Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson have both been dropped from "Mission: Impossible III" because of ongoing delays in pre-production. And that may turn out to be a good thing -- for the sake of their careers.
Scarlett, from "Lost in Translation" and Carrie-Anne from "The Matrix" movies, had done some physical training and were scheduled to co-star with Tom Cruise in MI3 but director JJ Abrams reveals he has had to let them go because of scheduling problems as a result of tinkering with the film's script. Between-the-line translation: "The script sucked."
, "The script was rewritten," director J.J. Abrams told the website about.com. "I'm a huge fan of each actor that they cast originally, but to have kept the actors when we are reinventing the story would have been an odd process, to say, ‘Write a script with these people in mind for characters that haven’t been written.’ It just felt like we had to start over with a clean slate."
There's no word on cast replacements yet even though filming is scheduled to start in July. Abrams also said that the Mission Impossible "franchise is being taken in a different direction."
But haven't we already seen the franchise "taken in a different direction" with MI, then followed by the very stupid MI2? The old TV series had a team of characters who all brought different talents to the mission. The MI movies only offer a cocky grinning Cruise in a one-man show who begins fights with a slow-mo cartwheel (!) and gets lots and lots of poses and close-ups to show off his perfect haircut.
So, if Scarlett and Carrie-Anne have to sit out on this potential stinker, then I'd say it's probably a good career move.
"The script was rewritten," director J.J. Abrams told the website about.com. "I'm a huge fan of each actor that they cast originally, but to have kept the actors when we are reinventing the story would have been an odd process, to say, ‘Write a script with these people in mind for characters that haven’t been written.’ It just felt like we had to start over with a clean slate."
There's no word on cast replacements yet even though filming is scheduled to start in July. Abrams also said that the Mission Impossible "franchise is being taken in a different direction."
But haven't we already seen the franchise "taken in a different direction" with MI, then followed by the very stupid MI2? The old TV series had a team of characters who all brought different talents to the mission. The MI movies only offer a cocky grinning Cruise in a one-man show who begins fights with a slow-mo cartwheel (!) and gets lots and lots of poses and close-ups to show off his perfect haircut.
So, if Scarlett and Carrie-Anne have to sit out on this potential stinker, then I'd say it's probably a good career move.
