Michelle Monaghan Talks Trilogy, Tom Cruise Reunion

“Where in the world is Michelle Monaghan?” has been a recurring question of late. 

The actor has been jet-setting all over the globe the last couple years, beginning with The White Lotus season three in Thailand. As she often does, she turned her experience on the critically acclaimed HBO series into a family affair, as her husband and two children joined her in Southeast Asia for their own off-camera adventure. And within a few months of wrapping, the Iowa native departed for The Family Plan 2’s London and Paris-based shoot where her family proceeded to meet up with her once more for a holiday season in the U.K.

Written by David Coggeshall and directed by Simon Cellan Jones, 2023’s The Family Plan quickly became Apple TV’s most-watched original film at the time, earning a fast-tracked sequel that just hit the streaming platform less than two years after the original’s release. The now-franchise chronicles the Morgan family, specifically Dan (Mark Wahlberg) and Jessica (Monaghan), as well as their three kids. In the first film, Dan’s former life as a covert assassin catches up to him, prompting a last-minute family road trip across the United States. Dan tries to fend off his former cohorts without having to reveal his true identity to his family, but he eventually has to come clean so that everyone can fight the good fight together. That group effort continues overseas in the sequel, as the Morgans decide to meet up with their daughter/sister Nina (Zoe Colletti) who’s studying abroad during the holidays.

What makes both Family Plan films so entertaining is that neither is strictly the Mark Wahlberg show. The entire family gets to take center stage as heroes, and similar to Monaghan’s three-time co-star Tom Cruise, Wahlberg makes a point to elevate his castmates. For example, there’s a foot chase in the sequel where Monaghan’s former decathlete character outpaces him by a wide margin in an alleyway. Eventually, the family embarks on a wild car chase in Paris while Wahlberg’s character literally takes a backseat after being drugged.

The Morgan family’s involvement in the action was certainly a key part of the appeal for Monaghan, but most of all, she wanted to be able to offer her own family a type of family-oriented film that her filmography lacks.

“I’ve done a wide range of work in my career, but I can count on one hand the number of projects that my kids can actually watch,” Monaghan tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So The Family Plan allowed me to sit them down and say, ‘Hey, Mom made this. We can all watch it together. You don’t have to wait three or four more years before I say it’s okay.’”

Speaking of Cruise, Monaghan recently reunited with her Mission: Impossible franchise co-star at a dinner celebrating the honorary Oscar he was slated to receive at the Governors Awards on Nov. 16. She also reunited with her Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams, as well as producer Paula Wagner. The evening granted Monaghan the chance to express her gratitude to Cruise for the last 20 years.

“I said thank you to [Tom] for the impact that he’s not only had on this industry as a whole, but also on so many individual careers, most certainly mine. He’s such a champion and cheerleader for everyone,” Monaghan shares. “He’s completely incomparable. So for him to be honored — and to see that kind of recognition go to somebody who’s so deeply deserving of it — it was really heartwarming for everybody within the industry.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Monaghan also discusses her hope for a Family Plan trilogy, before looking back on another lasting friendship of hers that ties back to Mission: Impossible III.

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Between The Family Plan 2 and The White Lotus, you’ve had quite the globe-trotting adventure the last couple years.

Oh my God, I really have. It’s been amazing. 

Both stories involve rather eventful vacations. When you go on your own vacations now, do you find them to be incredibly dull by comparison?

(Laughs.) That’s so funny. We do try to make the most of our vacations, but yeah, there’s a lot less drama, let’s just put it that way. My family joined me in Thailand for about three months while we were shooting The White Lotus there, and thankfully, I’ve got a pretty adventurous family. We all got diving certificates, and we spent a lot of time diving there. So we really took advantage of what Thailand and Southeast Asia had to offer. We went to Cambodia and to the temple in Angkor Wat, so they enjoy traveling with me. 

When I got to London for The Family Plan 2 [at the end of 2024], it was just so beautiful, and I couldn’t believe how festive the city was at that particular time of year. So I called them up and I was like, “Guys, I think we’re going to be the Morgans this year. We’re going to be celebrating Christmas abroad.” So they came over to spend the holidays in London, and it was pretty magical. 

When you book new jobs now, is their first question, “Where does it shoot?” 

