Paramount Pictures has an easy sell: direct Tom Cruise in next summer’s blockbuster. Cruise is set to star in Mission: Impossible 3, but Joe Carnahan has quit as the movie?s director.

The movie is set to start shooting next month in Berlin. The movie also stars Scarlett Johansson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kenneth Branagh and Ving Rhames.

The official reason for Carnahan?s departure is “creative differences.” The announcement came after Paramount pushed the release back seven weeks to June 25, 2005. There are some reports now that say the movie won?t open until August of next year.

Cruise will play Ethan Hunt, as he did in the previous two MI films.

Carnahan is the second director to leave the movie. David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven) was supposed to direct at first, but opted to make a surf/skateboarding movie instead of directing Cruise.






Related Stories: