait analysis security system and physically switching data cards in a water turbine. The breathless sequence gives Simon Pegg’s Benji the opportunity to wear a mask – something the character has asked about in previous films. However, the editing reveals that Benji’s time under the mask was merely hypothetical and what we see on-screen never actually made it past the team’s planning stage.

Julia reveal - Mission: Impossible - III

In the second and final mask gag of the third film, Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s villain Owen Davian shoots Ethan Hunt’s wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) in front of him. The film, which spends its runtime building up Ethan’s desire for and balancing act of maintaining a work and home life, climaxes with her death. The brutal killing is swiftly followed by a reveal that harshly undercuts the massive loss: Davian killed his assistant who was wearing a mask of Julia’s face. Without giving the reveal room to breathe and squeezing in a third act twist, this mask reveals ranks among the series’ least impactful.

Sandstorm chase - 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'

The second reveal in “Ghost Protocol” is part of the movie’s marquee setpiece. Following his climb up the side of the Burj Khalifa, Ethan chases the villain’s henchman through a sudden sandstorm. While wrestling from the roof of a car, Ethan manages to grab his face only to pull away portions of a mask, revealing that the henchman is actually the film’s nuclear war-obsessed villain – Kurt Hendricks (the late Michael Nyqvist).

Kremlin escape - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

In order to infiltrate the Kremlin, Ethan must don a fake nose and mustache to fool security guards into thinking he is a Russian general. This lackluster reveal is complemented by a reversible jacket that allows Ethan to quick change from his Russian military clothing to that of an American tourist.

Elevator peel - Mission: Impossible

Ethan and the team, wearing awkwardly large glasses that house hidden cameras, infiltrate a gala populated with heads of state to find out who is stealing IMF secrets. As they escape, Ethan unpeels his rubber mask to blend in with the crowd.

Langley heist - Mission: Impossible

The first “Mission” contained what is still one of the most pressure-packed setpieces. But before Tom Cruise dangled above the highly secured CIA vault, he had to sneak into the Langley headquarters disguised as a firefighter. What makes this unmasking so unsatisfying is that the removal happens off-screen. Director Brian De Palma has a lot of fun executing the heist, but wastes an opportunity to capitalize on the mask gag.

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The Mission: Impossible masks are almost a reality

As Tom Cruise’s action franchise has evolved, so has the real-life inspiration

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The first time Jonna Mendez wore a lifelike human mask, she grew increasingly paranoid. In the midst of a training exercise to test going undercover, the CIA’s former chief of disguise had chosen to stroll around Georgetown and impersonate a Black woman, wearing red stilettos and intricately-laced gloves to cover her extremities. But as she walked into a store, she couldn’t help but feel as though the woman behind the checkout counter was watching her. After quickly exiting, she was greeted by pouring rain and intense humidity, which began to fog up her glasses, trapping her as she waited for a surveillance team to pick her up. “It was a nightmare,” she says. “I had a worst-case scenario wearing that mask the very first time.”

The second time wearing one went much smoother. To show president George H.W. Bush the advances in the CIA’s mask technology, Mendez waited outside the Oval Office and nervously chewed her pencil in total disguise, this time masked as a female colleague. Upon entering with a group of men, including NSA advisor Brent Scowcroft and CIA director William H. Webster, Bush asked Mendez what she’d brought to show him. “I’m wearing it and I’ll take it off,” she said. After a brief inspection, the president gave up guessing what she was hiding, prompting Mendez to peel off her mask to the room’s delight. “It was definitely cool,” she says. “If you kept it on long enough, you’d forget you had it on.”

Polygon is diving into the world of espionage throughout fiction and pop culture history with Deep Cover, a two-week special issue covering all sorts of spy stories and gadgets.

By the early 1990s, the CIA’s mask technology had far superseded Hollywood’s, allowing for spy work to occur within feet of unsuspecting targets and marks. Several years later, Tom Cruise pulled off the same deceptive maneuver, only this time with the help of a visual effects team and months of carefully calibrated prosthetic work. Like the Mission: Impossible television series , albeit without the need for obvious editing tricks, the three-decade-spanning spy movie franchise has made mask-wearing and revealing a staple part of its movies, using them at shocking moments and highlighting their technologically superior handiwork as the series has progressed. As a result, the practical nature and seamless application of this spycraft has continued to invite questions about its regular and real-world use. Could someone unmistakably inhabit another person’s skin?

The answer is complicated. In an age of digital surveillance and cyber subterfuge (which has now rendered much of Mendez’s disguise work obsolete), tangible disguises are even more dependent on the context of a mask’s use, someone’s facial structure, and the resources at one’s disposal. “In order for things to look plausible,” says Kevin Yagher Productions makeup artist Mitchell Coughlin, “it all comes down to studying the subtle movements.” In some ways, nobody will ever mimic the movie magic of using two actors, a mask, and VFX tricks to suggest a flawless silicone mug. But over the last decade, as prosthetic material and technology has advanced along with the rise of deepfake AI, mask quality has never been better, and transforming into someone undetected has become much more accessible.

How spy masks have evolved

Before the CIA began making its own masks, it consulted with prosthetic makeup expert John Chambers. The craftsman responsible for the design of Spock’s ears and the mask work on Planet of the Apes , Chambers agreed to give the agency aluminum molds and teach its members how to make stunt double masks. In the 1970s, the CIA didn’t rely on anything too specific — as long as a field agent looked right from a distance and didn’t move too much, the generic-looking masks could be helpful in specific operations. “He wasn’t trying to sell us ape masks; he was trying to be a good American citizen,” Mendez says.

Over the next decade, the agency’s disguise lab began working on its own enhancements, creating “semi-animated masks,” which fit over half of someone’s face to blend into the eyes or mouth. Eventually, contracted artists developed fuller, more detailed masks, keeping them breathable and easily removable. “The requirement for our mask was you had to be able to put it on in a parked car, in the dark, and because it was made just for you, it would register,” Mendez says. “You had to have the confidence to know that this thing would work. It was a tall order.” When Mendez took the masks to Chambers to show him their advances, Mendez says he was stunned at the craftsmanship. “[Hollywood’s] version of reality and our version of reality were quite separate,” she says. “We needed something that was going to protect people.”

