The official title of Mission: Impossible 4 is Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and no, Tom Clancy's name does not preceed that. Stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and director Brad Bird announced the news at a press conference in Dubai. They also said they'll be doing a lot of filming in Dubai, including on the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa. Said Tom Cruise, "I’ll be spending many days, many hours on the side of this building, I can’t give you details, but I will be up there." Not sure if his being up there has to do with the movie, or that he heard Katie was on the ground looking for him. (Collider)

Josh Holloway, best known for playing con man and quip spouter Sawyer on "Lost," has chosen to accept Mission: Impossible 4 as his next project. He'll suit up with a cast that already includes Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Ving Rhames, and Simon Pegg. No details on who he'll play or what he'll do or how the movie will include a plot. I do know the when. It's shooting in the fall for a December 2011 release.
Mission: Impossible 4 will be directed by Brad Bird, the guy who makes terrific animated movies. It's the first studio film for Holloway and the first live action studio film for Bird. Talk about the odd men out. If some teasing and serious intimidation on Tom Cruise's part doesn't cause rifts in production someone isn't taking full advantage of their elite Hollywood status. Give the rookies purple nurples while you still can, veterans! (THR)

On Monday, we reported that Lauren German, Kristin Kreuk, and Paula Patton were in contention for the sexy female role in Mission: Impossible 4. Well Paula Patton has emerged victorious! The Deja Vu star will play a young operative who works with Ethan Hunt.
Tom Cruise will reprise his role as Hunt, but Paramount doesn't want to make a big deal about his involvement. He was the cat's meow back when the first movie launched, but now he's that guy you dread having lunch with simply to maintain the relationship. Maybe M:I 4 director Brad Bird can elevate his status back to Top Gun levels. That is if co-star Jeremy Renner doesn't steal the spotlight. Oh how that would anger Cruise so. Couch-stomping mad. (Deadline)

Now that Jeremy Renner has been cast to distract from the fact that box office poison Tom Cruise is appearing in Mission: Impossible 4, it's time to figure out which skinny actress will be running around and firing Uzi's that somehow don't shatter her wrist. And the contenders are Hostel 2's Lauren German, Streetfighter's Kristin Kreuk, and Alan Thicke's daughter-in-law Paula Patton.
The three actresses are all testing for the role of a female operative in the Brad Bird-helmed sequel. Nothing more is known about the character beyond that description, but let's assume she will wear a leather bodysuit. All the best spies do. (Deadline)

Paula Patton plays the victim in Denzel Washington’s murder case in the film Déjà Vu.  But she’s also not the victim because she’s still alive.  Listen, I don’t have time to explain the whole space-time continuum thing right now.  Go read Stephen Hawking after you ogle Paula.A word from Paula: "Well you always joke. There’s that countdown to the sex scene. Like, 'Okay, five days until sex scene. No more carbs."I totally agree. Okay, one hour until sex scene. Finish your burrito.Check out more pics of carb-less Paula after the jump.