What JJ Abrams brought to it as a television director is that he brings a freshness and enthusiasm for it, and it has more of an ensemble feel. With his television background with Lost and Alias, of course there's always some lead character, but you get to know the lead character by the way the other characters react to him. I think we captured that in Mission 3."
Ving Rhames is One of the Few Recurring Characters in the MI Film Franchise: Was he surprised his character has stuck around? Rhames laughed, “No, I'm quite an actor. I said that jokingly. Tom and I have very good natural chemistry and you get to see more of that in this film. As a matter of fact, the conversations we have in this one, it could be two friends at a bar having these conversations. We have them in the middle of a dangerous situation, but this is more true to how men and friends relate to one another. Through that you learn more about who Ethan is. You learn more about his past, his present with the love interest story line.
The audience will invest more in his character because you know more about his personal life as opposed to the other two. It dealt more with Ethan as the Impossible Mission Force leader. Rarely did you get to see him in a situation outside of action hero.”
A Little Humor Doesn’t Hurt in MI3: “JJ’s a former actor and a writer and director. He's younger than the previous two directors. His hand is a little closer to the pulse of mainstream America. I think JJ's in his mid-30s. He's a little more in touch. The elements of humor, the love story line…this one is just a little fresher.
I think he puts thing in there that will appeal to women, having a whole love story. I'm stressing love story versus a sex story. I think in the other two, there might have been a woman that was a sexual interest more so than love. What JJ brought to it, and the other two writers, was something extremely fresh and authentic, that an audience will grasp.”
Ving Rhames on His New Co-Stars in MI3: “Having the new actors come along, I think they added something we didn't have in the first two. One is women who could do stunts very well and play action well. We didn't have that in the first one. With Jonathan Rhys Meyers, we have a very talented young actor who has won a Golden Globe.
On the first day of filming, we filmed on the Tiber River. We spent 12 hours of Tom's character driving us on the speed boat up and down the river, so we got a chance to bond. And for Tom and I to get to know the other two actors - in that case it was Maggie Q and Jonathan - I really think we were fortunate that the new members we brought on, we all get along. I've known Laurence Fishburne for like 20 years. I just met Philip Seymour Hoffman [on the set] but you know he's a fine actor. Sometimes you’re in a film where all of the pieces of the puzzle fit. I think we had it on this one.”
Tom Cruise and Stunts: Having worked with Cruise before, Rhames is used to the way he attacks stunt work. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t nervous on occasion. “With Tom jumping off the roof I was a little more nervous than the others. It brought up feelings of, people don't like to talk about this, but what happens if a stunt goes wrong. Maybe the first time or second or third time, but the more you do a stunt, the more you risk something happening. The great thing was the stunt guy, the whole team, were excellent. We were very fortunate that nothing went wrong. People don't realize there is that possibility. Something could happen.”
Into the Future with the MI Franchise: What might happen to Rhames’ character in MI4? “I would probably say we're on the right path. I didn't give them notes on how to expand my character in this one, but I think what the writers do, and I applaud JJ for this, is that the more you see the main character interact with people around him, the more you learn about him. I would learn more about you by seeing your mother, your father, your daughter, your brothers, your cousin. I'm learning about you by how you relate to people close to you and how you relate to strangers. JJ knew that as a writer. That's why we tapped into something that's a bit more human than the other two. I think we'll continue to go in that path.”