(Laughs.) I’m not going to lie, that has happened. I just recently signed on to do a wonderful [hockey drama] project with 21 Laps for Netflix, and I said to my 12-year-old son: “Tommy, I’m packing my bags to go work.” And he was like, “Where?” (Laughs.) And I said, “It’s Vancouver.” He’s been up there. It’s beautiful. So I’m just excited to be in the same time zone for my next gig. As we know, the industry rarely shoots here in L.A., sadly. I’ve been shooting in very far-flung places, so I’m excited to be on the continent of North America again.

The Family Plan became Apple TV’s most-watched film ever at the time, and the fact they green lit a sequel so quickly makes that all the more evident. Given that streaming success for movies is hard to come by, were you pleasantly surprised that the first movie happened to break through all the noise?

Yeah, I was definitely pleasantly surprised. But I knew when I read it that it was something special. The writing was on the page. We had a great writer, David Coggeshall, and a terrific director, Simon Cellan Jones. And with Mark attached, it just felt very relatable. It was a throwback to a genre of family movie that we rarely see anymore. So I just knew when I read it that it was going to appeal to families in a four-quadrant kind of way. 

Being a mom with a 17-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, we struggle to actually agree on a movie. We can agree that we want to watch a movie on a Sunday afternoon, but when we actually sit down to find something to go to or to stream, we sit around for an hour trying to figure it out. So [making that decision easier for families] was something that really excited me. I’ve done a wide range of work in my career, but I can count on one hand the number of projects that my kids can actually watch. So The Family Plan allowed me to sit them down and say, “Hey, Mom made this. We can all watch it together. You don’t have to wait three or four more years before I say it’s okay.”

Professionally, I knew Mark [Wahlberg], and I already had a great rapport with him. We’d worked years ago [as husband and wife] on the movie Patriots Day, and we had a great time. I also have a history with Skydance [through the Mission: Impossible franchise], and it just felt like all the pieces of the puzzle added up to something that was going to be really successful. So the fact that global audiences have related to it and found it really entertaining has been super validating for us, and I was really proud that we got a chance to make a second one.

What I appreciate about both of these films is that everybody is active. It’s very easy for action movies to sideline everyone but the hero, however, every Morgan family member gets their hero moment. Was that also part of the initial draw?

Absolutely. What’s really special is that the family all has to depend on each other, and they all lean on their respective strengths to help them beat the odds. That’s something that we can all relate to in terms of family dynamics. Obviously, it’s heightened because of the nature of the film, but there’s always the tech person in the family. That’s [Van Crosby’s] Kyle. There’s the workhorse in the family, and that’s Mark’s Dan character. There’s the sassy nurturer in the family, and that’s my character, Jessica. Then there’s [Zoe Colletti’s] really driven, very passionate character of Nina who wants to change the world. These are all honorable qualities that coexist in the dynamics of many families. So I loved the way that David was able to incorporate all these different attributes so that you can root for each individual character and, ultimately, the family as a whole.

In the first movie, they make a pitstop at a fictional Iowa university called Southern Iowa. Did you engineer that destination since you’re an Iowa native? 

Oh my gosh, no, but it’s so funny that you say that. I actually thought that they wrote in a school that was like University of Iowa because they thought it would appeal to me. But no, it was already written in the script. Listen, I’ve done a few keg stands in my life. (Laughs.) That scene was not the first time I’ve been tailgating. I am a girl from Iowa. So I just loved that there was that Iowa component, and it was a really fun day when we shot that in Atlanta over Thanksgiving two years ago. My entire extended family was there to celebrate Thanksgiving together, and they got a real kick out of me shooting at this university [that’s meant to be reminiscent of University of Iowa], because we’re huge Hawkeyes fans. They also got a kick out of me doing a keg stand, and they didn’t think much had changed.

You also had one of the funniest one-liners in the first film after dealing with Maggie Q’s character: “There’s nine other events, bitch.” 

(Laughs.) It was such a humdinger of a line, and it’s one of my favorite lines of all time. I remember laughing out loud when I read it, and I thought, “God, I hope I can actually nail it on the day.” It was just so well written and so well executed and so well edited. It’s great when something like that all comes together in a really unexpected moment. Now, in Family Plan 2, they’ve really leaned into Jessica as a former decathlete, and they really wanted to see her explore those nine other events.

Hollywood loves the rule of three, so has there been any talk of making Family Plan a trilogy? 

We’d all love to make a Family Plan 3. I think we’d all sign up for that. This is a film series that works, we’ve got an incredible creative team and audiences seem to really love it. It’s really nice to be out and about in the world and have families comment to me, “We’ve watched it three times together. Our kids really love it.” I actually just did a little surprise screening for my son’s sixth grade class yesterday, and the kids just loved the film. So it’s very fulfilling for me, and if there’s a three in the future, I would absolutely love to do it.