The details of the masks are still classified, but the makeup minds behind the Mission: Impossible movies eventually sharpened their craft with similar results. Despite their masks being supplemented with visual effects trickery, the franchise’s prosthetic artists have taken painstaking effort to get them as real as the actors they were meant to portray. As Mission: Impossible 2 makeup supervisor Coughlin describes, the process (which altogether can take up to a few months) begins with head casts of each actor to build a plaster positive. Later, silicone — the preferred material today — is poured through a tube that fills up the mask’s negative to create the skin. “There’s times when masks are great with foam rubber — it’s just opaque and you can’t really control the translucency,” Coughlin says. “It’s always great to have an intrinsically colored [silicone] that matches the actor.”

Then the digital trickery begins. In MI:2 ’s first-act plane sequence, for example, Dougray Scott’s villainous character wears Cruise’s face on a flight to secure a virus remedy, pulling off his mask once the passengers on board have passed out. On the actual set, the filmmakers used motion-controlled cameras (capable of repeating the same movements on multiple takes), and made sure both Cruise and Scott hit the same marks in the seat aisle so the VFX team could overlay both faces onto the mask and sync them together. “The reveal was really the thing that our mask was the function for,” Coughlin says. “We made the masks with the eyes open, so it looked like a shell of Tom Cruise when it wasn’t on.”

Throughout the next few movies, the mask-making and application process became more prominent and considered part of the plot. In Mission: Impossible 3 , a high-tech robotic scanner automatically spray-colors a silicone mask of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s mug for Cruise to wear, while in Rogue Nation , sidekick Benji walks the IMF team through a mask-wearing plan that involves digital scans of his face before a 3D printer molds a mask out of a gooey substance in the span of several seconds. Though these speedy gadgets are fictional, a lot of the technology shown in the franchise extrapolates techniques that prosthetic artists use every day.

“Traditional sculpting and mold-making techniques are still very much in demand, but new digital solutions are becoming more affordable and effective,” says Christopher Goodman, a concept artist and 3D sculptor at Millennium FX. In the real world, he says, a 3D printer takes much longer than several seconds to print something, and can’t produce silicone or foam latex. But the process still has merit for effects teams searching for pinpoint accuracy. “3D scanning is extremely quick and reliable, digital modeling allows for great flexibility, and 3D printing can provide breathtaking detail,” he says. “Only recently I designed and created my first makeup entirely 3D-modeled and 3D-printed. Not a gram of sculpting clay was used.”

Becoming indistinguishable

In 2019, researchers at the University of York and Kyoto University discovered that today’s silicone masks can fool the average person into believing that they’re real faces. The study involved British and Japanese participants looking at pairs of photographs and deciphering which face was actually a mask, and they got it wrong 20% of the time , even after psychologist Rob Jenkins admitted that researchers “showed them example masks before the test began.” Indeed, without side-by-side comparisons or recognizable faces, disguising yourself in public has become a somewhat easier game. In fact, today’s top silicone shops sell lifelike masks for $500–$700 on average . It’s no wonder why silicone masks have become a new tool for criminals .

As artificial intelligence continues to saturate every industry, facial deception has also advanced rapidly into digital spaces. That was most evident a couple years ago when Miles Fisher went viral with his deepfake Tom Cruise videos, which showed Fisher impersonating the A-lister’s mannerisms with Cruise’s actual visage rendered over his face. The videos — simple addresses to the camera — looked so real that many TikTok and Instagram users assumed Cruise was creating them himself. In reality, they had been made by Chris Ume, a visual effects whiz and the co-founder of Metaphysic , whom Fisher had initially asked to help with a parody video of Cruise running for president . “It was a fun collaboration,” Ume says. “He called me up and said, ‘This was fun, let’s do more.’”

Like a sculptor taking molds, Ume started pulling as much footage of Cruise from movies and interviews as he could, dropping his data sets into a neural network that puzzled together his face onto someone else’s. Much of the work still needed Ume’s artistic touch, but it helped that Fisher has a voice, hair, and facial features that match those of Cruise. “Whenever you’re working with a body double, you should at least have some similarities. Because if I put Tom Cruise on my face it wouldn’t work in 100 years,” Ume says. “Miles’ eyebrows are very big compared to Cruise and that’s not ideal, but it’s just the way he has his hair and his attitude that helps a lot.” Of course, as Mendez says, the best disguises incorporate more than just appearance — especially with more surveillance and security measures in place. Everything — gait, posture, countenance — goes into deception.

There are nefarious use cases for this kind of innovation (see: pornography), an occupational hazard in Ume’s profession. But it’s easy to see deepfake technology impacting spycraft today and helping makeup artists build even more realistic synthetic masks — or replace them entirely.

“We could make a perfect replica of your face based on data when you were 10 years younger and we can use that as a reference for people working on prosthetic masks,” Ume says. At the moment, Metaphysic is in the midst of de-aging Tom Hanks for an upcoming Robert Zemeckis movie , using the company’s same deepfake technology to build real-time software that can scan and rewind Hanks’ face 30 years to make an imperceptible digital mask. “The goal we have is that when you watch the movie,” Ume says, “you won’t see a difference.”

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Mission: Impossible’s Top 10 Mask Reveals

minute read

Tom Cruise’s wild stunts and jolting mask-rips have lit the fuse on the Mission: Impossible franchise since 1996. SPYSCAPE peels back some of the top mask moments. (Warning: your mission, should you choose to accept it, may include spoilers.)

10. Mission: Impossible (1996)

It is a blink-and-you’ll miss it moment - and certainly not as polished as later versions - but Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise’s) mask reveal in the first Mission Impossible film sets the tone with a nod to the classic television series - brief, gripping, and nostalgic. Perfect.

9. Mission: Impossible: 2 (2000) ‍

Ethan (Cruise) masquerades as a Russian scientist to visit Biocyte’s CEO John C. McCloy (Brendan Gleeson) in the hospital. But is it a disguise or a double fake? ‍

8. Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

“You keep calling me Dimitri. You really shouldn’t,” a menacing Ethan Hunt warns Dr Vladimir Nekhorvich (Rade Šerbedžija). Moments later, the mask is off and Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) is calling the shots, jump-starting the high-octane sequel to Mission: Impossible. (There is another spectacular reveal in MI:2 but keep scrolling if you don’t want a spoiler!)

7. Mission: Impossible (1996)

Claire Phelps (Emmanuelle Béart) believes she’s speaking to the director of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) … but nothing is as it seems in Mission: Impossible. Cruise’s first MI film and special effects stand the test of time.

6. Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)

Ethan is a semi-retired IMF training officer planning the future with his fiancée Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). He’s called back into service to track down arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) but Julia complicates matters.

