Mission Impossible 3 Loses its Director, Again!

By Wind(up)bird July 19, 2004 9:34 AM

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Joe Carnahan ("Narc") has dropped out of the director's seat because of "creative differences," the standard Hollywood explanation in such cases.

The film remains scheduled to begin shooting as planned next month in Berlin, said Rob Friedman, vice chairman of the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group.

Carnahan came on board to direct the latest sequel in the popular franchise in February 2003 after David Fincher exited the project in favor of "Lords of Dogtown," which Catherine Hardwicke is now directing. Carnahan won acclaim in 2002 for his violent cop thriller "Narc," on which Cruise served as an executive producer.

In "M-I:3," Cruise is set to reprise his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt, with Scarlett Johansson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kenneth Branagh and Ving Rhames rounding out the cast. The 1996 original was directed by Brian De Palma, and the 2000 sequel by John Woo.

The news comes shortly after Paramount announced it was shifting the release date of the film by seven weeks, moving it from its original slot in the first week of May to June 29, 2005. Cruise returns to theaters Aug. 6 with Michael Mann's thriller "Collateral," co-starring Jamie Foxx .

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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