• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Brad Bird all but confirmed as "Mission: Impossible IV" director

JacksonArcher

JacksonArcher

Vice Admiral
Admiral
Brad Bird will be making his transition from animation to live-action with the fourth installment of the Mission: Impossible movie franchise, starring Tom Cruise. Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams will produce, and Tom Cruise will once again star.

While not confirmed, Total Film basically says that Bird is in final negotiations and all that's to be decided is the salary, which apparently will be far greater than what Bird is accustomed to working on his animated projects.

Quite frankly, I'm pumped over this. If anyone can direct the fourth installment in this franchise and give it some gusto, that man is Bird. Plus, Bird has worked with Mission: Impossible III composer Michael Giacchino before (on The Incredibles) so this could also mean Giacchino (who delivered a fantastic score for the third installment) might also return.
 
Is Brad Bird going to have a hand in writing the script? I think he'll be an interesting director, but to me his strength has always been giving an emotional weight and soul to his projects through careful writing and characterization.

If he is allowed to write MI:IV I'll be much more excited than if he is only directing it.
 
Caliburn24 said:
Is Brad Bird going to have a hand in writing the script? I think he'll be an interesting director, but to me his strength has always been giving an emotional weight and soul to his projects through careful writing and characterization.

If he is allowed to write MI:IV I'll be much more excited than if he is only directing it.
Click to expand...

I believe the script is finished, or at least is already well underway. Signing Bird as director might give him an opportunity to make suggestions or tweaks but I don't think they'd let him throw the script out and start over again.
 
Not interested. If Brad Bird was involved in making the next Superman movie...that would make more sense...this is just a waist. No offense to those who like these movies.
 
^ It is a good one of her indeed. I think Bird will be a great director and as far as I know the script has already been finished...a couple of months or so ago I think unless they've been doing rewrites on it. I enjoyed MI:III...and will be checking this out too.
 
Very cool, excited to see him make the transition into live film. Although, I think it';s going to be much tougher for him to control actual actors, especially Tom Cruise, as opposed to things that are animated to do whatever he wants them to do.
 
Brad Bird (if that is his real name) isn't what is going to make this 4th installment of the stellar Mission Impossible franchise fantastic. Tom Cruise and his sheer and undeniable acting chops are what will make this movie fantastic. The guy has an embarrassing amount of talent, and really was born to play the Ethan Hunt role. He took a stale, dirty old franchise and turned it in to a roller coaster ride of awesomeness.

Looking forward to it!
 
Last edited:
I'm curious more about the story that MI:IV will take. Will it try to reinvent itself ala Bourne like the Bond series did or stay in line with the other 3 films in the series. Themselves more like Bond anyway as I recall.

I'm indifferent on Bird at this point. I remember that Michael Keaton couldn't possibly be Batman and John Favreau was going to embarass himself directing Iron Man.
Just cause he(Bird) hasn't doesn't mean he can't.
 
^ The M:I movies seem to reinvent themselves with each movie since each one had a different director (who was allowed to do his own thing) and music composer.
 
^ Yeah, the only constants have been Cruise & Ving Rhames. Well, I suppose you could count the MI theme but even that has radically differed from movie to movie.

With Abrams remaining on, even in a production capacity, this is the nearest we've got to inter-movie continuity. Wonder if the lovely Michelle Monaghan will be back as Mrs Hunt.
 
Warp Coil said:
Caliburn24 said:
Is Brad Bird going to have a hand in writing the script? I think he'll be an interesting director, but to me his strength has always been giving an emotional weight and soul to his projects through careful writing and characterization.

If he is allowed to write MI:IV I'll be much more excited than if he is only directing it.
Click to expand...

I believe the script is finished, or at least is already well underway. Signing Bird as director might give him an opportunity to make suggestions or tweaks but I don't think they'd let him throw the script out and start over again.
Click to expand...

