Summary

Collider’s Steve Weintraub chats with Hayley Atwell for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Tom Cruise leads the IMF team in the (maybe) final Mission: Impossible film against a rogue AI.

In this interview, Atwell discusses unique experiences and memorable stunts from filming, Cruise’s words of wisdom, and whether we’ll see her in the next Avengers movie.

The supposed final chapter in the Mission: Impossible franchise is set to hit theaters this Friday after running for nearly three decades. In Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, leading his IMF team in a race against time to put an end to a rogue sentient AI known as the Entity that is threatening all of humanity. In the film, Hayley Atwell reprises her role as Grace, a former pickpocket turned IMF recruit, after being introduced in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Cruise and Atwell are joined in the cast by returning castmates Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Pom Klementieff, Greg Tarzan Davis, Esai Morales, and Angela Bassett, alongside Henry Czerny and Rolf Saxon making a return from the original 1996 film. Joining the franchise for the final chapter are Nick Offerman, Holt McCallany, Hannah Waddingham, Janet McTeer, and Tramell Tillman.
In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Atwell discusses the once-in-a-lifetime opportunities working on the Mission: Impossible franchise presented her with, and which iconic stunt she feels she could perform. Atwell also reveals what Cruise said to her during filming that inspired her, and the emotions of filming her final scene for the film. Plus, she touches on whether fans can expect to see her name in the credits of that upcoming Marvel film, which has an incredible number of cast members listed already, and whether the internet is a reliable source or not.
Working on ‘Mission: Impossible’ Presents Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunities

Not many actors can say they had to wait for a polar bear to cross before filming.

Image via Paramount Pictures

COLLIDER: First of all, congratulations on the movie. I’ve been asking this of everyone. I really believe movies should be watched in movie theaters and not on an iPhone. Do you have a favorite movie theater?
HAYLEY ATWELL: Oh, great question. There is an old movie theater in London that was on Portobello in west London. It’s now been bought by someone else, so it’s not owned by the same people. But when I was growing up, you could watch a double bill of a classic movie on a Sunday for, like, next to nothing. It was a great way that I could see classic movies like Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia, and be able to watch those movies on a big screen as was intended.
Tom Cruise is so inspiring to watch, and I’m imagining he’s really inspiring to work with. Is there something that you have done in the Mission movies that you thought you would never in a million years have done?
ATWELL: I never thought I would be filming in the Arctic Circle, waiting for a polar bear to cross our path before we could carry on shooting. It’s an extraordinary place to visit, but to then live there and work there for that time and to be with the incredible people, from the dog sled handlers to the Polar X company, who are on both polar bear patrol and keeping us safe. It was all kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, really, and I just loved it. I was so, so privileged to be there.

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Hayley Atwell Shares Her Emotions for Her Final Scene

“Movies are not something I do, it’s who I am.”

Tom has done incredible, jaw-dropping, death-defying stunts. Of all the stunts you’ve seen in the Mission movies, if you had to do one of them, which one do you think you could do?
ATWELL: Probably the vaults in the first one. Yeah, that’s the one I remember the most growing up. It’s quite iconic, so I’d like to give that a go.
You’ve been working on this movie, with the last two movies, for, like, 20 years. I’m joking around, but it’s been a little while. What was it like for you on the last day of filming? Do you remember what you filmed and the emotions that you were going through?
ATWELL: Yeah. We filmed Grace’s first-ever introduction in the second film, so her first appearance in the movie is the last thing that I shot. I remember that day, Tom had said, “Movies are not something I do, it’s who I am.” And I could see that. I saw that every day for five years. He lives it and breathes it and has devoted his life to it. So, to work with someone with that kind of work ethic is remarkable.
I can’t imagine.
Is Atwell’s Name in the Credits for THAT Movie?

The internet isn’t always a reliable source…

Image by Zanda Rice

I definitely have to ask you. There are rumors, I’m not sure if you’re in it or not, that you might be filming some Marvel movie right now.
ATWELL: Really? What? Who? On Reddit? Who’s doing that? Who is saying that?
You know, “the internet.”
ATWELL: Oh, that reliable source.
Honest to God, they have, like, a thousand people in these movies, so I really don’t know if you’re in it or not.
ATWELL: Well, now I don’t know, because apparently the internet says I am. Yeah, I wish them well. I mean, it’s such a huge, huge franchise. They’re incredible.
Yeah. I’m hoping that you are. But you know the way it is.
ATWELL: I have no control.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in theaters now.

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