Since Tom Cruise decided to accept another fiendishly-difficult-but-let’s-face-it-not-quite-Impossible-or-there-would-be-no-movie Mission, there’s been speculation as to who would direct the fourth outing in his spy series.

Rumour suggested Brad Bird... Well, it's no longer rumour: it’s Brad Bird.

As previously reported, Cruise – who is producing with part three’s creator, JJ Abrams – was considering both Bird and Blighty’s own Edgar Wright, but Mission: Impossible IV is officially going to The Incredibles writer/director.

Wright, who is still tied up with post-production on his hotly anticipated comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, is still on Cruise’s must-work-with list, though.

“I dig Edgar. Very nice guy, very smart, very talented, I’d really like to do something with him,” said Cruise, talking to Empire recently in Los Angeles. “I met Edgar on the set of Mission 3. Simon Pegg and those guys are hilarious. I love Shaun Of The Dead. It’s amazing. But we’re working with Brad right now. I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it but everything’s signed... Brad is doing it.”

Um, we hope you were allowed to talk about it, Tom. The tape recorder was on, anyway. “The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille – Brad is enormously talented and JJ and I are having a blast, cranking away,” Cruise continued. “We’re having a lot of fun. I like working with people I just love hanging out with. You get to hang out and laugh and talk stories and movies and technology: what are we going to do?”

Mission: Impossible IV should hit theatres in 2011. In the meantime, Cruise’s spy antics continue in rom-com-cum-actioner Knight And Day (we’ve seen some of it – it looks terrific), due out in the UK on July 14 (June 25 in the US).

For a full interview with Cruise and his co-star, Cameron Diaz, pick up the next issue of Empire (not the current one – though buy that, too – the next one, out on June 3).

This story will self-destruct... if it receives enough hits.