Let’s face it, Mission: Impossible III doesn’t really need to do press for everyone to know it’s coming. Whereas we usually get to sit down with the filmmakers a couple weeks before a movie comes out, this time the best we could get was a conference call with director J.J. Abrams. So, please forgive the rush job in putting this together, but the interview was only Wednesday.

For his first feature film, Abrams would have been hard pressed to find a more difficult project. “The most challenging thing was probably the logistics of filming in the United States, in Los Angeles and in Virginia, shooting in Italy in two cities, in China in two cities, in Berlin and having all the visual effects shots there,” Abrams said. “There are many, many visual effects shots in this movie and special effects and stunts. It was really just logistically preparing this and a lot of that credit goes to the producers of the movie who helped schedule and set up the production of the film. But you know, we were incredibly responsible I think making this movie. We finished ahead of schedule and under budget. For me, it was totally the result of having a crew that was just hard working and dedicated and great at what they do.”

The whole time, and throughout his press tour, Abrams has faced questions about his abilities as a first-time director. “The opportunity to do this movie was so remarkable. I can’t think of anyone else who would let someone who’d never directed a feature before take the reigns of something that is this large in scale, this expensive and yet Tom did. He believed in me and never wavered from that in the entire experience. I do think that there were moments where I was in shock that I was given this opportunity but the truth is I’ve wanted to do this all my life and the pressure and the experience of doing television seemed to continually confirm that doing a movie was something that was certainly possible. I didn’t necessarily think the first movie I would get a chance to direct would be something as large as this one, but the crew was so incredible. Tom and his producing partner Paula Wagner were so supportive from the beginning, that I always felt and I believe the whole crew always felt incredibly supported and safe which always allows for more creativity. So the whole experience was great and I honestly never doubted that I could do it. I actually felt incredibly comfortable doing it. It was a fun challenge.”

Cruise and Wagner also allowed Abrams to make a movie with a strong supporting cast, so it wasn’t just the Ethan Hunt show. “What I wanted to make sure is that we were casting actors and writing parts that were as strong as they could be because when you’ve got Tom Cruise, it’s that blinding star power. You can’t put him on screen with someone who can’t play at that level or they’ll get drowned out and the movie won’t have a spark. So you bring in actors like Laurence Fishburne and Billy Crudup and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and certainly Philip Seymour Hoffman, and you find people like Michelle Monaghan or Maggie Q. I got to bring Keri Russell back who I’d worked with on Felicity. It was incredibly important to me for not just the team, but for all the supporting actors, that they be not just wonderful actors but have a certain level of that charisma. And it was great to see Tom with all these actors because he I’m sure could feel that same energy coming from them and I think it only made him better and it certainly makes the film better, populating it with people who are that compelling to watch.”

As Hunt’s IMF team, Rhys-Meyers, Q, and returning Rhames don’t just tell Hunt how much time he’s got left. “I wanted to make sure that very quickly everyone felt incredibly distinct. What I love about Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is he sort of felt to me in many ways the Irish version of where Tom was in the first Mission movie which is a little bit more of a cocky guy who is at an age where he hasn’t been doing this for very long. I wanted to have with Maggie Q, I really wanted to have an incredibly strong female, powerful voice and character in someone who was as lethal as she is brave as she is vulnerable. Maggie brought all that. She also looks incredibly good in that red dress that she wears to of all places The Vatican. And I knew we had Ving coming back who I had loved in so much of the work he had done in other films but I felt like he still hadn’t been as relatable as I wanted him to be in the first two films and I just think he so brought incredible personality to the role of Luther. So it was just important that Tom’s character be surrounded by distinct and unique and compelling other characters.”

Abrams also added more detail to the IMF gadgets, from their face-making system to their skyscraper crossing wires. “I thought part of the fun of Mission: Impossible the series for me was always not just the what and the why, but the how. And I just loved watching this team using the kind of equipment and using it with such a precision that I wished I had that kind of equipment and I wish I knew how the hell to do that stuff. It’s easy to skip that stuff and go right to the end game and get to the point, but I feel like part of getting to know and love the team is seeing them do their job and appreciating why they have been chosen to be out in the field.”

And this time, it’s personal. Hunt is not only trying to save the world, but his wife who’s been kidnapped by the villains. “My dream version of Mission: Impossible still hadn’t gotten made, which was a version that allowed us to see who these characters were as people, not just as spies. And I loved the idea of exploring what does it look like when Ethan Hunt goes home? Not just what does his home look like, but who’s there? If there’s a woman in his life, does she know what he does? My guess is no. And if not, how does he live with himself betraying this woman? And he must know these two worlds are going to collide. It’s going to happen. So that became one of the themes of the movie.”

Whatever attention Cruise’s real life romance may be generating, Abrams feels the film stands on its own. “In terms of Tom’s publicity, I’m sure you can find evidence that any publicity is good publicity and also find evidence equally valid that having him go on Oprah is not a good thing for him. You could probably find anything to support a point of view, but my feeling is that what I control, what I can do is try and make a movie that’s entertaining and hopefully one that you leave the theater feeling better and more empowered than you did when you got there. So I’m hoping that, and I believe that the audiences who will see this film are smart enough to differentiate the two, the actor and the character. And I’ve got to tell you, knowing Tom as well as I do, I see every day who this guy is as a real person. He is funny and he is self-deprecating and he’s smart and he’s easygoing and he’s kind, not just to me but to everyone who worked on the crew, he’s a good person. So I wanted to see a little bit less of an icon and a little bit more of us, of the everyman in this character and I think the audiences will see that.”

Mission: Impossible III opens Friday.