Blank Check — Patreon: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Published 2020-09-01; 2:34:31 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: Ben Hosley (producer, in the room; possibly also the speaker transcribed as 'Ange').

Subject films: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; Griffin and David are mostly indistinguishable. Transcript is a live commentary so many lines are scene reactions.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Release years in films[] and the full real names of some actors/characters (e.g. Ilsa Faust, Alan Hunley, Benji Dunn, Luther Stickell, William Brandt) were filled in from general knowledge; titles that speakers garbled (Kid Who Would Be King, Detective Pikachu etc.) were normalized by me.

Films that came up

Claims (61)

career (career): Christopher McQuarrie → X-Men. A speaker says McQuarrie and Ed Solomon wrote X-Men although a Singer assistant is solely credited.
“the X-Men movie was written by Christopher Macquarie and Ed Solomon”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:04:53 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Christopher McQuarrie → Bryan Singer. McQuarrie is credited with much of what people liked about Singer's films.
“Macquarie was responsible uh, for a lot of things that people liked about Brian Singer movies”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:06:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Bryan Singer → Tom Cruise. Singer brought McQuarrie on for Valkyrie, where Cruise took to him.
“singer brings him on for Valkyrie and uh, Cruz takes to him and he becomes Cruz's right hand man”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:07:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Christopher McQuarrie → Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. McQuarrie did much of the script construction on Ghost Protocol uncredited.
“he was very responsible for a lot of the script construction on Ghost Pro, even though he didn't get the credit”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:09:37 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Television cold open. The plane sequence, meant for mid-film, functions as a TV-style cold open and burns the money shot.
“This was supposed to be a mid-movie sequence, and it just works perfectly as like a TV show cold open.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:12:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Tom Cruise → Jackie Chan. Cruise's recent action persona reads like Jackie Chan, panicked and physically comedic.
“I was realizing after the last one, he's starting to be a lot more like Jackie Chan.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:17:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Jackie Chan. The speaker links Cruise's panicked, motivation-clear stunt work to Jackie Chan action, which stunt performers on Corridor Crew's reaction videos praise as perfectly constructed.
“And the stunt people always say like, see, these are perfectly constructed action sequences because his motivation is always so clear.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:17:42 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (host, unclear which) (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Star Wars (the new film). Rogue Nation was moved from December to July partly out of fear of Star Wars.
“Yeah, but I think it was also Star Wars fear.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:19:18 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. After four disavowed-Hunt films, Rogue Nation opens in the same state but with a specific story.
“And after like 4 movies in a row where he's disavowed,”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:20:37 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Alec Baldwin → 30 Rock (TV). Jack Donaghy, pulled back from silly to about ten percent, makes Baldwin a perfect fit for Mission: Impossible's serious cartooniness.
“Um, but Alec Baldwin is so perfectly suited to these movies, and I think it is not discussed enough.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:22:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Alec Baldwin → Tom Cruise. Baldwin, Cruise's contemporary, says he failed as a movie star, and now Cruise is the one doing the action.
“Baldwin is roughly of the same age as Cruz was sort of a contemporary of his and has talked so openly about the fact that he feels like he failed as a movie star”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:24:52 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Jeremy Renner → Tom Cruise. Younger actors in the Cruise-era M:I films, such as Renner and Cavill, serve as commentaries that nobody can do Cruise.
“The fucking Cavil are commentaries on like these people can't do cruise, right?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:25:41 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Rebecca Ferguson → Thandie Newton. Ferguson is the first true co-lead; Newton's 'Tandy' in MI2 was the closest before.
“Tandy, I guess, is the closest, but no, never really had a co-lead in one of these movies before.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:26:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Rebecca Ferguson → Michelle Monaghan. Ferguson's pre-casting buzz is likened to Monaghan's: an actress with a little heat but not a minted star.
“I don't think she's that dissimilar from like a Michelle Monaghan”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:27:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Ghost Protocol is described as ballet-like while Rogue Nation is more street-level.
“That one is like a ballet.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:30:17 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Mission: Impossible – Fallout → Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Fallout swings the other way, up into theatricality, after Rogue Nation's street level.
“Fallout. is like, let's amp up the theatricality. like that goes that goes in the other direction again.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:30:22 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Christopher McQuarrie → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. McQuarrie brings in new tech people and a new cinematographer each time so each film feels like a different director's.
“Like, he always, right, he's, like, brings in a new, uh, new, like, tech people, new, new, new cinematographer.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:30:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Christopher McQuarrie → Robert Elswit. McQuarrie hired Elswit, who shot Ghost Protocol, then brings in a different cinematographer for the next film.
