Brad Bird for Mission: Impossible 4?

Talk about an impossible mission.

Paramount Pictures are keen to get cameras rolling on a fourth Mission: Impossible movie this summer, with a view to releasing it on the really-not-too-distant 27 May, 2011.

Yeah, crazyness. Which means they’re sort of scrabbling to find, well, some actors, a director...You know, the essential ingredients for making a movie.

The Hollywood Reporter has discovered that series figurehead Tom Cruise and producer-director out mission three J. J. Abrams have spoken to Ruben Fleischer ( Zombieland ), Edgar Wright (you know who he is) and Brad Bird ( The Incredibles ) about directing the flick.

An interesting collection of names there, with Fleischer obviously riding high on the success of his zom-com, and Wright beloved by all for Spaced , Sean and Hot Fuzz . Bird is an odd choice, though, considering his work in animation rather than live action.

Whoever gets the gig will be working from a script inked by Andre Nemec and Josh Applebaum, who both worked on ABC’s quickly-cancelled US version of Life On Mars .

Got a preference?

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.