During a recent interview withScreenRant, starHayley Atwelldiscussed herMission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Onecharacter Grace and revealed what it’s like to work withTom Cruise. The newest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise follows Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and the IMF team as they attempt to track down a deadly technological weapon.
While chatting with SR,Atwell shared her thoughts on joining the Mission Impossible franchise, admitting that the role isn’t like any of her previous work.
Atwell said “It is very different. I think I’m 17 years into my career, so in that time I’ve developed a work ethic that’s very focused and disciplined, but it also has asked me to adapt to different filmmaking styles or different characterizations. You create this flexibility to be able to take on new challenges, and that approach then remains the same regardless of the genre or whether it’s a more physical or more literary role.”
She later added “[They wanted] someone that would collaborate with them. Based on my level of commitment to the process of discovering new things, then the character would naturally emerge. Which is why I feel like I was having so much fun with Grace; why she’s so mischievous.”
TheAgent Carterstar went on to share her thoughts on her character, saying, “Grace, I would say, is consistently inconsistent. A lone wolf. She’s hyper-vigilant. She’s out for herself out of necessity; because she’s had to be. It’s how she’s survived. She’s learned skills on the job, as opposed to having had any real formal training, which means she can be quite scrappy and can also duck and dive and adapt to situations.”
She continued, “And, of course, that shares an origin story with Ethan Hunt who kind of has a similar background. They are sort of two sides of the same coin; there’s a kind of cat-and-mouse feel to them — like siblings in a way. And that creates a kind of exasperation between them that becomes also very endearing and very funny.”
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Atwell then revealed what it was like working onMission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part Onewith a longtime film star like Cruise. TheCinderellastar said, “He’s an athlete, he is a stuntman, and he’s one of the best in the world. When he comes to set, not only is he fully engaged in the technical side of things and the acting side of things, but he is so clear and aware physically of what needs to happen for a stunt to go not only smoothly, but in a dynamic way. [He uses] multiple takes, different lenses, different angles, and different levels of performance. And his commitment is knowing how to be competent at something, and therefore safe – because he’s not careful in the sense of putting himself on guard.”
She continued, “He actually kind of goes, ‘I want to be fearless in this way. I can only be fearless if I really know what I’m doing technically and physically and [am] really good at it.’ And so for me, I trust him implicitly because I also know he trusts himself. His level of detail and attention, and his care for us and very much his care for me, was very much [like] a mentor.”
Atwell noted, “It’s a bit like having your boxing coach in the ring going, ‘Come on, you can do it.’ There was a real sense of trust from him that I had earned, so I was able to drift him while he was in the passenger side and handcuffed to me, which is a huge thing for him to have put his life in my hands for that time. And that was also because, over time, we had developed that trust together. I had been fully embracing the process and what it would take to be able to get up to that level with him.”
TheBlack Mirrorstar wrapped things up by sharing her thoughts onMission Impossibleand modern technology.
She said, “I think it’s an incredible story.Mission: Impossibletaps into the zeitgeist and the cultural consciousness of the technology that we are exploring now, and that we are having to find out what to do with. And I think that kind of creates great stakes for a drama like this.”
