Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 3 VFX Artist Decodes One Of The Most Iconic Action Sequences, Recalls The Hardships Of Filming It: “This Was A Really Tricky Shot To Put Together”

Tom Cruise-led Mission Impossible franchise is one of the most popular film series in the action genre, with the latest release being its 7th instalment that came out last month. The film did not fare as expected due to the release of Oppenheimer and Barbie, but the VFX artist Todd Vaziri of Mission Impossible 3 has shared some interesting tidbits from the film in a recent interview. Keep scrolling to get the deets.

The threequel in the franchise came out in 2006, which, like the other films in the series, was packed with adrenaline-rushing action and the confrontation scene about locating the infamous Rabbit’s Foot. That particular sequence involved some great action and the unforgettable freeway explosion scene where Tom’s Ethan Hunt is thrown into an automobile.

Mission Impossible 3 VFX artist Todd Vaziri of Industrial Light & Magix, while speaking on Corridor’s Crew, decoded that iconic Tom Cruise sequence and explained how difficult it was to do. Todd recalled, “It was very difficult to put all the stuff together and make it a cohesive camera move… So they built a stereo camera rig with overlap so that we can basically have two motion picture cameras going at the same time. So I would have two pieces of negative to work with, which is wonderful; it’s great for fidelity. These also have to get now seamed together, and if you look carefully, Tom goes across the seam, and the explosion goes across the seam.”