“Who shot Ghost Protocol, but then the next one he brings in another guy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:30:59 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Alec Baldwin → 30 Rock (TV). 30 Rock proved Baldwin can imbue a single name with meaning, which suits his Hunt monologues.
“Another reason why it's really smart to cast Jack Donaghy for this role.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:31:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → The Fast and the Furious (franchise). Rogue Nation weaponizes 'friend' the way Fast and Furious weaponizes 'family'.
“I feel like this movie weaponizes the word friend in the way the Fast and Furious franchise weaponizes the word family.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:34:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → The Fast and the Furious (franchise). Male sincerity and intimacy in Fast and Furious is raised alongside Benji and Ethan.
“Male sincerity.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:38:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters → Jeremy Renner. Griffin or David joke that an opera adaptation of Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters has Renner in every role.
“It was an adaptation of Hanson Gretel, Witch Hunter.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:43:35 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Alfred Hitchcock. The opera sequence is Hitchcock-like, with wordless tension in a physical space.
“Yes, it's very Hitchcocky.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:44:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → The Man Who Knew Too Much. The Turandot opera showdown recalls Hitchcock's concert-hall assassination set piece.
“It's reminiscent of the man who knew too much.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:44:26 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Rebecca Ferguson → Movies of the 1940s. Ferguson looks like she was plucked from a 1940s movie.
“She literally looks like she was plucked out of a movie from the 1940s.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:45:10 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Rebecca Ferguson → Doctor Sleep. Ferguson's work outside M:I includes Doctor Sleep.
“I haven't seen her in anything besides the doctor's sleep.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:45:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Rebecca Ferguson → The Greatest Showman. Her singing in The Greatest Showman was dubbed, but her version on the soundtrack is good.
“But on the soundtrack, there's her version and it's good.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:46:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → John Wick (most recent). The tall-assassin gag is repeated in the most recent John Wick.
“They also do this in the last John Wick.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:47:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Jurassic World. Ferguson's shoe-removal beat landed a month after Jurassic World and drew a meme comparison.
“this comes out a month after Jurassic World”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:52:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → James Bond films. The speaker calls the film more Bond-like than other M:I entries, with Ghost Protocol being more magician.
“This is such a James Bondi movie versus other...”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:53:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol → James Bond films. Ghost Protocol is the more magician-like entry compared with Rogue Nation's Bondiness.
“You know, he's more of a magician in ghost protocol.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:53:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Spectre. Spectre opened the same year, and this movie's date was moved partly to avoid it.
“it's also kind of close to Specter”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:54:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. One host calls Rogue Nation objectively a little better than Fallout while acknowledging bias.
“I think Rogue Nation is objectively a little better than fallout”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:57:36 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Sean Harris → 24 Hour Party People. The speaker first noticed Harris as Ian Curtis in 24 Hour Party People.
“the 1st time I saw Sean Harrison a movie was when he was in 24 hour party people”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:58:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Sean Harris → Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. McQuarrie had a hard time selling Harris on a big film, since he mostly does British indie work.
“Macquara talks about how hard he was to sell him on doing this movie because he didn't want to do a big film.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:59:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Sean Harris → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Lane is the first M:I antagonist to feel like part of a bigger ongoing tapestry.
“he's the 1st antagonist in these movies who feels like he belongs as part of the bigger ongoing tapestry.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:00:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Solomon Lane → Ethan Hunt. The Syndicate is a set of bizarro versions of Hunt, not nameless thugs.
“He's fighting people who like are sort of the bizarro versions of him.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:01:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Iron Man 2. The thigh-grab move is traced back to Iron Man 2 by one speaker.
“I mean, I always think of Iron Man 2.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:01:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → GoldenEye. Famke Janssen in GoldenEye is cited as an earlier thigh-based attack.
“what, Funky Jansen in, in, uh, Golden Eye, you have other thigh related, uh, attacks”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:01:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Tom Cruise → James Bond films. Once Cruise embraced formal wear, he ran circles around Bond.
“And then once he starts owning it, it's like he starts just fucking running circles around Bond.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:05:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Avatar and its sequels. Cruise's six-minute breath hold is compared to Cameron training Avatar cast to do five minutes underwater.
“James Cameron made all of the actors in the 17 Avatar sequels that are never coming out, trained to be able to do like 5 minutes underwater”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:11:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Sigourney Weaver → Avatar and its sequels. A speaker guesses Weaver will play the mother tree in the sequels.
