Mission: Impossible III (2006) is an American spy action thriller directed by J. J. Abrams, making his feature film directorial debut. Tom Cruise returns as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, who has retired from active field operations but is drawn back into action when one of his former trainees is captured. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays arms dealer Owen Davian, while Michelle Monaghan portrays Ethan’s fiancée Julia. The supporting cast includes Ving Rhames, Maggie Q, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Simon Pegg, Keri Russell, Billy Crudup and Laurence Fishburne. Released in May 2006, the film was the third instalment in the Mission: Impossible series.
Mission: Impossible III was filmed between July and November 2005, with locations in Italy, Germany, China and the United States. Although the story moves between Berlin, Rome, Washington and Shanghai, many of the action sequences were filmed in California. Paramount Studios and Universal Studios in Los Angeles provided major sets, while existing industrial facilities, roads and buildings were used to represent foreign locations. The production also travelled to Rome, Caserta, Berlin, Shanghai, Xitang and Virginia, frequently combining footage from different countries into the same sequence.
The opening rescue mission takes place in Berlin, where Ethan and his team infiltrate an industrial complex to rescue captured IMF agent Lindsey Farris, played by Keri Russell. Much of this sequence was filmed at the former Kaiser Steel industrial site in Fontana, approximately 80 kilometres east of downtown Los Angeles. The large industrial buildings, steel structures and machinery provided a convincing setting for the German factory. The site had originally been developed during the Second World War and became one of Southern California’s largest steel-producing facilities before much of the complex closed during the 1980s. It had previously appeared in films including Black Rain (1989) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).
The Berlin rescue was assembled from footage shot at several locations. The factory exteriors were filmed primarily in Fontana, while sections of the action were photographed in downtown Los Angeles and on the Paramount studio lot. Additional shots were filmed in Berlin itself, establishing the German location. Digital effects were used to extend the industrial surroundings and connect the different environments. The abandoned factory in Fontana was therefore not a complete filming location in itself, but the principal setting for a sequence that combines several geographically separate sites.
The helicopter escape following Lindsey’s rescue was filmed partly at the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm near Palm Springs, California. The enormous collection of wind turbines stretches across the desert between the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains, where strong winds have made the area an important centre for wind-power generation since the 1980s. In the film, Ethan’s helicopter is pursued through the turbines by an enemy aircraft, with the rotating blades creating obstacles during the high-speed chase.
The production photographed the actual wind farm but avoided flying helicopters dangerously close to the operating turbines. Industrial Light & Magic combined the location footage with miniature aircraft, computer-generated helicopters and digitally reconstructed sections of the wind farm. The helicopter interiors were filmed separately against blue screens, with artificial lighting reproducing the searchlights and reflections from the pursuing aircraft.
The next major operation takes Ethan’s team to Rome, where they attempt to capture Owen Davian during a reception inside Vatican City. One of the first locations is Viale Vaticano, the road running alongside the Vatican walls. Ethan and Declan Gormley, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, deliberately create a traffic obstruction beside a delivery vehicle while pretending to argue about mechanical problems. The distraction allows Ethan to scale the high brick wall and enter the supposedly restricted grounds. The sequence uses the actual Vatican boundary wall, although additional footage was filmed on constructed wall sections and at the Royal Palace of Caserta.
The Vatican itself was represented primarily by the Royal Palace of Caserta, or Reggia di Caserta, situated approximately 30 kilometres north of Naples. Designed by architect Luigi Vanvitelli for the Bourbon kings of Naples, construction of the enormous Baroque palace began in 1752. Its monumental staircases, decorated halls and extensive courtyards provided the setting for the reception attended by Davian. The production used both exterior and interior areas of the palace, including the grand staircase and adjoining corridors, with temporary decorations and security arrangements transforming the royal residence into a fictional Vatican complex.
The Royal Palace of Caserta appears when Ethan enters the grounds disguised as a priest, moves through the palace and joins his colleagues inside. Zhen Lei, played by Maggie Q, arrives in formal evening wear, while the team prepares to identify and capture Davian. Several corridors and rooms were filmed inside the actual palace, but others were recreated in Los Angeles to accommodate the technical equipment and special effects required for the operation. Caserta had previously been used as the Royal Palace of Naboo in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002).
Another Roman location used during the Vatican operation is Via della Pilotta, in the Rione Trevi district. The street passes beneath a series of elevated arches connecting historic buildings near the Quirinal Palace. In the film, the location serves as an entrance to the Vatican reception, where Zhen Lei arrives in a sports car and gains access to the event. The distinctive covered passage and surrounding stone architecture are visible during her arrival. The street is several kilometres from Vatican City, illustrating how the production combined different parts of Rome with the palace in Caserta to create one apparently continuous location.
The team’s escape from the reception takes place along the River Tiber. After capturing Davian, the agents transfer him to a motorboat and race along the river through central Rome. The sequence includes the area around Ponte Umberto I, the bridge connecting Piazza di Ponte Umberto I with Piazza dei Tribunali, and views of the river near Castel Sant’Angelo and Ponte Sant’Angelo. The bridges, embankments and historic buildings provide a recognisable Roman setting as the boat speeds away. The river footage was combined with additional shots filmed using controlled water facilities in Los Angeles.
Back in the United States, the IMF convoy carrying Davian is attacked on what appears to be the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in Virginia. The actual structure connects Virginia Beach with the Eastern Shore across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and opened in 1964. Its long stretches of roadway over open water made it a suitable location for the elaborate ambush, in which an unmanned aircraft fires missiles at the convoy before a helicopter arrives to rescue Davian.
