Tom Cruise is all set to dazzle the silver screen again with his next massive outing, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One.
Every great spy movie needs a great villain. And, in Esai Morales’ mysterious character Gabriel, Cruise and McQuarrie feel they’ve found perhaps the most compelling and complex villain in the entire Mission series. Fixated on finding a key—in two parts —that will give the holder control over an all-powerful weapon, Gabriel is an enigma, deriving pleasure from the suffering he causes; he is a ghost from Ethan’s past—before the latter joined the IMF—and a messenger with a dark vision for humanity’s future. Without Gabriel, Ethan might never have become the man he is. And without Ethan to stop him, Gabriel will bring his gift of suffering to everyone on Earth.
“Gabriel is a character from deep in Ethan’s past. From before Ethan was the Ethan Hunt we know,” teases McQuarrie. “They know each other from long, long ago and have this shared event in their past that made them who they are. And now that has come full circle.” McQuarrie adds, “It’s fascinating to watch these two characters [Ethan and Gabriel] chase each other all over the planet”—especially given the conflict between them is also “distinctly personal, intimate and intense.”
Moreover, Gabriel is a proxy for something even more horrifying, a menace McQuarrie describes as “far and away the biggest and most undefeatable threat that Ethan has ever faced.” “It’s been a long time, friend,” Gabriel tells Ethan when they reconnect. “You have no idea the power I represent. It knows your story… And how it ends.”
Making his film debut in Rick Rosenthal’s Bad Boys starring Sean Penn, Morales is no stranger to acting opposite powerhouse performers, having also starred with the likes of Al Pacino in Oscar Wilde’s Salome, on Broadway; and Raul Julia, in Joe Papp’s production of The Tempest. Most recently, he appeared as one of the antagonists in the acclaimed Netflix series Ozark. But, in Cruise, he has found a sparring partner that has sent the sparks flying.
“I think Tom and I have the same level of energy. He has applied his energy a lot more productively than I have in my life,” Morales laughs, “but, man, I just love going toe to toe with him.” What makes Gabriel so intimidating a foe, Morales says, is a combination of the philosophical threat he poses and the lengths he is prepared to go to in pursuit of it. “It’s about fate. Everyone has their fate. Can you change yours?” Morales says of Gabriel’s motivation.
“He’s a formidable character because he has no fear. There’s nothing scarier than someone who is not afraid of anything you can do to them, including killing them. I see him as an agent of change who has given his complete being to the trust that technology is superior to Man.” A Paramount Pictures and Skydance Presentation and a Tom Cruise production, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One hit theatres India-wide on July 12 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Official synopsis:
In Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan’s past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission—not even the lives of those he cares about most.