Each movie in the Mission: Impossible franchise has pushed the already huge set pieces further and further in the name of bigger and bigger and explosions and thrills, but it may be that the next instalment, Mission: Impossible 7 has taken things too far. According to reports, production on the seventh movie has caused some controversy, with plans to blow up a real bridge in Poland being met with pushback from residents.
As Mission: Impossible 7 prepares to resume principal photography in London, with the movie set to film in Poland next April, the plan for one particular set piece is to lay waste to a real bridge that was originally built in 1909 in the Polish village of Pilchowice. Part of the bridge was to be blown up as part of an action sequence in the movie, with Deputy Culture Minister Pawel Lewandowski agreeing to the explosive idea due to the bridge having been decommissioned from public use in 2016 because of steady deterioration.
“I would not be fixated on the fact that the Pilchowicki Bridge is a monument. It stands in ruins and has no value. Not all old things are monuments. The law clearly states that a monument is only that which has social, artistic or scientific value. In art and culture, that value only emerges when there is a relation between the cultural object and people. So, if an object is unused, unavailable, it has no such value. Therefore, it is not a monument. And only a small part of it will be destroyed during filming.” Lewandowski explained in a written statement to the Wirtualna Polska, an association of Polish businesses.
The decision has led to local protests, with hopes that the bridge could be protected and preserved as a historical monument. However, Lewandowski expressed his belief that, following the stunt, the government’s revitalization funds and potential backing from the Mission: Impossible production will be used to rebuild and restore the bridge.
The often death-defying action stunts have become a staple of the Mission: Impossible franchise, with headline star Tom Cruise well-renowned for his dedication to pushing the self-destructing envelope. What exactly the production has in store for the bridge remains to be seen, but no doubt it will involve Cruise, and possibly some of his co-stars, risking their lives for our entertainment. Unless the locals get their way, of course.
The last entry in the long-running action series, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, was written, produced, and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and directly followed Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, who we just saw training with a sniper rifle, Sean Harris, Michelle Monaghan, and Alec Baldwin, all of whom reprise their roles from the previous movies, along with Henry Cavill, Vanessa Kirby, and Angela Bassett, who join the franchise.
Two untitled sequels, one of them being Mission: Impossible 7, are both scheduled to be released in November 2021 and 2022, respectively, with both movies set to be helmed by McQuarrie. Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 are expected to be the final parts of Ethan Hunt’s story, with McQuarrie teasing ties to the original movie that started it all. So, expect things to get bigger and bigger and louder and louder until they finally explode and implode simultaneously. This comes to us from The First News.