“My thought is she's playing the tree.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:13:23 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Jack Reacher → Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. McQuarrie's Jack Reacher is called very underrated for its car chases, a skill carried over.
“Jack Reacher, very underrated in terms of how good it's car chases are”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:27:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Inception. The flipping car shots are guessed to use a rotating mounted camera like Inception's hallway.
“I think it's probably similar to how they did the hallway in Inception”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:28:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → 10 Cloverfield Lane. The 10 Cloverfield Lane car crash is called extremely realistic in comparison to the flip here.
“that one in particular feels like extremely realistic”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:28:29 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Macbeth → Assassin's Creed. Macbeth had the same director, creatives and cast as Assassin's Creed.
“Because it's Macbeth, the same director, the same key creatives and the same cast as Assassin's Creed.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:40:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): True History of the Kelly Gang → Assassin's Creed. The Kelly Gang director also made Assassin's Creed and the Macbeth with the same cast.
“you should see the new movie from the Assassin's Creed director, the true history of the Kelly gang.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:40:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Tom Cruise → Ving Rhames. Rhames' bad knees limit the action he can do; the film works around it.
“that Ving Reams has bad knees, and it's always a problem he has to solve”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:41:10 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Mission: Impossible – Fallout → Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Later one host switches: Fallout is better because McQuarrie learned how to manage energy.
“Because fallout is just, it's just Macquarie has learned everything he needs to learn.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:48:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol → Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. One host finds Ghost Protocol has highest highs but valleys, unlike Rogue Nation.
“that's how I feel about Ghost Pro is like highest highs, it's got valleys.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:48:51 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Simon McBurney → Philip Seymour Hoffman. A great actor doing a subtle Cruise impression is likened to Hoffman in MI3 (speaker's target ambiguous, probably McBurney).
“Another example of much like Phelpseymour Hoffman, a great actor doing a very subtle impression of Tom Cruise doing an impression of someone else.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:53:28 · unknown (0.20 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Solomon Lane → Ethan Hunt. Hunt diagnoses Lane as the evil version of himself.
“Yeah, well, you're like the evil version of me.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:02:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation → Mad Max: Fury Road. Cruise and Ferguson using each other as a shooting stabilizer echoes Max and Furiosa in Fury Road.
“But it's like the Fury Road moment where Max lets.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:06:39 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Joe Kraemer → Christopher McQuarrie. Kraemer, who scored Rogue Nation, is called McQuarrie's guy, with a question whether he did all of McQuarrie's earlier scores.
“He's the next quarry guy. He done all Macquarie's scores before, huh?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:08:14 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (host, unclear which) (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Lorne Balfe → Hans Zimmer. Balfe is described as having been part of the Zimmer team and now rising to A-list.
“wasn't Lorne Ball one of those people who was like part of the Hans Zimmer team”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:08:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Hans Zimmer → 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. The speaker hears the 13 Hours and Terminator Genesis scores as 'dollar store Zimmer,' guessing Zimmer supplied a theme and others filled in the rest while his name was farmed out.
“these are scores that, like, don't, like, you know, they sound like, uh, dollar store Zimmer.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:09:17 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (host, unclear which) (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Lorne Balfe → Alexandre Desplat. Balfe replaced Desplat on Black Widow.
“replace Alexandra Desplot on Black Widow”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:10:00 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Lorne Balfe → Marco Beltrami. Balfe took over Gemini Man's score from Marco Beltrami, as he did on Black Widow from Desplat.
“replace Marco Beltrami on Gemini, man, and replace Alexandra Desplot on Black Widow, Bad Boys for Life.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:10:00 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (host, unclear which) (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Daly and Goldstein → Horrible Bosses. Their earlier screenplay work, such as Horrible Bosses, is dismissed against Game Night.
“A lot of the screenplay work that Daly and Goldstein did before even directing was not particularly interesting.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:20:18 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Suicide Squad → Zack Snyder's Justice League (the Snyder cut). A speaker would rather see the Ayer cut of Suicide Squad than the Snyder cut.
“I am more interested in seeing an eye cut than I am in seeing the Snyder cut, to be fair.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:29:53 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World → Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. A speaker imagines three more Master and Commander films shot years ago and dropped at once.
“What if tomorrow they announced that there were 3 more master and commander movies”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:32:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items (27)

