Christopher McQuarrie | |
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 McQuarrie in 2025 | |
| Born | (1968-10-25)October 25, 1968 (age 57)[1] Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1993–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Christopher McQuarrie (born October 25, 1968) is an American filmmaker. He received theBAFTA Award,Independent Spirit Award, andAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the neo-noir mystery filmThe Usual Suspects (1995). He made his directorial debut with the crime thriller filmThe Way of the Gun (2000).
McQuarrie is a frequent collaborator withTom Cruise, having written and directed the action filmJack Reacher (2012), as well as four installments of theMission: Impossible film series:Rogue Nation (2015),Fallout (2018),Dead Reckoning (2023), andThe Final Reckoning (2025), in addition to uncredited rewrites onGhost Protocol (2011). He was also a part of the writing and/or producing team on the Cruise filmsValkyrie (2008),Edge of Tomorrow (2014),Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016),The Mummy (2017), andTop Gun: Maverick (2022), the last of which receivedAcademy Award nominations forBest Adapted Screenplay andBest Picture.
McQuarrie was born inPrinceton, New Jersey.[2] After graduating fromWest Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in 1986,[3] he worked as an assistant atChrist Church Grammar School inPerth, Western Australia, recalling in 2013, “I was offered an Interim program ... I picked a place out of a hat and ended up at Christ Church Grammar School. I lived at the school and worked at the boarding school, though I did very little work".[4] Fired after nine months, "I hitchhiked for three months, came home, knocked around for about a month and then immediately started working for this detective agency.... [It] was actually a glorified security-guard position. I think in the four years I worked there I did about six investigations."[5]
McQuarrie worked for four years at a movie theater in New Jersey as a security guard. Because the theater was in a violent area, he was often tasked to stand at the back of the room and observe the audience as they were watching the film, ensuring no fights broke out. He described the experience as "[his] film school" and "the single most educational experience [he] ever had," stating that it helped him "develop an innate sense of how the audience is responding" to a film.[6][7]
McQuarrie's first feature film was the 1993 thrillerPublic Access, directed byBryan Singer and produced byKenneth Kokin. It won the Critics Award at theDeauville American Film Festival and shared theSundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize. It was not released theatrically in the United States.[8] On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, it received an approval rating of 58%.[9]
McQuarrie wroteThe Usual Suspects (1995), for which he received Best Screenplay awards from the British and American Academy Awards, as well as fromPremiere magazine, the Texas Board of Review, and the Chicago Critics, as well as theEdgar Award andIndependent Spirit Award. It was later included on theNew York Times list of the 1000 greatest films ever made, and the character Verbal Kint was included onAFI's list of the100 greatest Heroes and Villains of all time. In 2006, theWriters Guild of America votedThe Usual Suspects #35 on their list of 101 Greatest Screenplays. In his third collaboration with Singer, McQuarrie did an extensive rewrite onX-Men, but ultimately removed his name from the project.[10]
In 2000, McQuarrie made his directorial debut withThe Way of the Gun, a modern-dayWestern, for which he also wrote the script and was produced byKenneth Kokin. It starredBenicio del Toro,Ryan Phillippe,Taye Diggs, andJames Caan. The film, budgeted at US$9.5 million,[11] received mixed reviews[12] and grossed US$16 million worldwide.[11]
McQuarrie first met frequent collaboratorTom Cruise, seeking simply to unload a screenplay in order to pay his debts and exit the film industry.[13][14] This screenplay, co-written with Nathan Alexander, later turned intoValkyrie, which opened on December 25, 2008, and would also be the first film where McQuarrie served as a producer. The film is based on the real-lifeJuly 20, 1944 plot to assassinateAdolf Hitler. While researching the screenplay, the writers had access to members of the Stauffenberg family; consulted a book written byFabian von Schlabrendorff, a conspirator who survived;[15] and spoke with Hitler's surviving bodyguard.[16] The film, directed by Bryan Singer, received theBMI Film Music Award and theBambi Award for Courage.[17] McQuarrie initially only took a producing credit on the film for its associated pay increase. But, after a conversation withPaula Wagner, whose increased commitments withUnited Artists left little time for creative collaboration with Cruise, he decided to fully involve himself in the film's production, as well as replace Wagner as Cruise's primary creative partner.[13]
In 2009, McQuarrie was hired to pen the script for the then-untitledThe Wolverine.[18] He also co-wrote the 2010 filmThe Tourist withJulian Fellowes,Jeffrey Nachmanoff and directorFlorian Henckel von Donnersmarck. It starredJohnny Depp andAngelina Jolie and grossed US$278 million worldwide.[19] It received threeGolden Globe Award nominations and several other awards, among them the Redbox Movie Award for the most rented drama of 2011.[20] McQuarrie then provided uncredited rewrites on the 2011 action spy filmMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol during the film's production.[21]
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In 2011, McQuarrie directed his second feature,Jack Reacher, an adaptation ofOne Shot, the ninth in the series of 21Jack Reacher novels byLee Child. Filming began in thePittsburgh metropolitan area on October 3, 2011, and continued through the end of January 2012. The movie was released in December 2012 byParamount Pictures.[22] In 2012, McQuarrie stepped in to rewrite the script forWorld War Z afterDrew Goddard andDamon Lindelof left the film.[23][24]
2013 saw the release of McQuarrie's fourth collaboration with Singer,Jack the Giant Slayer, co-written by McQuarrie. Critical reviews were mixed, and it was a box office failure, grossing only US$198 million against an estimated US$240 million budget (excluding promotion).[25][26] McQuarrie co-wrote the 2014 science fiction action thrillerEdge of Tomorrow withJez andJohn-Henry Butterworth, based on the Japanese novelAll You Need Is Kill.