In motion pictures, the director is the lead creative force. Scriptwriters are usually perceived merely as hired contractors whose job is to tell the stories the director and producers want to tell. Even if the script is already written when the director comes in, it's just considered a guideline that the director is free to modify as he goes to fit his vision, whether by rewriting it before production, engaging in on-set improvisation during shooting, or altering its content in post-production through editing and dialogue replacement. (Or her vision, of course, but the antecedent here is Brad Bird so I'm going with the male pronoun.)

And if he wants to toss out and replace the script, I don't see why "they" wouldn't "let" him. Hollywood moviemakers have little loyalty to scripts. They don't hesitate to toss out scripts, patch fragments of multiple scripts together, even commission competing scripts for a single film and mix and match their favorite parts of each. They see scripts merely as raw material, to be casually disposed of or replaced. Which is why the writing in most movies is so much less coherent than in television, which is a writers' medium.


Hot Footy said:
Brad Bird (if that is his real name)
Click to expand...

His full name is Phillip Bradley Bird.


Captaindemotion said:
With Abrams remaining on, even in a production capacity, this is the nearest we've got to inter-movie continuity. Wonder if the lovely Michelle Monaghan will be back as Mrs Hunt.
Click to expand...

I hope so. Hunt's relationship with her humanized him in a way the first two films didn't, and she turned out to be the ultimate hero of the film herself in a delightful subversion of expectations and gender roles.

I also hope they bring back Maggie Q. And that red dress.
 
I just looked up Brad Bird on IMDB, and I'm not familiar with any of his work.

Last week I went back and rewatched all three MI movies and still found them to be enjoyable films. It is a very interesting series, because each movie has a different director and style.

MI1: This movie is a good solid spy thriller with a complex plot. It has some good action set pieces, but doesn't rely on them to carry the film. The scene where Hunt descends from the ceiling is classic. Grade: B

MI2: This movie is stylishly directed, but has little substance. I didn't feel much emotional connection to the characters. I consider this to be the weakest film in the series, but still a decent action movie. Grade: C

MI3: This movie is my favorite in the series. I think it strikes a nice balance between the action-oriented second film and the more intelligent first film. This movie did a good job making me care about Ethan and his wife. Ethan seemed more real and fleshed out in this movie. Grade: A
 
I would imagine directing live action and animation is about as different as any two completely different professions.
 
WeAreTheBorg said:
I would imagine directing live action and animation is about as different as any two completely different professions.
Click to expand...

A number of live-action directors started out in animation, though -- Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam being the examples that spring most readily to mind. Also Frank Tashlin, who directed numerous Warner Bros. cartoons before moving on to direct features such as Artists and Models, The Girl Can't Help It, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and several Jerry Lewis films. Simon Wells directed the live-action The Time Machine remake after having directed such animated films as An American Tail: Feivel Goes West, Balto, and The Prince of Egypt. Noted animation director Ralph Bakshi has done some live-action films and television shows, and a lot of his films have been hybrids of live-action and animation. Pixar's Andrew Stanton is directing the upcoming live-action John Carter of Mars. Rob Minkoff, director of The Lion King, moved to live action with the Stuart Little films (which were halfway animation), The Haunted Mansion, and The Forbidden Kingdom.

The jobs aren't that fundamentally different. They both tend to begin with storyboards. They both involve taking a script and figuring out how to translate it into visual form. Animation is a great place to learn about pacing, editing, composition, color, movement, etc., because you have to plan all of it out in far more meticulous detail than you do in live action. Animators who move into live action tend to bring a very vivid sense of visual design and composition, an excellent sense of timing, and the like.
 
T'Baio said:
Who's in your avatar, Jetfire?
Click to expand...

Jetfire said:
^
Classic film star Rita Hayworth.

:)
Click to expand...

T'Baio said:
That's what I thought. I've never seen that pic before, it's a good one.
Click to expand...
Women of that era literally defined and oozed sexiness without trying even the slightest. Rita, Lauren Bacall, Raquel Welch, Linda Harrison.. oh myy!

Unlike many 'stars' of today that think exposing blatantly is sexy. :lol:
 
If anyone cares, in the casting department, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are coming back and Jeremy Renner is going to star opposite Tom Cruise.

Rumor has it the movie may not even be called Mission: Impossible IV.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top