
Deadline.com is reporting that 'Precious' actress Paula Patton has landed the lead female role in the fourth installment of the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise.
The Los Angeles native will play a young operative who works with Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt character. The website also stated that the film will not be called 'Mission: Impossible 4.' Cruise and J.J. Abrams, who hatched the project together, always envisioned it as a franchise reboot. The film begins production in the fall, with Brad Bird directing Cruise, who'll co-star alongside Jeremy Renner, of 'The Hurt Locker,' who landed the other hotly contested role.
Patton, who was recently cast as the new assistant district attorney for the NBC drama series 'Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,' apparently beat out actresses Lauren German and Kristen Kreuk for the coveted spot.