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‍ 5 . Mission: Impossible 4 - Ghost Protocol (2011)

Ghost Protocol has one of the best chase scenes in Mission: Impossible’s history, a thrilling hunt in a sandstorm with Ethan wrestling his target from the roof of a car - but who’s really behind the wheel?

4. Mission: Impossible 5 - Rogue Nation (2015)

Following the IMF's dissolution, Ethan is trying to prove the existence of a global, freelance terrorist group known as the Syndicate. The rip-reveal in the prime minister’s office is a solid gold moment in Mission: Impossible ’s storied history. ‍

3. Mission: Impossible 6 - Fallout (2018)

Ethan and his team join forces with a CIA assassin to stop a nuclear attack. Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) is back as an IMF technical field agent, stealing more than one scene with spectacular mask reveals. ‍

2. Mission: Impossible 6 - Fallout (2018)

There are many mind-blowing moments in Fallout as Ethan and Luther (Ving Rhames) deal with the Apostles terrorist group. Keep an eye out for CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer (above, left) in the movie’s superb cold open.

1. Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)

Mission: Impossible 3 takes the top spot for its fast pace, shocking stunts, and outstanding special effects. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is superb as ruthless arms dealer Owen Davian and the ‘Seeing Double’ scene (above) with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is pure movie magic.

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A mask’s journey from a movie to a documentary

da Sara Artuso | 4 Mag 2015 | Events

On February 5 th , 2015, the newspaper Il Resto del Carlino published an article on an independent documentary film festival, whose protagonists were young filmmakers. What’s this got to do with masks, you may be wondering. Well, quite a lot, since one of the projected documentaries was FormaCinema’s The masks of Eyes Wide Shut . And one of these masks is the one we now call simply “Tom”.

The story of Tom Cruise’s mask in Eyes Wide Shut

In the article, Massimiliano Studer and Filippo Biagianti , the documentary’s authors, explain that the idea of making this short movie was the result of quite a simple question: “why nobody has ever tried to trace the craftspeople who produced the movie’s masks?”. This question, together with a journey to Venice and a casual look at a mask shop, has aroused the two authors’ curiosity and urged them to follow the traces left by Stanley Kubrick’s movie.

The documentary reveals every behind-the-scenes aspect of this collaboration, from the discovery of the shop of Josie Sherabayani’s, one of Kartaruga’s partners in London, to the unexpected events related to the size of the mask. All of this is supported by evidence, namely by the documents shown in the movie itself. But FormaCinema ’s short documentary tells how this mask was born, too, what it’s inspired to and why it was chosen for the movie.

Handicraft, cinema and documentary: the whole life of a mask

Tom Cruise’s mask in Eyes Wide Shut isn’t the only mask for the cinema Kartaruga has produced – just to name another one, the bauta used by Heath Ledger in Casanova – but this is the first time one of our masks for movies becomes the protagonist of an independent documentary.

And this is an honour both for us and for Venice itself, because it casts a new light on one of the most famous legends about the city, and lets the whole world get acquainted with its craftspeople .

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Every Mask Reveal In The ‘Mission: Impossible’ Franchise

Year after year after year, Tom Cruise has shown himself to be one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. Much of this can be attributed to his action star persona, which has been particularly displayed in the various films of the  Mission: Impossible  franchise . And anyone who has seen even one of these movies knows the importance of the mask reveal, in which a character - usually Cruise’s Ethan Hunt - pulls away a latex mask to reveal the true face beneath. In addition to being a clever plot device, the mask reveal also shows the  Mission: Impossible  franchise’s investment in the concept of identity itself as inherently unstable, making it one of the most  fascinating details about the franchise . So scroll down and vote up your favorite M:I mask moments from the series' ever-expanding history.

M:I - The Jim Phelps Takeout

Throughout the first  Mission Impossible  film, director Brian De Palma  demonstrates his keen understanding of what makes a Mission: Impossible mask reveal so effective. As the film reaches its climax, Claire Phelps reveals herself as part of a conspiracy when she speaks to her supposedly-dead husband Jim about framing Ethan. 

Unfortunately for her, in a dazzling twist, it turns out Ethan was Jim in a mask all along. What a way to get caught, huh? It’s a flawlessly executed reveal, helping the audience to realize just how far ahead of the game Ethan has been all along.

M:I-2 - The Dead Henchman

Time and again during  Mission: Impossible 2,  John Woo displays his absolute confidence as an action filmmaking legend. The third mask reveal in this film is justifiably seen as one of the best, as it has an almost operatic excess to its delivery. In this instance, Ethan has swapped his face for Hugh’s, the best friend and henchman of the film’s villain, Sean Ambrose. 

As a result, the latter tortures and finishes off his own friend in the mistaken belief he is doing it to Ethan, only to realize his mistake too late. In his usual glorious and dramatic fashion, Ethan takes off his own “Hugh” mask, with a guitar in the background to complete the melodramatic excess of this pivotal moment. 

Fallout - The 'Halloween Mask'

Each iteration of the  Mission: Impossible  franchise has become increasingly self-referential. This is perhaps not all that surprising as it nears its thirty-year anniversary. In the more recent installments, these films have shown a willingness to engage with their own conventions. 

In  Fallout, Henry Cavill’s August Walker repeatedly sneers at the IMF, frequently referring to them as essentially a group of grown-up men in masks. Unfortunately for him, he is ultimately tricked into revealing his villainy by the very men he has spent the entire film mocking: men in masks. 

Fallout - The Wolf Blitzer Cameo

As always with the  Mission: Impossible  franchise,  Fallout  has several explosive set pieces. Just as importantly, it also contains arguably the best cold open in the franchise. It features the appearance of the famous Wolf Blitzer, who “informs” the nation of a number of nuclear detonations. 

However, it is all a ruse, and the reveal shows it has been Benji the entire time, working to convince a terrorist to give up his phone connection to give up his associates. It’s a brilliant piece of misdirection, managing to deceive both the audience and the character.

M:I III - The Fake Julia Death

In the third Mission: Impossible film, one of the enduring narrative questions is just how successful Ethan will be in balancing his home life and his professional one, and much of the tension centers around his fiancée Julia. Unfortunately for Ethan, he has to watch her be offed by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s villainous Owen Davian.

It’s a very traumatic moment, particularly given how convincing the mask was rendered. However, the film doesn’t give the characters or the viewer enough time to sit with the enormity of this loss, as it is revealed that “Julia” was Davian’s assistant in a mask the whole time.

