John Leguizamo slams Mission Impossible 'bomb' and calls out entire cast for being hired again
John Leguizamo isn't holding back on his opinions towards Mission: Impossible, calling one of the movies 'a flop' during a speech at The Critics Choice Association's 6th Annual Celebración Of Cinema & Television.
The actor and comedian attended the event which celebrated Latino and Hispanic talent, and received the Career Achievement Award. However, his speech certainly wasn't celebratory of Tom Cruise and the cast.
Leguizamo's speech started off motivational, as he announced in the clip obtained by Variety: "You're allowed to fail like everybody else.
“When one of us gets to make an Ishtar, a Waterworld, a Mission: Impossible - Reckoning," he added, receiving laughs from the crowd.
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He didn't stop there, as he continued to call the seventh movie: "A bomb so expensive they teach it in business school.
"And if after that flop, you still get hired on Tuesday as they do, that’s equity," he said, making his point on second chances as the crowd erupted into cheers.
Funnily enough, Leguizamo was reportedly approached to appear in the first Mission: Impossible film, as Ethan Hunt's closest friend, Luther Stickell.
However, it was reported that he couldn't accept at the time, due to being under contract in a TV series.
The star's speech then went back to being motivational as the 66-year-old shared some advice he had received from filmmaker Tracy Layman.
"If you can be a light, then shine," he recalled her saying. "But if you can also be a mirror, and shine the light back onto somebody else.
"Lift each other up, work together," he continued. "When the creative community is strong, the work gets better."
During his speech, Leguizamo was seemingly referring to the 2023 title, Dead Reckoning Part One. The film was the seventh in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Despite it being the the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2023, the title was said to have underperformed at the box office, largely due to the amount it cost to produce.
However, the film itself received positive reviews from critics.
The film is said to have cost roughly $290–291 million to produce, and made $571 million worldwide.
In comparison, Fallout is said to have made $786–792 million worldwide.
However, following Dead Reckoning Part One, Cruise and most of the cast returned for The Final Reckoning, which was released in 2025.
Other returning cast members included Hayley Atwell, as Grace, Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, and Simon Pegg, as Benji Dunn.
It's the eighth film in the series, and the door has been left open for another movie, in the franchise which has been ongoing since 1996.
Since his revival of Ethan Hunk in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Cruise hasn't been in any other movies. However, he's due to star in the upcoming movie Digger, which is set to release later this year.
Despite the ending of The Final Reckoning being left open, it looks like Cruise has different ideas.
“It’s the final! It’s not called ‘final’ for nothing," he told The Hollywood Reporter.
Topics: Tom Cruise, Hollywood, Celebrity
Kiesha Dosanjh