A De-Aged Julia Roberts Was Considered for ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Axed Cold Open: The VFX Bill ‘Would’ve Been as Expensive’ as the Train Stunt

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” director Christopher McQuarrie revealed before the film opened in theaters that he rejected de-aging Tom Cruise for a 1989-set opening scene.

Now on a new episode of “The Empire Spoiler Special Film Podcast” (via /Film), the filmmaker dropped that he considered reaching out to Julia Roberts to de-age her as well for the scene that never happened as planned.

The scene that made it into the film is a brief flashback that is interspersed throughout the movie. It depicts a young Ethan Hunt (Cruise) watching the villainous Gabriel (Esai Morales) murder his girlfriend, played by Mariela Garriga.

McQuarrie looked into de-aging VFX in order to open the film with a more extended scene set around this fateful encounter. “I said, ‘Ok, if I were doing this sequence, it would be Tom in, say, 1989.