Brian De Palma turned down 'Mission: Impossible 2' because money is 'the corruption of Hollywood'

Brian De Palma has revealed he turned down the chance to direct a second Mission: Impossible adventure because he was “never a movie director to make money”.

The 79-year-old filmmaker, famous for Scarface and Carrie, told Associated Press that money is “the corruption of Hollywood”, which is why he has always resisted making sequels to his movies.

De Palma helmed the first Mission: Impossible film in 1996, shooting Tom Cruise’s debut in the role of Ethan Hunt.

Read more: Clip from De Palma doc about Mission: Impossible

He said that franchises like Mission: Impossible, which is currently in production on its seventh instalment, continue “only for economic reasons”.

“After I made Mission: Impossible, Tom asked me to start working on the next one,” said De Palma.

He added: “I said: ‘Are you kidding?’ One of these is enough. Why would anybody want to make another one?

“Of course, the reason they make another one is to make money. I was never a movie director to make money, which is the big problem of Hollywood. That’s the corruption of Hollywood.”

Read more: Rebecca Ferguson hopes Mission: Impossible never ends

John Woo would go on to direct Mission: Impossible 2 and different filmmakers would helm every subsequent franchise entry until Christopher McQuarrie took over for fifth movie Rogue Nation.

McQuarrie also directed 2018’s Fallout and will helm the upcoming seventh and eighth films.

De Palma said he looks back as the late 1990s as the peak of his career, following the double whammy of Mission: Impossible and Carlito’s Way.

He added: “It doesn’t get much better than that. You have all the power and tools at your disposal.

“When you have the Hollywood system working for you, you can do some remarkable things.

“But as your movies become less successful, it gets harder to hold on to the power and you have to start making compromises.”

Read more: McQuarrie teases elaborate Mission: Impossible stunts

De Palma also revealed he is still working on a “horror movie based on real things”, which is inspired by Harvey Weinstein and now goes by the title Catch and Kill.