During pre-pro for Uncle Stav, Stavros came to us with an idea: a Mission: Impossible parody to tease the special's release. The concept was hilarious, but it came with a challenge. We wanted to shoot in Baltimore right after the taping, and the whole joke depended on nailing Tom Cruise's classic wire heist scene. No faking it, no green screen. So we accepted our own mission: find the stunt team, studio, props, design, and camera solutions to recreate one of cinema's most iconic scenes, Stav-style. We think you'll agree it was a huge success.

First, we needed a stage. Hunter at Renegade Studios in Baltimore was all in the moment he heard the concept. We turned his white cyc into a CIA headquarters on a shoestring: gaff-tape lines over glossy paint for the floor, printed paper vents on the walls for dimension, and a pile of era-specific tech sourced from eBay and local prop houses.

Safety came first, so the stunt team was the one place we weren't going to cut corners. Stuntworks, led by Roberto Lopez, came down from New York with decades of experience. They suspended Stav in a multi-point harness that could raise and lower him mid-shot. It took some getting used to, but Stav was a hero. And with Matt Johnson directing, he delivered a legendary performance.

We shot anamorphic as an homage to the film, and we built out the boiler room and air vent sets from whatever props we could find around the studio. Our own Matt Pearson built a LUT based on the original film stock from De Palma's film, so DP Jared Raab could see a monitor image that matched the final look we were going for in post.

It felt like film school all over again: a ridiculous idea, a tight budget, and a team that made it happen.

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