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‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ Director Reveals Why Jeremy Renner Was Absent

If you have seen the latest and in my opinion the greatest entry so far in the Mission: Impossible franchise, then you know Jeremy Renner who plays Agent Brandt was absent from the film. The film boasts an impressive cast despite his absence with Henry Cavill, Vanessa Kirby, and Angela Bassett filling his shoes. During an interview with Empire, director Christopher McQuarrie confirmed why Jeremy was not in the film despite them trying to get him to make a cameo:

“Jeremy had his commitment to Avengers, which ironically they ended up not exercising, and we didn’t know what the [sixth Mission] movie was, so we couldn’t provide a schedule. We needed absolute freedom. The unfortunate thing for Jeremy is that he got caught in this perfect storm of, one can’t use you and one doesn’t know how to, given the massive complications they had with Avengers.”

McQuarrie would go on to add more saying:

“I had this whole idea that the movie would start with the death of a team member,” McQuarrie said. “And of course the first team member that’s always the first guy we talk about killing is Luther… So I said to Jeremy, look we can’t kill Ving, it’s never going to work. No matter how many movies into it, it’s always going to be the same thing. You killed the black guy. And we didn’t think the movie could recover if you killed Benji.

So I said to Renner, ‘Hey listen, I have this idea for an opening sequence where you sacrifice yourself to save the team, and that the mission-gone-wrong not only involves losing the plutonium, but involves the death of a team member.’ And Jeremy was like, ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ […] He was smart not to take the short paycheck for three days of work and getting blown up.”

So now that is all settled we can look forward to seeing Jeremy reprise his role as Hawkeye in Avengers 4 but I am sure we have not seen the last of Agent Brandt in the Mission: Impossible series.

Source: Empire (via ComicBook)