Rogue Nation - The Finale Mask

Unsurprisingly, the mask reveal in the finale of  Rogue Nation  is a compelling blend of excitement, intensity, and swapped identities. In this case, Ethan Hunt has been impersonating Atlee, the founder of a group known as the Syndicate. The reveal is particularly compelling since it also features Alec Baldwin’s Alan Hunley praising Hunt. It is fitting, then, for Hunt to reveal just how adept he is at adopting other people's identities, particularly when they happen to be the film's villain.

M:I III - The Vatican Switch

It takes an exceptional sort of film franchise to maintain the excitement with each subsequent film, which makes the Vatican switch in  Mission: Impossible III  so compelling. In this case, the viewer knows it is Ethan masquerading as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Davian from the beginning. It is, in fact, quite unsettling to watch how seamlessly one character blends into the other. Subsequently, Cruise and Hoffman engage in a Texas switch, a deft move that shows director JJ Abrams’ skills as a filmmaker. More than almost any other moment in the series, this mask reveal helps to expose the instability of identity.

Dead Reckoning Part One - The Imperfect Mask

Lest anyone think Ethan and his fellows get off too easily when it comes to masks,  Dead Reckoning  features a key moment in which the AI manages to damage their mask-making technology, which poses a particular problem for Hayley Atwell’s Grace, who has to impersonate Vanessa Kirby’s villainous White Widow.

It works, mostly, except the mask doesn’t actually change Grace’s eyes. In the end, of course, she gets her own unmasking moment, and it’s a particularly satisfying one, given the extent to which Ethan has almost always been the one to use masks. Now, it seems, there is someone else who is primed to be his successor and take the franchise in some new directions.

M:I - The Russian Information Extraction

This particular mask reveal is a significant one in the movie franchise's history. This is largely because it is one of the first to occur after a “Russian man” reveals himself to be Ethan, who has succeeded in procuring the information needed by the IMF. Though the image of a man peeling away his face can be a bit disturbing on a first watch, it is also rewarding to see just how quickly this tradition would catch on, both in the rest of this film and in the several sequels which followed.

Rogue Nation - The Hypothetical Benji Sequence

Though Tom Cruise is obviously the centerpiece of the  Mission: Impossible  films, Simon Pegg's supporting character Benji also deserves praise for his ongoing role in the IMF's shenanigans. Time and again, he has asked to be given a chance to wear a mask but repeatedly has been denied this opportunity. 

In  Rogue Nation,  an extended sequence seems to show Benji finally getting his wish. Unfortunately, this is merely a hypothetical scenario. It’s hard not to feel just a bit sorry for the character, especially given how many times he has asked to be given the chance to wear a mask. 

M:I-2 - The Double Switch

One of the things that  Mission: Impossible 2  does very well is taking the patterns established in the first film and moving them in some new and exciting directions. For example, take the double switch, which involves Ambrose masquerading as Ethan (for the second notable time in the film), even as Ethan himself is disguised as Dr. Nekhorvich. The mask reveals - mainly Ambrose's - are especially striking. As Ambrose watches Nekhorvich walk away, he gently massages his temples before tearing off the mask to reveal Ambrose’s seething countenance. It’s a disturbing reminder of just how dangerous he has become and how wiot stop until he has dedestroys.

Ghost Protocol - The Sandstorm

With each subsequent iteration,  Mission: Impossible  demonstrates why it continues to be one of Hollywood's most appalling and successful action franchises. This reveal in  Ghost Protocol  is one of the better ones in the franchise, as it sees Ethan pursuing someone he believes to be the character Wistrom into a sandstorm. However, when he grabs the man’s face, it is revealed to be the film’s true villain, Kurt Hendricks, who wants to start a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. It’s a chilling moment and one executed with great panache by the film’s director, Brad Bird. 

Ghost Protocol - The Kremlin Job

The reveal in Ghost Protocol is arguably one of the least impressive in the  Mission: Impossible  series. Essentially, it boils down to Ethan having to wear a prosthetic nose and mustache in order to get inside the Kremlin. 

Miraculously, the disguise seems to be particularly effective since no one notices Ethan’s true identity. In addition to the mustache and glasses, Ethan also wears a coat that turns out to be reversible. Quite a handy bit of camouflage for when he makes his way out of the Kremlin.

M:I - The Elevator Scene

This is the one that started it all. After Ethan and the rest of the IMF team infiltrate a group of powerful leaders, they later make their escape. One of the team pulls away their mask, revealing our hero’s face beneath. It is, it has to be said, a little disconcerting to see the latex pull away to reveal Tom Cruise’s face. And, of course, the whole reason he removes it is so he can blend in with the rest of the crowd, thus underlining the film’s underlying interest in the instability of identity in the uncertain world of espionage. 

M:I II - The Opening Scene

From the beginning of  Mission: Impossible II,  director John Woo shows he has a sharp grasp of what makes this franchise so enduringly popular. His sequel is filled with propulsive energy and operatic setpieces, and it all starts with the cold open, which sees Ethan procuring the cure for a deadly virus and then hijacking a plane. 

Of course, it isn’t Ethan at all, but instead Sean Ambrose, the film’s cunning and ruthless villain. What really sets this mask reveal apart, however, is the inclusion of the voice modulator element, which helps Ambrose in his act of impersonation. As is so often the case with  Mission: Impossible,  appearances - and sounds - are not always what they seem.

Dead Reckoning Part One- The Intelligence Meeting

Dead Reckoning,  like the other entries of the franchise, manages to engage with the pressing issues of the present, most notably the dire threat posed by A.I. In one of the film’s important early scenes, a mysterious figure gases a group of US Intelligence leaders, only to reveal himself as none other than Ethan Hunt.

On the one hand, the mask reveal is a sign of the film’s commitment to the franchise’s general aesthetic. On the other hand, it also establishes a compelling correlation between Ethan’s chameleon-like abilities and those of the A.I. system which has gone rogue and which acts as the major antagonist for the film.

M:I - The Langley Heist

As important as the mask reveals are to the aesthetics and ethos of the Mission Impossible franchise, not every one of them actually happens on-screen. For example, in the Langley Heist from Mission: Impossible , Ethan had to sneak into the headquarters of nothing less than the CIA. How did he do it? By wearing a mask which helped to disguise him as a firefighter, of course. Unfortunately for the viewer, however, they don’t get to see him take it off, as this particular reveal takes place off-screen.

