Director Christopher McQuarrie previously revealed that a flashback segment that would have de-aged Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One was briefly considered.
Now, McQuarrie is saying that the same segment — set in 1989 — also considered offering Julia Roberts a small role as a de-aged version of herself.
Speaking on the Empire Spoiler Special podcast episode, McQuarrie said Roberts was envisioned as agent Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise) lover.
But the sequence was scrapped altogether, McQuarrie said, because he felt that the audience would be feeling “too distracted by how an actor that I had known for however long was now suddenly this young person.” Mariela Garriga eventually played the role in flashback.
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