In Family Plan 2, your character interacts with her brothers over a bag of ice at Thanksgiving. It reminded me of the time that Aaron Paul played your brother in Mission: Impossible III before eventually playing your husband on The Path. Did the two of you crack a bunch of jokes about that in the early going of that show?

(Laughs.) Yes, we really did! You’re not going to believe this, but just before I picked up the phone for our call, I was texting with Aaron. He’s one of my best friends, and I adore him, dearly, as a brother, husband and friend. Boy, Mission: Impossible III was so long ago [2006]. What’s funny is I didn’t even put two and two together at the time. I got cast in The Path [in 2015], and I remember being on the phone with Aaron, going, “Come on, let’s do this together. This would be so amazing.” It was then so exciting when he signed up. And once we got together, he was like, “Remember when I was your brother in Mission: Impossible III?” And I was like, “Holy shit, dude, you were! This is weird!” So we had a big laugh over that, and I would love to work with that guy again. He’s beyond talented. I respect him so much as an artist, and he’s just a really terrific human.

The Family Plan 2 has a big stretch in Paris, and I also couldn’t help but think of Mission: Impossible — Fallout since you’re bound to see some of the same locations. Would you like to finally reveal what Rebecca Ferguson’s character whispered to your character at the end? 

(Laughs.) I will never tell! And I don’t think she’ll ever tell. That was our little secret. Gosh, she’s such a firecracker. She’s a dynamite woman. That’s such a special franchise to me. The opportunities to be able to work with and befriend the people that have come in and out of that franchise has been so special. It’s informed so much of my career over the years. Rebecca is someone who I will have a long-lasting friendship with, and I respect her to the moon and back.

Did she say the same line every time? 

She definitely changed it up. She’s quite rascally, that one.

Were you happy to see Tom Cruise get a long-overdue Oscar recently? 

Oh my gosh, it was so wonderful and so beautiful. I had a chance to catch up with him at a dinner a couple of nights before that. I also saw J.J. [Abrams] and Paula Wagner, our producer, at the time. There’s just something so gratifying about being able to say thank you. I said thank you to him for the impact that he’s not only had on this industry as a whole, but also on so many individual careers, most certainly mine. He’s such a champion and cheerleader for everyone. It’s snowballed year after year, and there’s just no one like him. He’s completely incomparable. So for him to be honored — and to see that kind of recognition go to somebody who’s so deeply deserving of it — it was really heartwarming for everybody within the industry.

I’m a big fan of Source Code, and I read a weird piece of trivia recently. It claimed that Jake Gyllenhaal wore an earwig throughout that movie, not for lines, but for music and noise that was supposed to disorient his character. Is that true? 

Oh gosh, I don’t recall that. 

Yeah, it’s so far-fetched that you’d probably remember it if it were true.

But he may have, and I just wasn’t aware of it. Maybe he just chose particular scenes in which to wear it. We shot that movie on a stage in Montreal, and that train car was on a gimbal. So we spent however many hours a day just rocking back and forth on that train, and we spent a lot of time just sitting across from each other. So I think I would’ve seen it or had some knowledge of him putting it in his ear, but he may have utilized it in different parts of the film. I just don’t recall it sitting opposite him. But I can imagine that it would be a really smart way to disorient yourself. I just can’t say for sure if he did that or not.

I still marvel at your photoshoot scene in Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere. How did those dynamic changes feel so authentic? 

I have to go back and watch that movie. I usually only watch a movie once, and then I never see it again. Which dynamics are you talking about?

Your character is co-stars with Stephen Dorff’s character, and she clearly hates his guts. So she alternates between smiling for the camera and muttering her true feelings under her breath.

That’s so funny because I sincerely don’t remember doing it, but I do remember loving getting to work with Sofia and Stephen. The only detail that I do recall from that scene is the apple box he’s standing on because he’s shorter than I am. It’s that classic Hollywood moment of, “This is an issue. You’re going to have to take off your heels.” By the way, I don’t do that anymore. There was a period in my career where that was expected of actresses, but now I think they just know better, which is probably a good thing. I’m not going to take my shoes off for anybody — unless it’s for sound. But thank you for acknowledging that scene. I’m going to have to go back and watch Somewhere.

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The Family Plan 2 is now streaming on Apple TV.