Paramount has posted the latest behind-the-scenes featurette for Mission: Impossible – III at the films’ official site. This fifth installment focuses on the film’s central protagonist, IMF Agent Ethan Hunt, and the actor who portrays him, superstar Tom Cruise.

M:i:III cast members Philip Seymour Hoffman, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Michelle Monaghan all weigh in on Cruise, as does the film’s writer-director J.J. Abrams.

His colleagues praise Cruise’s energy and dedication to the project, lauding his commitment and work ethic. Cruise himself talks about how excited he is to have made M:i:III and what he hopes it will do for audiences this summer.

The fifth M:i:III featurette is available online, click here to choose between Windows Media Player, Real Player and Quicktime.

Empire Online has a special about the new Mission: Impossible movie. They have an image gallery, the trailer, a link to the official site and you can book tickets. Furthermore some links to other M:I-III news, like Tom on the set in China and a promo.

ComingSoon.net:
M:i:III Trailer Debuting on MTV Networks
Source: Paramount Pictures March 15, 2006

Paramount Pictures will premiere an exclusive look at this summer’s highly anticipated action-thriller, Mission: Impossible: III, as Tom Cruise introduces the new trailer across MTV Networks on Thursday, March 16, it was announced today by Gerry Rich, president of worldwide motion picture marketing for Paramount Pictures. The film, starring Tom Cruise and directed by J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost and Alias, opens in theaters nationwide on May 5, 2006.

The trailer will air simultaneously on MTV, MTV2, VH1, CMT, BET, and Spike TV during the 10pm-11pm block on Thursday, March 16, one day before it runs in any movie theater. The exclusive material will also be available on the Internet at mtv.com, mtv2.com, vh1.com, cmt.com, spiketv.com, and at iFilm.

Commenting on the announcement, Rich said, “Tom and J.J. have come through with an amazing action movie and we think viewers across MTV networks will agree that ‘M:i:III’ is the first must-see event film of the summer. When you’ve got the goods, it’s exciting to be able to share it with the audience in a special way. We’re thrilled to be pulling out all the stops with our partners at the MTV Networks.”

Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & J.J. Abrams wrote the script for the film, based on the television series created by Bruce Geller. “M:i:III” is produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. The film also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q and Laurence Fishburne.

CanMag.com has nice updates about M:I-III! Their site says:
Paramount Pictures have alerted us that they not only released a couple video interviews for Mission: Impossible III but that Tom Cruise and JJ Abrams are ready to take questions from the fans as well.

M:I:3 Videos and Questions
iFilm has recently posted two new exclusive videos for Mission: Impossible III. One video is a video interview with JJ Abrams and the other is a video interview with Philip Seymour Hoffman; who recently earned an Academy Award for his role in Capote.
Though there were some, including myself, who were unsure about seeing Hoffman play the role of a villain, the previews of his character shown in the trailer look pretty solid. I remember Hoffman as the gay-as-a-fox Scotty J. in Boogie Nights and the happy little helper, Brandt, in The Big Lebowski; so seeing him in this opposite role should be something else.
The video interview with Hoffman is quick and seems to feature more little quotes from Tom Cruise, as he talks about Hoffman, than Hoffman himself. If the clip is a little too short for you, iFilm has a long, eleven minute, clip interview with director JJ Abrams. The interviewer asks Abrams questions like how similar M:I:III will be to the television series and what changes Abrams made to the franchise in order to create an even bigger third installment. The director also goes on to state that the cast of characters behind Ethan Hunt will be getting some extra attention in this installment.

iFilm then asked the most obvious question– Why Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain (especially since he is coming directly off Capote)? An Oscar-winner starring next to Tom Cruise is not a bad combination.

Besides the clips, Paramount Pictures told us that they have teamed up with Yahoo! Movies to allow fans to send questions to both Tom Cruise and JJ Abrams for Mission: Impossible III. You can either send your questions to imfqa@yahoo.com directly or head over to Yahoo! Movies for more info.
Mission: Impossible 3 comes to theatres on May 5th, 2006. Tom Cruise claims we couldn’t have a better film to kick off summer.

For the latest headlines, teaser trailer, movie stills, synopsis and movie info, go to the M:I-III Movie Page.

ABC also reports Philip Seymour Hoffmans role:
Theater owners got a sneak peek Tuesday of two key scenes in Cruise’s summer sequel “Mission: Impossible III,” in which his undercover operative Ethan Hunt takes on a villain played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won an Academy Award this month for playing author Capote in “Capote.”

Director J.J. Abrams, creator of TV’s “Lost” and “Alias” who makes his big-screen debut with “Mission: Impossible III,” told a crowd at the theater-owner convention ShoWest that he set out to make an action film that put characters first, spectacle second.

“The reason the action works so strongly is that J.J. tells a story, and what drives the story are the characters, the people,” Paula Wagner, Cruise’s producing partner, said in an interview with The Associated Press alongside Abrams. “The action happens because the people are trying to get something accomplished, get something done, and that’s great storytelling.”

Distributor Paramount showed off an exchange in which Hoffman’s character, imprisoned by the Impossible Missions Force, delivers a chilling threat to Cruise’s Hunt.
“Do you have a wife, a girlfriend?” Hoffman asks Cruise. “Because if you do, you know what I’m going to do next? I’m going to find her. I’m going to find her, and I’m going to hurt her. I’m going to make her bleed and call out your name. … And then I’m going to kill you right in front of her.”

Abrams also presented a fiery sequence in which Hoffman’s allies try to rescue him from Cruise and his gang, which includes returning co-star Ving Rhames.

MoviesOnline:
Jerry “Golden Boy” Trimble, a real world champion fighter and actor, speaks very highly of the fighting techniques displayed by Tom Cruise during their fight sequence filmed for the upcoming release of Mission Impossible III. J.J. Abrams, the director of “Mission Impossible III”, chose champion Jerry Trimble, Jr. to do the dramatic fight scene with Tom Cruise. (…) Jerry has been in over twenty feature films, half of which he played lead. The list includes “Heat”, (playing alongside Al Pacino) and “Charlie’s Angels” (nominated for the Taurus Award in the category of best fight). His more recent roles include the yet to be released “M:i:lll”, where Jerry participates in a one on one fight scene with Tom Cruise, of which, Jerry stated that Tom Cruise “exhibits incredible fighting skills for a non-professional fighter”. Additional recent roles include “War of the Worlds” “The Last Sentinel”, and voice-over narration for “Fortitude and Glory, Angelo Dundee and his fighters.”

And… Top Gun’s Tomcat is retired, reports Australian TheCourierMail.