The Mission Impossible franchise is famous for its impressive stunts, and the fifth movie in the series didn’t disappoint. In the case of the BMW M3s used in some chase scenes, the movie’s director claims the cars still work even after being severely abused.
Christopher McQuarrie stated that the BMW M3 models seen in the movie were still working at the end of the shooting process. Obviously, the cars weren’t just some details away from showroom condition, but they were still running. In a recent USA Today interview, the director stated that these vehicles “couldn’t be killed” and he praised their quality and reliability.
“The BMW M3 is a fantastic car. They took an amazing amount of punishment,” McQuarrie stated. Naturally, the movie’s director advises all drivers never to attempt to copy the stunts performed on the big screen. As all stunts go, not everything you see on screen happened in the conditions pictured.
For example, the scene where the M3 was driven on a row of stairs was digitally enhanced. Instead of genuine stairs, the tech team developed a series of slopes to mimic the look of stairs, on which the cars were actually driven. The stairs seen in the movie were digitally added in post-production for cinematic purposes.
Tom Cruise did most of the stunts involving Ethan Hunt, his character in the famous franchise. The American actor, who achieved fame with the movie Risky Business, is known for his love of driving, so most, if not all driving scenes involving his character rendered his stunt double useless. Simon Pegg, the British actor who appears alongside Cruise in the Mission Impossible V: Rogue Nation movie, took on the challenge and also did some of the stunts featuring his own character, like the one mentioned above, with the BMW M3 driven down a flight of stairs.
As some reports note, the movie crew used up to a dozen BMW M3 vehicles, some of them being altered in several ways to make the stunts bearable. For example, the M3’s 18-inch alloy wheels and the car’s braking system were changed to allow the use of smaller rims and different tires. Out of the alleged 12 BMW M3 vehicles, only some survived in operating order. One of the vehicles was shown for a while in the BMW Welt, the brand’s museum in Munich.
This news makes us wonder what exactly happened to the BMW M3 once driven by Jeremy Clarkson and sold to a customer afterwards, since it probably took less of a beating. Or did it?
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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