For "Mission: Impossible III," Cruise, who also served as producer on the franchise, needed a fresh new direction. After failing to get the project in motion with Joe Carnahan (with a cast that would have featured Scarlett Johansson, Kenneth Branagh, and Carrie-Anne Moss, per Slashfilm), he turned to TV director J.J. Abrams to direct the next installment. Looking for some new cast members, Abrams put out an offer to Ricky Gervais, creator and star of the British sitcom, "The Office."
In fact, Gervais officially landed the role of quirky tech savant Benji Dunn in January 2005, with the actor himself excited to join the film. "I greatly admire the director [J.J.] Abrams and Tom Cruise is the greatest film star of our generation. It should be fun," he told the Daily Mirror at the time (via UPI). Unfortunately, repeated delays in the film's production proved to be a problem for Gervais, who was committed to not just his own TV series, which was seeing an explosion in popularity, but the Christopher Guest film "For Your Consideration" (per Vulture). Eventually, Gervais was forced to drop out and was replaced by "Shaun of the Dead" star, Simon Pegg.
Oddly enough, this wouldn't be the last time that Abrams would call on Gervais only to be rebuffed. The director would offer him the part of Scotty in the big-screen reboot of "Star Trek," and it would once again be Pegg who wound up taking the role.