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Somehow, the Mission: Impossible Movies Always Get Us With This Trick

Nothing (or no one) is ever what it seems in these movies!

Great anticipation is in the air for the upcoming release of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One . The series, a consistent favorite among the film community and general audiences alike, has featured thematic and stylistic mainstays across various directorial visions. These include self-destructing messages, heart-stopping stunts orchestrated by franchise lead Tom Cruise , international espionage, and a race against the clock to prevent a global cataclysm by enemy combatants. One series staple, the masks used by the characters to impersonate others, should have theoretically run its course, as the trick dates back to the original television series that the films are based upon. No matter how cognizant the audience is of its existence, the masks consistently deceit us like the characters on screen.

RELATED: ‘Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One Review’: Tom Cruise Soars, But the Women Fly Higher

The First 'Mission: Impossible' Movie Uses the Masks Perfectly

A glorified version of the reveal of a culprit in Scooby-Doo, the Mission: Impossible masks, high-tech full face coverings designed to be indistinguishable from human flesh, are a frequent gadget of choice for Ethan Hunt and his team at IMF . They come in handy when they are required to extract information from the enemy, as the masks allow agents to take on the likeness, including the voice, of one of their allies. The blend of visual and practical effects that create the act of pulling off the mask is unmistakable. It is integral to the iconography of the franchise.

While later installments reached more ambitious heights in terms of scope as a continuous action set piece, the 1996 film that kicked off the franchise employed the use of masks most efficiently. Brian De Palma , director of Mission: Impossible , was indebted to the film's roots in television as a spy thriller — centering the story around espionage, deception, and psychological warfare rather than spectacle. Because of this, the masks work at their most primitive, but at the same time, the most cinematic. The film's cold open, disconnected from the main plot but shows Hunt using a mask to interact with a witness, and the exposing of Claire Phelps ( Emmanuelle Beart ) as a rogue operative working against IMF when Hunt poses as her husband, IMF director Jim Phelps ( Jon Voight ), perfectly calibrates the purpose of the device. De Palma, whose experience directing psycho-sexual thrillers cemented his understanding of the text, identified the exact instances when the trick is to be utilized.

In the modern era of Mission: Impossible under the guise of Christopher McQuarrie as writer-director, Hunt, the IMF team, and series villains pull off an artificial face less frequently. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and this applies to the deployment of the masks, which was starting to run its course after the less beloved Mission: Impossible 2 and III . When the masks are dusted off in Ghost Protocol , Rogue Nation , and Fallout , there is a sense of triumph. Viewers are honored to be tricked by the effect. Somehow, 27 years since the release of the first film, IMF's state-of-the-art masks still leave us bamboozled.

How Do We Keep Getting Tricked by the Mission: Impossible Masks?

To rationalize how audiences can still be fooled by a ploy to extract information or expose a double agent, recognizing the ingenuity of the effect is paramount. Tom Cruise and the filmmaking team of M:I are dedicated to endorsing the power of practical movie magic and the laborious production behind it all. In the films, the creation process of the masks is showcased and frrom the start, the masks are integrated into this universe as seamlessly as the use of them in a mission.

If De Palma left the franchise anything behind, it is that the timing of the mask reveal is crucial. Ethan Hunt or any of his mission partners ripping off an artificial face is beholden to the intensity and danger of the surrounding circumstance. A respective storyline in these films, which is routinely convoluted and murky in its specific details, is at the very least weighty. The M:I franchise is not afraid of sincerity and selling the magnitude of the missions that are accepted. Because of this, the intensity of the plotlines is driven by tonality. Once the film lulls viewers into the stakes that involve the fate of the Western world, suddenly, an antagonist's face is ripped off, and we see the glorious and heroic face of Tom Cruise — energizing the eager Mission: Impossible audience with the same vitality as one of the series' famous stunts.

The Masks Represent Each 'Mission: Impossible' Director's Style

The spontaneity of the mask trick is essential to the device's ability to consistently trick audiences on every occasion. It can occur anywhere in the story, but concurrently, each director, whether it be De Palma, John Woo , J.J. Abrams , Brad Bird , or McQuarrie, intelligently picks their spots. De Palma employs the mask reveal in moments of bubbling, internal intensity, and noir-like angst, while Woo exhibits the effect amid his frantic foot chases and gun shoot-outs accompanied by his recurring use of flying doves. Bird, keeping up with Ghost Protocol 's broad screwball sensibility, integrates the masks with the film's humor, as seen when Ethan Hunt swiftly undresses from his disguise as a Russian general when exiting the Kremlin.

The swiftly-paced, pop-like formalism of McQuarrie's films utilizes the device in some of the most ingenious manners, such as showing a failed demonstration of the mask in Rogue Nation . The pinnacle of the trick, at least until the release of Dead Reckoning , is awarded to Benji ( Simon Pegg ) posing as CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer to extract nuclear weapon codes from a terrorist in Fallout . In this instance, just when viewers thought that the film would slow down for a breather, McQuarrie, staying true to his recipe for the franchise, keeps the visceral momentum at full throttle with a show-stopping mask reveal.

Like many attributes of the Mission: Impossible franchise, the masks should have gotten stale three movies ago. Most franchises that resort to a reliable trick would begin to insult the audience's intelligence, but Tom Cruise and the extraordinary creative and technical team are dedicated to making their product bigger, grander, and more ambitious with each outing on the big screen. Because of the continued urge to elevate the danger and spectacle of stunts, the masks make fewer appearances, but this only adds prominence to the trick. Most importantly, the masks are a reminder of Mission: Impossible 's roots in mystery and spy stories. In a mainstream cinema landscape that is mainly composed of interchangeable CGI-dominant action fare, this series is one of a kind because it cares about classical storytelling sensibilities, and is refreshingly indebted to previous texts.

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Vanilla Sky

A self-indulgent and vain publishing magnate finds his privileged life upended after a vehicular accident with a resentful lover. A self-indulgent and vain publishing magnate finds his privileged life upended after a vehicular accident with a resentful lover. A self-indulgent and vain publishing magnate finds his privileged life upended after a vehicular accident with a resentful lover.

• Cameron Crowe
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• 1.3K User reviews
• 158 Critic reviews
• 45 Metascore
• 5 wins & 34 nominations total

• David Aames

• Sofia Serrano

• Julie Gianni

• Brian Shelby

• Edmund Ventura

• Thomas Tipp

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• Trivia The scene with Tom Cruise alone in Times Square is not computer enhanced. The production was given unprecedented permission to shut down Times Square for one Sunday. At the time, the news ticker was providing updates on the George W. Bush - Al Gore election. To avoid dating the film, Crowe got permission to change the NASDAQ sign in post-production.
• Goofs When David and Brian are in the car in the beginning you can clearly see that they are about one or two feet higher compared to the other cars, even though they are in the relatively low Mustang, revealing that the car is probably on a trailer rather than on the road.

