“Mission: Impossible 7” star Hayley Atwell: Superstar Tom Cruise put his life in her hands

“Mission: Impossible 7” star Hayley Atwell
Superstar Tom Cruise put his life in her hands

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” has started in German cinemas. The British-American actress Hayley Atwell (41), who is particularly well-known from Marvel films and series, joins the agent film series for part seven. With superstar Tom Cruise (61) she had to be able to keep up with the traditionally handmade stunts of the franchise. For example, Atwell himself was behind the wheel of a vehicle in Rome, while the actor who played Ethan Hunt was actually handcuffed to her. Computer tricks were largely avoided in these scenes.

In an interview with the news agency spot on news, Atwell describes how she visited a race track several times a week in preparation for the action blockbuster until Tom Cruise was willing to put his life in her hands. Atwell also reveals why her character in “Mission: Impossible 7” basically stands up for the audience.

Ms. Atwell, you are new to the ‘Mission: Impossible’ film series in Part 7. What were the particular challenges for you during the shoot?

Hayley Atwell: The fact that Tom Cruise does his own stunts is what makes this franchise so physical and unique. That’s why, right from my first screen test, experts took a close look at how I move and what my physical strengths might be. It was also looked at what kinds of skills I could learn. A tremendous amount of work went into the preparation.

I myself trained as an athlete all day long for over five months. This included things like unarmed fight choreographies, later also with knives and firearms, and especially a lot of drifting with the car.

This surprised me the most: The fact that I became a fairly competent and capable drifter – a skill I never thought I would possess. With Wade Eastwood, our stunt coordinator, I was at a track several times a week for those five months until I got to a level where he and Tom trusted me behind the wheel while Tom was handcuffed somewhere in Rome chained me

That’s no small thing. They would never have put me in such a situation if they felt it would endanger Tom or any other crew member. And it was incredibly exciting and invigorating to accept this challenge.

Her director, Christopher McQuarrie, has said that her new character, Grace, is, at least at the beginning of the film, an outsider trying to navigate a world that is alien to her. What do you mean with that?

Atwell: The goal with these two new ‘Mission: Impossible’ films is to deliver the same type of physical experience that we have come to expect and want from this film series. It’s always about being progressive and pushing new technologies that exist now but didn’t exist in the last film. So there should always be something fresh and new.

So, as a new cast member, it was clear to me that if they were looking for something new, it would be someone new to this world. So my character, Grace, is one who’s not always sure what’s going on. She is bold and daring, but also very vulnerable. She is very responsive and thinks up solutions as things happen around her. This allowed Tom and I to playfully discover the chemistry between our two characters.

So that’s what is meant by Grace being an outsider. In a way, there are a lot of scenes where I felt like she’s actually the audience. Imagine being cast in a ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie and suddenly you’re behind the wheel of a car, handcuffed to Tom Cruise and you’re like, ‘What am I doing here?’

The audience gets a good sense of how Grace is feeling because they would probably feel the same way in her situation.

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