Christopher McQuarrie Teases Intense New Secret Tom Cruise Project

Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise have quickly become the Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro of the action genre since teaming up as a directing and acting duo for 2012's "Jack Reacher." The two can't seem to get enough of working together, and they rarely miss. Since "Jack Reacher," they have collaborated on a whopping seven films, with McQuarrie jumping from writing to producing to directing positions on various projects. That number does not include the upcoming "Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning — Part One," "Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning — Part Two," the untitled movie that will reportedly be launching Cruise into space, or 2008's "Valkyrie." 

According to McQuarrie, he and Cruise have yet another collaboration gestating that they plan on tackling after their next "Mission: Impossible" movies, and it sounds like it'll be something completely different for the duo. For those who are keeping score, "Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning — Part Two" isn't scheduled to hit theaters until June 28, 2024, meaning this partnership is showing absolutely zero signs of slowing down. McQuarrie, who won an Oscar scripting "The Usual Suspects" before teaming up with Cruise, teased the project while on the "Mission: Impossible"-themed podcast "Light the Fuse," and though details were scant, fans of the two will definitely be excited for what the director is hinting at.

The next project between Christopher McQuarrie and the death-defying Tom Cruise will show a side of the A-list star fans may not be used to seeing. "It's way outside of what you're used to seeing Tom do. It's the kind of stuff I really love. It's a little bit more in my wheelhouse. And yet it takes everything we've learned on this journey, which is making movies more and more about emotion and real emotional experiences. That's what you're feeling when you're watching 'Top Gun' – it's me and Tom squeezing your adrenals for every emotion. Now we're applying that to something that is gnarlier," the director said on "Light the Fuse," as quoted by The Wrap. 

He added that the project will still echo the past work of both Cruise and McQuarrie, the latter of whom wrote and directed only one film, "The Way of the Gun," before tackling "Jack Reacher" and then multiple "Mission: Impossible" installments. This unnamed project is being co-scripted by Erik Jendresen, who is currently at work on the "Mission: Impossible" sequels. 

McQuarrie and Cruise's partnership goes all the way back to 2007 with "Valkyrie." Though neither likely predicted what would come, McQuarrie said working in the editing room was what sold him on Cruise as a creative partner. 

"I could see already his understanding of how to put elements together to create an effect on an audience. I said, 'You have to think about making movies that audiences want to see,'" he told Empire in 2019.