Sofía : Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.

• Crazy credits There are no opening credits for the film.
• Alternate versions The 2015 Blu-Ray release includes an alternate ending version with a vastly expanded ending. While the events lead to the same conclusion, there are alternate takes and additional scenes (including the scene of David shooting the police officer).
• Connections Edited into Scrubs: My Friend the Doctor (2003)
• Soundtracks Everything In Its Right Place Written by Thom Yorke (as Thomas Yorke), Ed O'Brien (as Edward O'Brien), Colin Greenwood , Jonny Greenwood (as Jonathan Greenwood) and Phil Selway (as Philip Selway) Performed by Radiohead Courtesy of Capitol Records under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

User reviews 1.3K

• monk_venkman
• Mar 24, 2004
• How long is Vanilla Sky? Powered by Alexa
• December 14, 2001 (United States)
• United States
• Khung Trời Ảo Mộng
• Bar Building - 44th Street between 5th & 6th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
• Paramount Pictures
• Cruise/Wagner Productions
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• $68,000,000 (estimated)
• $100,618,344
• $25,015,518
• Dec 16, 2001
• $203,388,341

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• Runtime 2 hours 16 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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The Mission Behind the Mask

Stunts get all the glory in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise—especially when they’re done by Tom Cruise. But the disguises in the movies play just as valuable a role.

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Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that Tom Cruise is mortal. I’ll admit I don’t have much evidence to support this assumption. Cruise has never died (good!); has aged only minimally during his 40-plus-year film career (weird, but nice for him, I guess); has never exploded or shattered every single bone in his body despite stuffing his beloved Mission: Impossible films with stunts that seemed tailor-made to explode him and/or shatter all his bones (fuckin’ rad, frankly); and has not even suffered the metaphoric “death” of true cancelation despite repeatedly sabotaging his own public image with ill-timed couch leaps and so forth. It’s possible that Tom Cruise cannot be killed. I freely concede this.

However, there was also the one time he played an immortal vampire and frankly kind of sucked at it (not in the vampire way). So let us assume that Cruise, like all of us, only probably not me, will someday die. Given that prospect, it’s no great surprise that the run-up to this week’s release of Mission: Impossible–Dead Reckoning Part One has been dominated by talk of The Stunts. The Stunts dominate most of the conversation around every M:I movie. Cruise famously does all his stunts himself, and any time you take the World’s Last True Movie Star™, strap him to a high-velocity wind sock, and hurl his frail, perishable body around a range of knifelike mountain peaks , people will inevitably pay attention.

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M:I is about stunts. I get that. But you know what other aspect of M:I rules extremely hard and does not get nearly enough attention? The masks. The masks, bro. I’m talking about the masks. Let’s take a moment to celebrate the masks of Mission: Impossible , simultaneously the greatest and laziest special effect in the history of motion pictures. They’re the perfect complement to the stunt sequences, and quite possibly the key to the fizzy joy underlying this whole absurd, delightful franchise.

The premise of the masks in Mission: Impossible is as follows. The technology of disguise has advanced so far, via secret government laboratories or whatever, that with access to the right tools (generally a silver briefcase that sends out a little puff of smoke when you open it) any person can become any other person at any time. This means—critically—that any character in the movie can be played by any actor at any time. Cruise, for instance, mostly portrays Ethan Hunt, the secret agent who pulls off missions: impossible for a living. But say there’s an evil arms dealer played by Philip Seymour Hoffman (shout-out Owen Davian in M:I III , the best villain in the series). You can never be absolutely sure the Hoffman on-screen isn’t Ethan Hunt in disguise. There’s always a chance that everything you hear the evil arms dealer say is actually something Ethan Hunt is saying, as part of his master plan.

That’s how good the masks are. They enable one-to-one identity swaps, not through any CGI wizardry or elaborate prosthetics, but by literally enabling the filmmakers to point at Simon Pegg and go, “Yo, you’re this other dude now.”

I mean, what sort of frozen-hearted plot-twist-allergic Grinch could possibly object to this??

From a filmmaking standpoint, the genius of the mask contrivance is obvious. Pretend you’re the director. You get to deploy, at will, a special effect that is always 100 percent convincing, because nothing could possibly look more like Jon Voight’s face in a movie than Jon Voight’s face in the same movie . And what’s even better: This flawless, infinitely repeatable magic trick doesn’t cost any money or add any time to your production calendar. “You’re this other dude now” is the entire effect . All you have to budget for is the tiny bit of fast-drying goo that sometimes seems to be left on a mask-wearer’s face after the mask is peeled off. How much does fast-drying goo cost?

This is Hollywood, my friends. Goo, like dreams, comes cheap.

From the audience’s standpoint, the mask gimmick is even better, because it liberates the M:I films to toy with our usual understanding of how an action movie works. In many ways, the M:I films are like action movies in reverse. In a normal action movie, you know there’s a lot of trickery. You know you’re watching a sustained attempt to fool your senses, and you know the filmmakers’ powers of illusion are mostly concentrated on the special-effects-heavy action scenes. What you’re watching in the action scenes isn’t really happening—Harrison Ford is not actually about to be crushed by a giant boulder, Robert Downey Jr. is not truly whizzing around in the sky over New York—and all the fun of the movie lies in the stuff it does to persuade you that it is . So the non-action scenes are mostly about enabling your suspension of disbelief. The story’s job—not its only job, but one of the big ones—is to coax you into accepting this strange universe of violent cartoon physics by giving you a stable simulated reality to ground yourself in. Characters do not arbitrarily change identities; if someone is introduced in Act I as the director of the CIA, that person will almost always still be the director of the CIA in Act III. A typical action movie doesn’t want you to doubt your own eyes. In fact, that’s the last thing it wants.

