M:I-2 Article

May 30, 2000
Daily Record
Nothing's Impossible for Tom

Scots actor Dougray Scott had a mission to take on the heart-throb in a battle of daredevil

IT has been tipped as this summer's biggest blockbuster after raking in pounds 10 million on its opening night in America.

And, as these stunning images show, Mission: Impossible 2 will live up to its billing as the action movie of the year.

Star Tom Cruise lurches from one drama to another in the fast-paced thriller, performing a series of daredevil stunts.

Unlike many of his peers, Cruise refuses to take a back seat when it comes to action scenes.

In the movie - the sequel to 1996's Mission: Impossible - he is seen riding a motorbike through flames, climbing a rockface without a harness and free-falling down the side of a mountain.

And in each sequence, it is Cruise we're seeing risking his neck, not a lookalike stuntman.

Screenwriter Robert Towne believes it's a measure of the star's professionalism that he strives to "live the part". He says: "It's this irrepressible thing about his nature. Inside, Tom knows he can accomplish anything, even if he has never tried it before."

Super-confident Tom, 37, even invited his mother on to the set to watch him perform one of his more spectacular stunts - freefalling 120 feet down a mountain.

He was saved by apparatus which broke his fall with just 10 feet remaining, while his mother watched in awe.

The film was made in the spring and summer of 1999 in Australia, Utah and Los Angeles.

Cruise's insistence on doing the majority of the stunt work himself often left director John Woo watching with his heart in his mouth.

Woo admits: "I really appreciated the fact that Tom wanted to do all his own stunts ... but he really scared me sometimes."

One of Cruise's favourite experiences on M:I-2, as it will be known, was a rock-climbing scene filmed in Moab, Utah, which opens the film.

He plays Ethan Hunt, whose mission - should he choose to accept it - is relayed to him via an audio-visual message in a pair of sunglasses which are dropped to him from a helicopter. In customary fashion, the sunglasses then self-destruct.

The Top Gun actor says: "I'd put it right up there with flying an F-14 an F-18. It was fantastic, unbelievably exhilarating. There were places where I had less than the width of my finger to hook on to."

Woo, on the other hand, says: "I think that was the worst time for me. Tom was hanging over the side of a cliff, with a helicopter almost touching him. He wouldn't just do the stunt once, either. He'd do it time and time again to get it perfect."

Woo wasn't the only person who was on the verge of heart failure - the star's mother was also having palpitations.

Cruise reveals: "I can still hear her saying: 'Oh sweet Lord Jesus! Sweet Lordy Jesus.'

"She stood up and she stayed for a couple of takes - but she was having an absolute heart attack."

Ethan Hunt's mission in this sequel is to recover a deadly virus called Chimera and its antidote Bellerephon from evil Sean Ambrose, played by Fife-born Dougray Scott.

To get at Ambrose, Hunt charms an international jewel thief Nyah, played by Thandie Newton, who also happens to be the villain's ex-girlfriend.

The climax of the film has Cruise and Dougray in a stand-up fist fight - another stunt they did themselves - and they also came to blows in a spectacular scene that became known as the "motorcycle joust".

Filmed on Bare Island, an uninhibited island near Sydney, Australia, it required Cruise and Dougray to ride motorbikes at one another like medieval knights on horseback, collide and be thrown through the air.

Back in the States, Cruise and Newton filmed a car chase in the San Gabriel Mountains just outside Los Angeles.

Shortly after the location had been selected, an enormous wildfire broke out in the mountains and the film-makers held their breath as it came closer and closer until it was finally brought under control.

Like Cruise, Dougray is proud of doing his own stunts. The former Crow Road and Soldier, Soldier actor laughs and, looking at the poster of Cruise which has a scar on his face, jokes: "I can say ... 'You know that scratch on his face? That was me. Yeah, it was quite a bit of nifty knifework actually'."

The 34-year old was in America and Australia for two years making the film.

As a result, he missed out on playing Wolverine in X-Men -- this year's other major blockbuster.

He admits: "I was a bit disappointed having to turn down Wolverine, but when you compare it to Mission: Impossible 2 I'm really, really happy to have done it.

"Tom and I became really good friends. I think he's a fantastic actor and he was very encouraging. I learned so much making this film."

Dougrie also revelled in playing a villain. He says: "Being bad is really good fun."

Despite the knocks and bruises from the stunts, Dougray's biggest hardship was being apart from his young family - girlfriend Sarah, who became his wife in April, and their twins Gabriel and Eden.

Luckily, he had a fellow Scotsman in Sydney - one Ewan McGregor, who was there filming Moulin Rouge with Cruise's wife Nicole Kidman.

Dougray reveals: "Ewan came on the set a few times and he lived in my house for a while.

"It was lovely to have him there. We kind of helped each other because we were away from home. We were like soul mates and a great support to each other."

Now the pair Scots are set to team up for a movie - but not the Cromwell and Fairfax film which caused all sorts of bother when it was announced the two Scots were to star as the English historical figures.

Dougray reveals: "There was a possibility we were going to do Cromwell and Fairfax together, but although I'm still doing it and co-producing it, Ewan has to do the next Star Wars.

"But there's a small Scottish film we are both interested in doing that I can't say too much about."

He adds: "I don't see what the problem was for me and Ewan to play these characters. Do you have to be Scots to play Scots and English to play English?"

Dougray's acting career has been a slow burner, but thanks to Mission: Impossible 2 he's set to become a more bankable star.

He knows the film will "probably make a difference" to his career, but he insists the fame game is not his scene.

He says: "Being famous has never really interested me."

But whether he's interested or not, he is sure to become famous on July 7 when Mission: Impossible 2 goes on general release.