Ahead of the release of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Hayley Atwell is throwing praise at lead Tom Cruise.
It’s a great irony that any movie with Tom Cruise would have the word “impossible” in it, and yet here we are on the verge of the eighth. And just like the rest of us, co-star Hayley Atwell learned fast that Cruise wouldn’t just be doing insane stunts himself but encouraging castmates to do the same.
Hayley Atwell – who came onboard the Mission: Impossible franchise as Grace in 2023’s Dead Reckoning Part One – recently recalled being plunged into an environment that let her explore a style that took her places she had never seen before. As Atwell says, working with Tom Cruise forces you to do the homework and follow through. “There’ll be Tom going: ‘From five years old I’ve always wanted to jump from a cliff on a motorbike’, and realising his dream. But with the rest, they’re kind of making it up as they go. When I auditioned, they were clear they were looking for someone who likes to work in this way, and that it’s not for everyone. I also had to be prepared for five months of full-time physical training and to be dynamic enough to learn fight sequences, to drift in a car with Tom, to be able to shoot a gun and work with knives.” No wonder this movie is practically giving people heart attacks!
As for what Atwell was going through in her mind prior to working with Cruise in such a high-stakes environment, she added, “When I started, I was very aware of the rarefied air around him and how there is no one like him. And there never will be because actors aren’t made like him any more. He is a one-man studio and, to me, very kind, very professional.” It was this mode that helped push Atwell to give it everything she had, something Cruise is no stranger to inspiring in his co-stars. “And because of that, I felt I was able to try lots of different things. There was never a risk of failure or being unsafe. Tom really likes people to thrive on set.”
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is without a doubt one of the most anticipated movies of 2025, likely concluding a series that I personally think is the best action franchise ever. It’s still kind of up in the air if there will actually be more M:I sequels but at some point it is just going to feel right to end it. Putting “Final” in the title would seem to nudge it in that direction, but with nothing set in stone and Tom Cruise always up to exploring the limits, “final” might be believable as “impossible.”