fun, about Alibaba: Alibaba is one of the producers of the film.
“Alibaba, which for people who don't know is like the Amazon of Asia, is one of the producers of this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:12:33 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: The glass contact lenses that protected Cruise's eyes in the plane stunt.
“And they talk about how they had to give him specially made contact lenses out of glass.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:15:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: Release date moved from Christmas to July 31, enabled by minimal digital effects.
“it went from Christmas to July”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:19:52 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Rebecca Ferguson: Ferguson had no stunt training before this and did it in about two months.
“she had no stunt training before this, that she did all of this in like 2 months”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:28:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Christopher McQuarrie: McQuarrie reverse engineers films from trailer shots and locations.
“tell me the 5 shots you need for the trailer, location, uh, find me 12 good locations”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:31:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Simon Pegg: The 'Ethan Hunt is not my friend' lie-detector scene shows Benji is wounded.
“But he pointedly says in this scene, Ethan Hunt is not my friend.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:35:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: The lie-detector administrator was cast as a huge Chinese star because of a financing deal.
“Yeah, and it's because she was like some sort of financing deal. you have to put her in the movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:37:05 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Benji Dunn / Ethan Hunt: A fan community ships Benji and Ethan as a couple.
“there's like a whole community that is like obsessed with Benji and Ethan as a couple and like really ship them.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:37:51 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: Opera scene: Paramount marketing demanded the slit-dress shot.
“The paramount marketing was that explicit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:42:20 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Turandot (opera): The opera sequence is set to Puccini's Turandot, with Nessun Dorma.
“It's Churandot, of course, Paccini's.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:44:56 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: In the catwalk fight, Cruise lets himself look short next to the big assassin.
“It's one of the 1st times Tom Cruise has allowed someone to make him look this short in the movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:47:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Rebecca Ferguson: Ferguson requested no heels in the action scene; McQuarrie used the shoe removal.
“I really don't want to have to spend this entire action sequence in heels.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 0:52:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Sean Harris: Harris agreed to do the film only if his character died at the end.
“I'll do it if you promise me my character dies at the end of the movie, so I don't have to do any sequels.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:00:02 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Rebecca Ferguson: The speaker once pitched a history of the thigh-grab move.
“can I write the fucking history of the thigh thing?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:01:26 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Ving Rhames: Over the series Rhames' hat and head grow bigger and more cocked.
“Ving Reim's head gets 10% bigger and his hat gets cocked another 5 degrees off center.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:06:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise saw a VFX sketch of an underwater scene and insisted on it.
“And cruise apparently came in, saw it pointing at it and was like, we're going underwater?”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:10:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: He trained to hold his breath for 6.5 minutes.
“but Tom trained himself to 6.5 minutes.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:10:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about James Cameron: Cameron required Avatar actors to hold their breath for five-minute takes.
“I want to do 5 minute unbroken takes for things that are going to be entirely digital anyway because he's a lunatic.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:12:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: In the water vault scene the joke is that data cards must be kept cold like coaxium.
“And you do have to keep coaxium cold.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:19:02 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Casablanca: Casablanca is said to host a famous movie set: Scooby-Doo 2.
“Scooby-Doo 2 monsters on leash.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:25:13 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Ving Rhames: Rhames is foiled by a crowd, then appears right behind the car as if he kept pace.
“I swear to God, he was almost keeping speed with them.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:46:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Hollander: Scene with Hunt and the PM in Blenheim Palace, which a speaker visited.
“This is in Blenheim Palace, which I have visited.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:52:15 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Alec Baldwin: The 'living manifestation of destiny' line becomes a running gag.
“He is the literal manifestation of destiny, motherfucker.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 1:58:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Sean Harris: Lane is beaten by dramatic irony and glass walls, each represented by a friend.
“What a satisfying reveal that they defeat Solomon Lane with dramatic irony.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:11:33 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Rebecca Ferguson: Joke about the next film's dialogue about being signed to a multi-picture deal.
“I wasn't signed to a multi-picture deal originally.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:14:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: Box office: strong multiplier of about 3.5, held the top five for weeks.
“It had a nice multiplier, 3.5 , which is good for a blockbuster.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:18:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Scream (franchise): Griffin's Scream 4 audition: Wes Craven gave only silence and a shrug.
“I auditioned like 5 times for screen four, including 4 Wes Craven”
Blank Check — Patreon · Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation · 2:22:37 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Loves Rogue Nation and McQuarrie's practical, analog Cruise films, and takes film history personally. Can't stand Pixels-type junk but is a sucker for odd actors, villain tracksuits and wardrobe jokes.
David Sims (host): Admires Fallout and McQuarrie's craft, loves Hitchcock-style set pieces and tight villains. Dislikes bloated plot mechanics and has strong feelings about Alec Baldwin's career.
Ben Hosley (guest): Producer in the room who chimes in on gadgets, fashion terms and the opera sequence; pitches the next franchise, 'Star Tell'.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

'Macquarie'/'Macquara'/'Macora' = Christopher McQuarrie
'Cruz' = Cruise
'Ving Reim(s)' = Ving Rhames
'Brian Singer' = Bryan Singer
'Kramer' = Joe Kraemer
'Lauren/Lorne Ball' = Lorne Balfe
'Ellswitt' = Robert Elswit
'Wave the Gun' = The Way of the Gun
'Ange'/'Ang'/'Anne' = unknown person addressed repeatedly, probably Ben Hosley or another voice
'Phelpseymour Hoffman' = Philip Seymour Hoffman
'Nicholas Holt' = Nicholas Hoult
'Funky Jansen' = Famke Janssen
'Nesson Dorman' = Nessun Dorma
'Sana Lathan' = Sanaa Lathan
'screen four' = Scream 4
'Tom Holland' (once) = Tom Hollander
'eye cut' = Ayer cut

Blank Check — Patreon: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

compared (14)

anecdote (17)

passing (52)

dismissed (6)

recommended (3)

Claims (61)

Fun items (27)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong