LOS ANGELES (AP) - The new director of the third "Mission: Impossible" movie got the job by making Tom Cruise a fan of his TV show "Alias."

J.J. Abrams, who created the ABC (CTV’s) spy series that stars Jennifer Garner, had a meeting with Cruise to discuss the upcoming "Mission: Impossible" sequel, but considered himself a long shot.

"I had a meeting with Mr. Cruise and I gave him the (first and second season) `Alias’ DVDs. He’d never seen the show, and I thought, you know, `He’ll never watch it,’" Abrams said Wednesday. "I got a call a couple of months later and he had watched every episode."

After a long search, Paramount Pictures and Cruise’s production company announced this week that Abrams was their choice to direct the third installment in the "Mission: Impossible" action-adventure series, which is a remake of a popular 1960s TV show.

"`Alias’ has been in some ways preparation for what that will be," Abrams said of the movie. "If it hadn’t been for the DVDs, I definitely wouldn’t have the job."

He made the remarks at a presentation in Hollywood for the DVD of season three of "Alias," which goes on sale Sept. 7.

In an interview set to air Friday on "Access Hollywood," Cruise said it was Abrams’ work on "Alias" that caught his eye. "I’m a big fan of his," Cruise said. "You look at what he’s accomplished with that show, the characters and the story. He’s a really talented guy."

The first "Mission: Impossible" movie came out in 1996 and was directed by Brian De Palma. John Woo directed "Mission: Impossible II."

Cruise and Abrams plan to begin shooting the movie in summer 2005, after Cruise finishes working with Steven Spielberg on a new big-screen version of H.G. Wells’ Martian-invasion saga "The War of the Worlds."

Meanwhile, Abrams will finish work on the fourth season of "Alias" and the launch of his new ABC show, "Lost," about a group of plane crash survivors stranded on an island populated by mysterious animals.