The production obtained permission to photograph the real Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, including vehicles travelling along the road and views of the surrounding water. However, most of the dangerous action was filmed in California. A full-sized section of elevated highway, approximately 600 feet long, was constructed on a ranch property near Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles. The temporary bridge allowed the filmmakers to stage overturned vehicles, collisions, gunfire and large explosions without closing the actual crossing for an extended period.
The California bridge was surrounded by enormous movable green screens, some extending for several hundred feet along the roadway. Industrial Light & Magic combined the practical stunts with footage of the real Chesapeake Bay, adding the surrounding water, distant horizon, bridge supports and large sections of damaged roadway. Additional driving footage was filmed around San Pedro in Los Angeles. The finished sequence therefore moves between genuine Virginia scenery, California roads and a specially constructed bridge that was dismantled after production.
Another Virginia location is Dock Street in Richmond, which was used for a driving scene involving Ethan in a black Mercedes-Benz CLK. The vehicle swerves to avoid an approaching truck along the street, with the industrial surroundings and roadway providing the setting. Richmond supplied additional American street footage for the production, separate from the more elaborate bridge work.
The hospital where Julia works was filmed at Methodist Hospital, now USC Arcadia Hospital, at 300 West Huntington Drive in Arcadia, California. The hospital exterior and adjoining parking area appear during the sequence in which Ethan attempts to contact Julia after discovering that she is in danger. The production used the actual hospital grounds for the arrival and departure scenes, with the entrance and surrounding buildings visible. The hospital was established in 1903 and moved to its Huntington Drive location during the twentieth century.
The film’s final major international setting is Shanghai, where Ethan is sent to recover the mysterious Rabbit’s Foot. The production photographed the city’s modern skyline, particularly the skyscrapers of the Lujiazui financial district on the eastern side of the Huangpu River. Recognisable buildings include the Jin Mao Tower and the Bank of China Tower, while the brightly illuminated waterfront and surrounding office towers appear in nighttime establishing shots. Some of the skyline lighting was arranged specifically for filming, with the production obtaining permission to keep several buildings illuminated after their normal operating hours.
The Bank of China Tower in Pudong is particularly prominent in the rooftop action. Completed in 2000, the building stands among the cluster of skyscrapers in Lujiazui and is identifiable by its distinctive upper structure. The film presents Ethan performing an extraordinary jump from one high-rise building to another, using a cable to swing across the gap. Although the real Shanghai skyline was photographed for the sequence, the dangerous jump itself was filmed in California. The buildings and the surrounding city were extensively reconstructed digitally, with the finished scene combining actual Shanghai imagery, a studio-built rooftop and computer-generated environments.
For the jump, a rooftop section was constructed above a parking structure at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Cruise performed the leap himself, landing on a large airbag positioned below the set. The surrounding buildings, streets and hundreds of metres of apparent empty space were added by Industrial Light & Magic. The visual-effects team created detailed digital versions of several Shanghai skyscrapers, allowing the distance between the buildings and the appearance of the city below to be adjusted. The stunt therefore did not involve Cruise jumping from an actual skyscraper in Shanghai, despite the recognisable architecture incorporated into the completed sequence.
The subsequent chase through Shanghai also combines real Chinese locations with Los Angeles streets. The city’s waterfront, skyscrapers and several street-level scenes were filmed in Shanghai, while additional vehicle footage was photographed in downtown Los Angeles. Lower Grand Avenue, a roadway running beneath the elevated streets of downtown, was used for scenes involving the team’s vehicles. Its concrete walls, tunnels and artificial lighting were adapted to resemble a nighttime urban road in Shanghai. The production added further lighting and digital backgrounds to disguise the American surroundings.
The final part of the film was photographed in Xitang, a historic canal town in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, approximately 90 kilometres southwest of central Shanghai. The town is known for its narrow waterways, stone bridges, traditional houses and covered waterside passages. Unlike the skyscrapers of Shanghai, its historic centre contains low buildings arranged along canals that have developed over several centuries. The production used these streets, rooftops and bridges for the sequences in which Ethan searches for Julia while following directions provided by Benji Dunn.
Cruise filmed extensively in the actual town during November 2005. Ethan runs along the narrow stone streets, crosses a bridge over one of the canals and climbs onto the rooftops of traditional buildings. Several sequences show him moving between houses at different levels, with the waterways and tiled roofs visible below. The filmmakers made use of Xitang’s compact layout, allowing the chase to move rapidly through interconnected streets and passages. Cruise performed much of the running and climbing himself, including a rooftop jump above the water.
The search eventually leads Ethan into an old building where Julia is being held. The exterior approach and adjoining streets were filmed in Xitang, while the interior was constructed at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles. The transition was designed as a continuous camera movement, taking Ethan from an actual Chinese street into a studio-built room without an obvious break. The construction reproduced the worn wooden surfaces and details of the surrounding historic buildings.
Xitang also appears in the film’s closing scenes, when Ethan and Julia cross a narrow stone footbridge over one of the canals after escaping from Davian’s men. The waterside buildings, traditional roofs and bridge remain visible around them. Unlike the extensive digital reconstructions used for the Shanghai skyscraper sequence, these scenes make direct use of the historic town’s architecture and waterways.
Royal Palace of Caserta
Royal Palace of Caserta has appeared in Star Wars – The Phantom Menace, Star Wars – Attack of the Clones, Mission: Impossible III, and many more.
Westin Bonaventure Hotel
Westin Bonaventure Hotel has appeared in The Driver, Heaven Can Wait, Midnight Madness, Blue Thunder, Breathless, This is Spinal Tap, Rain Man and many more.