Everyone has their dream pairings of which actors they’d like to see work together, especially the performers in question. Scarlett Johansson recently admitted she’d love to work with Tom Cruise during a red carpet event for the 2023 movie release Asteroid City, showing the world one such moment of dream casting in action. Now on the carpet of his own big ticket movie release, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Cruise has responded to that admission in an on-brand fashion.
While chatting with the correspondent for THR at his recent premiere in Rome, Cruise was shown a clip of Johansson recently shooting her shot. Obviously impressed, the man who’s starred in some of the best action movies known to modern cinema gave some commentary on his would-be co-star. Tom Cruise’s flattering remarks, and his feelings about a collaboration, were as follows:
There’s a great actress and a movie star. … Oh, yeah it's gonna happen. Absolutely. I've watched her career her whole life. She's enormously talented. Very charismatic. It'd be fun. She can do everything. She can do comedy, drama, action, suspense. She's someone that really draws you in on the screen and on camera, so absolutely it's gonna happen.
Putting Scarlett Johansson and Tom Cruise together in a movie sounds like it would be exciting just to watch. Were it to be an action spectacular, the Black Widow star’s talents would be well suited to work with Cruise’s daredevil feats of stunt work, such as the oft-discussed bike jump for Mission: Impossible 7.
Of course, as Cruise himself put it in his glowing acceptance of this acting mission, Scarlett is rather adept at various genres. So it’s not like they need to make an explosion-filled, chase-laden blockbuster, though it certainly could be done. What makes all of this talk even stranger is that a Scarlett Johansson/Tom Cruise collaboration could have happened much sooner in cinematic history.
During a Hollywood.com interview where Joe Carnahan discussed his time developing an unused concept for Mission: Impossible III, the director admitted that Johansson was one of the people cast for his vision of the film. Unfortunately, once that project fell apart, director J.J. Abrams’ variant would bring things back to the drawing board.
Tenacity is something both performers in question have in their blood. So it really does feel like a case of 'when, not if' regarding Scarlett Johansson and Tom Cruise finally getting to work together. You can almost bet that a whole bunch of writers and studio executives are about to dedicate their lives to making it happen sooner than later, as this hypothetical scenario feels like it’s just getting started in the world of pop culture.
With critics finally reacting to Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, there’s a possibility that one age of its star actor’s filmography might be coming to a close. Should that be the case, opening the next chapter with Scarlett Johansson as a scene partner could be something to keep in mind.
In the meantime, Tom Cruise’s next action ride opens in theaters on July 12th, while fans of Scarlett Johansson can see her in Asteroid City, which goes into wide release on June 23rd. For all who want to revisit the previous Mission: Impossible films, including Mission: Impossible III, they are currently available to stream for those with an active Paramount+ subscription.
