Tom Cruise Perform In His New Movie With Paula Patton: EW has confirmed that Paula Patton (Precious) has signed onto the new Mission: Impossible movie as the female lead. (Deadline.com first reported the story.) According to a source close to the film — which stars Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner, is produced by Cruise and J.J. Abrams, and will be directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles) — it will not be a “reboot” as has been reported, but it won’t be titled Mission: Impossible IV  either.

As for Patton, she’s reportedly playing an up-and-coming agent working with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. But since the film’s plot will likely remain locked in a pressure-temperature-and-sound-sensitive vault until much closer to the movie’s expected Dec. 16, 2011 release, Patton’s character could be anything from Keri Russell’s character in the Abrams directed Mission: Impossible III (i.e. a platonic teammate), to Emmanuelle Béart’s role from 1996′s Mission: Impossible (i.e. a seductress and double agent). So let’s wildly speculate and write Patton’s first scene.

INT. NONDESCRIPT CONCRETE BUNKER – NIGHT

ETHAN HUNT, clad in a secret-agent-y black jumpsuit, with night goggles perched on his forehand and a sleek and lethal looking gun strapped to his back, races down a long, dank hallway, cluttered with industrial debris. He’s sweating. He’s stressed. It appears he’s been running at a breakneck speed for a half-hour. But he also seems notably YOUNGER than we remember, like maybe the first time we met him.

At the end of the hallway, he reaches what appears to be a giant, foreboding STEEL DOOR, but there are no hinges, no handle, no apparent way in at all. Hunt looks at it. Runs his hands around the edges. Nothing. He opens a pouch on his leg, and pulls out what looks like a PACK OF GUM. He grabs a strip, and opens the foil — one side of the gum is green, and the other red. This looks somehow familiar…