Milford Sound, New Zealand

5 May 2020

Milford Sound, New Zealand

In the movie MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT, the sixth installment of the series, the IMF team of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) undertakes a dangerous mission to recover stolen plutonium. Filming on location took place in France (see Paris, France), Great Britain, Norway, United States, United Arab Emirates and New Zealand. The first day of shooting was on 8 April 2017 in Paris. Over a year later, on 25 March 2018, the last scene was filmed in the desert near Abu Dhabi.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout, 1:51:29

The extended period of filming was partly due to an injury that Tom Cruise suffered when he jumped from a building on 13 August. Production had to be shut down for eight weeks so he could recover. A month earlier, on July 9th, he had tweeted: "Thank you to the amazing people of New Zealand! I've had a great time filming the next Mission: Impossible here." In New Zealand the helicopter chase was filmed and the scenes set in Kashmir, India.

Milford Sound, 18 January 2020

These scenes were filmed in Rees Valley. The valley is located on private property and is not open to the public. Luckily, Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park is accessible. This beautiful nature reserve is can be seen at the very beginning of the film when Ethan has a dream in which he marries his ex-wife Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). The priest is his enemy from the previous film, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris).

From Milford Sound boat trips can be made through the fjords, all the way to the ocean. One of the employees of the shipping company pointed out the spot where the dream sequence was filmed, it is at the end of a boardwalk. To my surprise the tree, a mountain beech, that frames the scene so beautifully is real. The waterfall in the background is the Lady Bowen Falls. The same location can also be seen in the films Willow and Alien: Covenant.