Cruise's injury was life-saver: 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' director McQuarrie

Tom Cruise's ankle injury on "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" came as a blessing in disguise for director Christopher McQuarrie, giving him a much needed break to figure out the film.

McQuarrie, who is the only director to return for a "Mission: Impossible" film, said the injury of their lead star changed the entire shape of the production.

"His injury was actually a life-saver. We had started the film without a finished script. You're always running up against a release date, so we were constantly feeling the pressure of trying to finish the film while we were trying to figure the film out. And when Tom broke his ankle, that just changed the entire shape of the production," McQuarrie told PTI in an interview.

The director said they decided to start editing the film while they were still shooting and it helped them up the ante from the previous versions.

"It allowed us to rewrite the screenplay, make a lot of discoveries along the way. That's what happens when you make these movies, you start with one idea and you're inspired to do other things.

"So, that (the injury) actually worked to our benefit. Interestingly, it was after all of that, after we were finished with Tom and we were shooting all the other little bits of the movie that were left. We were right up against the clock till the very last minute. It was pretty intense," he said.

The film, sixth in the long-running franchise, recently premiered in the French capital.

A Paramount Pictures movie, "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" will be exclusively distributed in India by Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

Also starring Simon Pegg, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan and Alec Baldwin, the film releases this Friday.