If you’ve seen Mission Impossible: Fallout, you probably noticed that BMWs feature prominently in the action scenes. The Bavarian automaker has a long-established partnership with the Mission: Impossible franchise and the latest film is no exception. The brand-new BMW M5 makes its cinematic debut in Mission: Impossible Fallout, but it’s sadly limited to a few minutes of screen time being remotely driven by Benji, played by Simon Pegg.
Instead, the film’s star car is a classic 1986 E28 BMW 5 Series, which you can see taking some serious punishment in a new behind the scenes video released by BMW. As usual, Tom Cruise did his own stunt driving and pushed the old BMW to its limit, drifting around the streets of Paris, driving between narrow pillars, and jumping down stairs.
“We’re looking at all sorts of things, “oh, it’d be great to get something classic,” and we’re all talking,” the film’s stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, said in a recent interview with Jalopnik when explaining why the team chose the car for the film’s central chase scene in Paris. “It came in this really weird green color, and it came to my workshop first. And they said, “oh yeah we’re probably going to spray it another color,” and I’m like, “don’t touch it.” Christopher McQuarrie, the film’s director, thought the color choice was “risky,” but it perfectly complemented the cobbled streets of Paris and the textures and tones at the time of year.
“Five or six” stunt cars were used for the scene, and the stunt driver even rolled one of them while rehearsing the jump down the stairs, so the suspension was modified for the final stunt to stop it rolling. The other cars were mostly stock apart from modifications to the handbrake so they “didn’t rip the handbrake out.”
The superbly shot car chase is just one part of an elaborate action sequence that starts with Cruise evading Paris police in a box truck before switching to a BMW R nineT motorcycle and finally the E28 BMW 5 Series. The bike sequence is arguably the most nail-biting part, which sees Cruise driving against oncoming traffic around the Arc de Triomphe without wearing a helmet. You have to respect Cruise risking his life at the age of 56 doing all his own stunts for real.
Edgar Wright's Baby Driver had by far the best movie car chase of 2017, and Mission: Impossible might end up being our favorite chase scene of 2018 thanks to Cruise’s impressive stunt driving and Christopher McQuarrie's slick direction devoid of quick cuts and unnecessary shaky cam.