In the M:I movies, though? This state of affairs is flipped gleefully on its head. In Mission: Impossible , the action scenes are real, or at least as real as action scenes get, and everyone knows it. That’s the franchise’s whole promise: that when you see Tom Cruise dangling from the door of a helicopter, that’s actually Tom Cruise—the quite possibly mortal Tom Cruise!—whipping in the breeze over the North Atlantic. When John Woo directed 1997’s classic action farce-opera Face/Off , he famously left the faces of the stunt doubles visible in parts of the climactic boat chase, because he valued verisimilitude over illusion. This is not a choice you have to worry about when you’re directing a Tom Cruise flick. All you have to worry about is not crashing Tom Cruise into the side of a glacier. (In addition to Face/Off , Woo directed 2000’s underrated Mission: Impossible II , making him inarguably the patron saint of “you’re this other dude now” filmmaking.)

And because Mission: Impossible ’s action scenes are—bizarrely, uniquely—trustworthy, the non -action scenes are free to mess with our heads. They’re free to keep us guessing about what’s “real” and what isn’t. Suspension of disbelief is the only game in town for most tentpole blockbusters, but Mission: Impossible practically begs for your disbelief. The meaning of any scene can always be reversed, because thanks to the masks, anyone in the scene can always be revealed to be someone else. Surprise, suckers!

And this, in turn, is what makes the experience of watching the M:I movies so distinct from that of watching other action films. M:I movies win your trust, then betray it, then win it back, then betray it again. They win your trust in the types of scenes in which normal action movies risk losing it, and then they deliberately betray your trust in the types of scenes in which normal action movies work hard to win it. And these acts of deliberate betrayal only make audiences love the films more, because that feeling of being kept a little off-balance, a little teased and playfully uncertain, turns out to be a whole lot of fun.

I haven’t seen Dead Reckoning Part One yet. All I know about it is that it contains Tom Cruise’s most dangerous stunt to date (using both a colon and an en dash in the title of the same movie). But it’s telling that, as much as I’m looking forward to watching the action scenes, what I’m really excited about is having the rug yanked out from under me at least twice by mask shenanigans. Jumping a motorcycle off the hour hand of Big Ben while exchanging machine-gun fire with terrorists? That’s all well and good. But a plot twist is still the best adrenaline rush of all.

In This Stream

Everything you need to know about ‘mission: impossible–dead reckoning part one’.

• What ‘Mission: Impossible–Dead Reckoning Part One’ Says About the State of Action Movies
• ‘Mission: Impossible’ Is Only As Good As Its Masks and Disguises

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Tom Cruise Apparently Turned Down The Lead Role In The Mask Of Zorro

The film gods are a fickle bunch. If the flip of the coin had landed on a different outcome at various points in Hollywood history, the entire landscape of cinema as we know it could be completely changed. In fact, movie star Tom Cruise is something of a cottage industry to himself when it comes to major roles that he could've signed on for, but ended up little more than fascinating notes of trivia — in our universe, at least. There's the infamous "Iron Man" scenario that could've seen him suit up as Tony Stark instead of Robert Downey, Jr., of course, along with the near-miss of starring in the classic "Shawshank Redemption."  But there's one other little-known factoid that completes this little trilogy of alternate-history Cruise projects: one where he could've been cast as the lead of "The Mask of Zorro," incredibly enough.

Martin Campbell's beloved '90s action film celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, with /Film marking the occasion by unveiling an entire oral history carefully curated by Ben Pearson . The film as we now know it has Campbell in the director's chair, flanked by his chemistry-laden leads Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But having this trio of talent involved wasn't always the case. At one point in the film's lengthy development cycle (1993, to be exact), Danish cinematographer Mikael Salomon was courted and actually hired to direct "The Mask of Zorro." During that time, filmmaking legend Steven Spielberg was involved as producer and apparently reached out to one major movie star — none other than Tom freaking Cruise — for the lead role of Zorro.

Obviously, this didn't happen, as Cruise turned down the offer. But we can add this to the list of unbelievable what-ifs that could've potentially come to pass. Here's how.

Cruise as Zorro? Probably not a good idea

It should go without saying that what felt like a no-brainer in the early 1990s probably doesn't read quite the same way today ... if it ever even did at the time, that is. Looking back, "The Mask of Zorro" already has a major question mark with the casting of Catherine Zeta-Jones, a Welsh actor, as the Latino character of Eléna Montero. Now imagine compounding the problem by announcing Tom Cruise, of all people, as the unmistakably Mexican masked hero Alejandro Murrieta. This strange-but-true story was once a very real possibility, if not for Cruise exercising quite a bit of careful consideration, thankfully enough.

Mikael Salomon spoke to /Film's Ben Pearson and included this little nugget for the oral history, explaining how Steven Spielberg attempted to get his future "War of the Worlds" collaborator Cruise on board. Both Viggo Mortenson and Sean Connery were looked at for various roles. But even those big names can't compare to the likes of Cruise. According to Salomon:

"Who else was [in the mix]? Some big — oh yeah, Tom Cruise. Early on, [Spielberg] wanted to offer it to him. Have you heard that? He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise. And my friend and countryman Bille August had done 'The House of the Spirits' with all non-Latinos, and he got in so much hot water because of that, and they picketed the movie in South America. And I said to Steven, 'You know, that's probably not a good idea, just for that reason.'"

Salomon's instincts would eventually be validated, but not until Spielberg went ahead with his offer and reached out directly to Cruise. The call that Salomon would soon receive is one he still remembers to this day.

A call from Cruise

Not just anyone in Hollywood can afford to either accept or decline significant roles with nothing more than a single phone call. Tom Cruise is not just anyone. Mikael Salomon goes on to recall what must've felt like an otherworldly experience when Cruise got in contact with him to discuss the role for "The Mask of Zorro." By all accounts, it was a very short conversation. As Salomon tells it:

"One day I was doing a commercial and my assistant said, 'Mikael, there's Tom Cruise on the phone for you.' 'Tom Cruise? Okay.' I had worked with him on 'Far and Away.' I was the [director of photography] on 'Far and Away.' So he called me up and said, 'Thanks for the offer, but I think it's not a great idea for me to do this movie because, as you know...' I said, 'Tom, you're a very smart guy. Absolutely, you're absolutely right.'"

How sensible! As much as casting Cruise is the go-to move to turn any hypothetical production into a reality (from a business perspective, at least), it turns out that Cruise was well aware of the optics of such a casting and wisely walked away. That paved the way for Antonio Banderas to get the call (though it's worth noting the Spanish actor isn't quite the right fit, either), but Salomon had another name in mind. "The guy I wanted [...] Andy Garcia was the one who, I was talking to him, we had great meetings, but then it all petered out."