Tom Cruise had called McQuarrie "the uncredited hero" ofMI: Ghost Protocol and told Paramount CEO in 2014 that he wanted McQuarrie as the director forMission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.[27] It was McQuarrie's third feature as director and he co-wrote it withDrew Pearce. It received strong reviews, grossed over US$195 million at the North American box office, and won a Golden Tomato for Best Action-Adventure Movie of 2015.
By October 2015, McQuarrie completed a rewrite ofRogue One: A Star Wars Story and spent two weeks "tightening up the story".[28] McQuarrie and screenwriterDylan Kussman were commissioned by Tom Cruise to write a new script forThe Mummy.[29]
In November 2015, McQuarrie confirmed he would return to write and direct the sixthMission: Impossible film, his third directing collaboration with Tom Cruise.[30] The film, titledMission: Impossible – Fallout, was released in the United States on July 27, 2018. It received strong reviews from critics, and grossed over $791 million worldwide, becoming the franchise's highest-grossing title.[31]
McQuarrie pitched a sequel toMan of Steel after working with Superman actorHenry Cavill onFallout that would have tied into aGreen Lantern movie McQuarrie also proposed, although Warner Bros. rejected both ideas.[32] McQuarrie and Cruise collaborated again onTop Gun: Maverick, for which McQuarrie co-wrote the screenplay and produced the film.[33]
Initially hesitant to return to the franchise,[34] McQuarrie finalized a deal to write and directMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One andMission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in January 2019.Dead Reckoning Part One was released on July 12, 2023, whileThe Final Reckoning was released on May 23, 2025.[35][36][37] Ahead of the latter's release, McQuarrie was honored with a Director of the Year award at the 2025CinemaCon, which was presented to him by Tom Cruise.[38]
In February 2011, McQuarrie was hired bySkydance Media to write and produce a feature film adaptation of the 1970s animated television seriesStar Blazers (itself an adaptation of animeSpace Battleship Yamato).[39] In 2013, he was selected to direct the project, withZach Dean being hired to write a new draft of the script in 2017.[40][41] McQuarrie has also signed on to direct thrillersIce Station Zebra, based on the1963 novel and its1968 film adaptation,Three to Kill, based on the novel byJean-Patrick Manchette, andThe Chameleon, based on aNew Yorker article byDavid Grann aboutFrédéric Bourdin.[42][43][44]
In August 2022, McQuarrie announced on theLight the Fuse podcast that he was developing a new project with Tom Cruise, to be co-written byErik Jendresen, which he claimed would be "gnarlier" than theMission: Impossible films and described as being "something we've talked about for a really long time. It's way outside of what you're used to seeing Tom do."[45] A few days later, it was announced he and Cruise were also developing an original musical as a star vehicle for Cruise, as well as eyeing a potential project for Cruise to reprise the role of Les Grossman fromTropic Thunder, though it was unknown if Grossman would receive his own film or be included in the other films.[46]
Although theReacher franchise has migrated to television, McQuarrie and Cruise are continuing to develop aReacher-like thriller film.[47]
McQuarrie married producer Heather Neely after she worked as a costume designer on his directorial debutThe Way of the Gun (2000).[48][49] The pair now have two daughters.[50]
McQuarrie served asVictoria Mahoney's mentor at theSundance Screenwriters Lab.[51]: 31:28 He struggles withhearing loss caused bycongenital damage in hismiddle ear, which requires him to wearhearing aids.[52] He has difficulties with focus and at one point triedADHD medication, though he did not pursue it.[51]: 38:36
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Public Access | No | Yes | No |
| 1995 | The Usual Suspects | No | Yes | No |
| 2000 | The Way of the Gun | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2008 | Valkyrie | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2010 | The Tourist | No | Yes | No |
| 2012 | Jack Reacher | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2013 | Jack the Giant Slayer | No | Yes | No |
| 2014 | Edge of Tomorrow | No | Yes | No |
| 2015 | Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2016 | Jack Reacher: Never Go Back | No | No | Yes |
| 2017 | The Mummy | No | Yes | No |
| 2018 | Mission: Impossible – Fallout | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2022 | Top Gun: Maverick | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2023 | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2025 | Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Uncredited writing work
| Year | Title | Writer | Executive Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | NYPD Blue | Story | No | Episode: "The Final Adjustment" |
| 2010 | Persons Unknown | Yes | Yes | Creator and executive producer (13 episodes) / Writer (Episode: "Pilot") |
| 2022 | Reacher | No | Yes | 8 episodes |
Birth Place: Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Two West Windsor-Plainsboro High School graduates are following in the footsteps of two other filmmakers from West Windsor, Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie. Singer, Class of 1984, and McQuarrie, Class of 1986, have recently joined together for the filming of 'Valkyrie'...Archived from the original on January 8, 2008. Note: Name was simply West Windsor-Plainsboro High School untilbeing renamed West Windosor-Plainsboro High School South in 1997.
[...] and a casual remark on the part of Mr. McQuarrie's wife. Heather Neely McQuarrie, a film producer who also served as the costume designer forThe Way of the Gun, [...]
[...] and your director Chris McQuarrie wed [The Way of the Gun's] costume designer, Heather Neely.
What happened was, I have hearing aids. I have profound hearing loss. I have a congenital condition, and I'm slowly losing my hearing. [...] Well it turns out, the damage to my hearing is entirely in my middle ear, not in my inner ear. My cochlea is actually functioning 100%.
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