The rest is history, as the dream team of director Robert Rodriguez and Banderas eventually gave way to Martin Campbell and Banderas. But, as Salomon's experience reminds us, film history isn't written in stone. Happy 25th, "The Mask of Zorro."

Tom Cruise Almost Starred in 1998's The Mask of Zorro, Original Director Says

Tom Cruise was reportedly drafted and dropped as the front-running lead for the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro.

Cinematographer Mikael Salomon says he was at one point hired to direct The Mask of Zorro and had considered having Tom Cruise cast as that film's main protagonist.

In a /Film interview, Salomon reveals that 1998's The Mask of Zorro had several A-list actors considered for the lead role before Antonio Banderas took the part. This insider news was well overdue but revealed in time for the film's 25th anniversary, which marks The Mask of Zorro 's theatrical release but doesn't account for its lengthy development and production history. Salomon said he was briefly hired in 1993 to direct the film and discovered that Steven Spielberg wanted Tom Cruise as Zorro , which almost happened if the actor didn't decline the offer.

Antonio Banderas Would Do Zorro 3 to Pass the Mask to Someone New

"Who else was [in the mix]? Some big — oh yeah, Tom Cruise," Salomon remarked, almost as an afterthought. "Early on, [Spielberg] wanted to offer it to him. Have you heard that? He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise. And my friend and countryman Bille August had done The House of the Spirits with all non-Latinos, and he got in so much hot water because of that, and they picketed the movie in South America. And I said to Steven, 'You know, that's probably not a good idea, just for that reason.'" Salomon also recounted a brief phone call with Cruise, who thanked him for the offer but considered it mismatched casting.

Cruise's Impressive '90s Film Credits

Cruise was on a career-high in the 1990s, headlining critically acclaimed films like Far and Away , A Few Good Men , The Firm , Jerry Maguire , Eyes Wide Shut , and Magnolia . He also first portrayed Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible in 1996. At one point, Cruise almost nabbed the role of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption instead of Tim Robbins. As for the offer to play Zorro in the 1998 film, Cruise told Salomon it was "not a great idea for me to do this movie because, as you know…" hinting he was not the best actor to play Alejandro Murrieta, the film's main protagonist. Salomon revealed that Viggo Mortensen and Sean Connery were also considered for various roles, and that he wanted Andy Garcia to play the lead.

10 Best Tom Cruise Movies (That Aren’t Mission: Impossible Films)

This isn't the first time Tom Cruise's name was linked to highly coveted movie parts. The actor almost took the major roles in 1990's Ghost and Edward Scissorhands , 1997's Donnie Brasco , and 2001's A Beautiful Mind . More recently, Cruise was heavily rumored to appear as Superior Iron Man in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , but the actor turned down the part saying he couldn't imagine anyone other than Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.

Tom Cruise will reprise his role as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two , which is slated for a 2025 release date.

Source: /Film

The Mask of Zorro

A young thief seeking revenge for his brother's death is trained by the once-great, aging Zorro, who is pursuing his own vengeance.

Screen Rant

“tom, you’re a very smart guy”: tom cruise saved hit ‘90s movie from a potential casting disaster.

Former The Mask of Zorro collaborator explains how actor Tom Cruise saved the classic 1998 movie from an almost disastrous casting choice.

• Tom Cruise declined the role in The Mask of Zorro because he felt it would be inappropriate for a non-Latino actor to play the character.
• The film still faced criticism for casting Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who are both White, as Hispanic characters.
• The incident highlights the ongoing problem of whitewashing in Hollywood and the need for more diversity and accurate casting in films.

A former collaborator explains the unexpected story of how actor Tom Cruise saved The Mask of Zorro from a potential casting disaster. The 1998 action movie tells the story of a thief who, in seeking revenge for his brother’s death, is trained by a man named Zorro, who is simultaneously pursuing his own vengeance. It was directed by Martin Campbell and starred Antonio Banderas as the eponymous Zorro , alongside a supporting cast of Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and José María de Tavira.

Years after The Mask of Zorro hit theaters, cinematographer Mikael Salomon — who was once set to direct The Mask of Zorro before eventually exiting the project — explains how Tom Cruise saved the film. Speaking with Slashfilm , Steven Spielberg wanted Cruise to star in the role at one point. Cruise declined the role because he is not Latino , like the character of Zorro, believing that him playing the role “ was not a great idea .” Check out the full quote from Salomon below:

"Who else was [in the mix]? Some big — oh yeah, Tom Cruise. Early on, [Spielberg] wanted to offer it to him. Have you heard that? He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise. And my friend and countryman Bille August had done The House of the Spirits with all non-Latinos, and he got in so much hot water because of that, and they picketed the movie in South America. And I said to Steven, 'You know, that's probably not a good idea, just for that reason.'" "One day I was doing a commercial and my assistant said, 'Mikael, there's Tom Cruise on the phone for you.' 'Tom Cruise? Okay.' I had worked with him on 'Far and Away.' I was the [director of photography] on 'Far and Away.' So he called me up and said, 'Thanks for the offer, but I think it's not a great idea for me to do this movie because, as you know...' I said, 'Tom, you're a very smart guy. Absolutely, you're absolutely right.'"

How Does Tom Cruise's Near Casting In Mask Of Zorro Reflect A Whitewashing Problem In Hollywood?

While Cruise and The Mask of Zorro team ended up having the good sense not to cast a White actor in the role of Zorro, the swashbuckler project was not without its casting flaws. Zeta-Jones and Hopkins, both White, played Hispanic characters in the film . Given the film's awareness of the then-recent The House of the Spirits controversy and that Cruise turned down a role on that basis, it is somewhat surprising that The Mask of Zorro still has those glaring casting issues.

Why Hollywood Hasn't Made A Real Zorro Movie In 80 Years

Whitewashing leading cast members is a problem that has persisted throughout the 21st century in film. Audiences have seen this with Scarlett Johansson’s casting in a traditionally Japanese role in 2017’s Ghost in the Shell and Emma Stone’s casting as a part-Asian Hawaiian character in Aloha . In 1998, the awareness of whitewashing was much less a mainstay of casting conversation, making Cruise’s refusal to take the role notable.

Luckily, the 2020s have brought more awareness concerning the importance of diversity and accurately casting roles to the identities they are meant for. Still, the majority of leading characters in blockbuster films are White, and very few are played by Hispanic or Latino actors. As Hispanic and Latino actors continue an ongoing battle for film roles, it is important to keep casting lessons from films like The Mask of Zorro in mind.

Source: Slashfilm