[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning]

Summary

Collider’s Steve Weintraub chats with Simon Pegg in a spoilery Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning conversation.

Pegg discusses his final scene and that Mission: Impossible throwback.

He also talks about working with Tom Cruise and the rest of their castmates on the emotional final scene.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is now running in theaters and IMAX, supposedly bringing the nearly three-decade-running franchise to a close with an action-packed final chapter. Returning to the film is one of the veterans of the franchise, who has been at the heart of it since Mission: Impossible 3, Benji Dunn, portrayed by Simon Pegg. In the film, Pegg has the honor of bringing back a relic from the first Mission: Impossible film in one of the most emotionally impactful and demanding scenes he’s portrayed to date, and was part of a sequence that director Chris McQuarrie and Tom Cruise had been discussing for years leading up to filming. In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Pegg dives into the scene that he shared with Pom Klementieff that he feels shows the true heart of the Mission franchise, which, in his opinion, isn’t the action or death-defying stunts. The pair also discusses the final scene in the film, the emotions behind filming it, and Pegg hints at the possibility that The Final Reckoning isn’t the true final chapter in the franchise after all.
Simon Pegg Is Honored to Have Brought This ‘Mission: Impossible’ Relic Back

“To get to be told what was going to happen to me was kind of exciting.”

COLLIDER: What was your reaction when Chris [McQuarrie] and Tom [Cruise] told you how it was all going to end? PEGG: I was delighted. It was really gratifying. To get to be told what was going to happen to me was kind of exciting. I love that scene. To interact with Krieger’s knife, that prop from Mission 1, which comes back into Mission 8, and the fact that it is inserted into me was such an amazing thing. It’s like, I remember seeing that in the movies. I remember seeing that knife spiral to the floor, and then, it’s very, very present in the scene with me and Pom [Kelmentieff]. You are playing someone who is very hurt and having to deliver key dialogue. It’s a scene where this is all about you. What is it like actually preparing as an actor to deliver these lines where you have to make it feel like you’re really hurt? PEGG: We had a medic on set who was advising me as to how I would behave if my lung was collapsing, and she would come up to me at the end of the take and say, “That’s really good. You’re doing great. Don’t forget, you can’t take a breath. You’ve only got the breath,” and so, we had different levels of what we call “sweat con.” So the first section was sweat con one, second sweat con two, etc., etc., but it was great. And I love Pom’s vulnerability in that scene. The fact that she’s only used to taking life, she’s never, ever had to save anybody before. Mission is all about so many things. It’s about those big stunts — that’s what everyone always talks about, but Mission really is about the quiet moments. It’s about the character stuff. It’s about seeing characters fulfill their destiny, redeem themselves, realize that love is more powerful than hate. That’s what is at the center of these movies, and that’s the most fun to play.

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“There could be more.”

The very last scene of the film has all of you guys in London at the square, and you’re all going your separate ways. Talk a little bit about that scene, specifically filming it. Was it the last thing you filmed? Talk about the emotions, knowing that that’s the final scene. PEGG: It wasn’t the last thing we shot. We shot it in Trafalgar Square. It was kind of emotional, you know? I love the fact that Tom doesn’t like to leave the audience feeling like it’s the end, even though this is The Final Reckoning. Even if we never make another Mission: Impossible film again, he wants there to be hope. When people leave the cinema, he wants them to be excited and feel like, “Oh, you know what? There could be more,” you know? So, that was exciting. That little moment when we all look at each other, and there’s the promise, and that music starts. It’s just the best. It’s great. I was very curious how Chris was going to pull it all together. PEGG: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He told me a while ago that he had the scene in mind, but he wasn’t sure if it would come together, and he did confirm today that that was the scene he imagined. PEGG: Yeah. And the music, as well. I love the score in this film. Because I love the music in the underwater sequence — it’s all this kind of baritone, sort of Russian throat singers — he said he didn’t want any orchestration during the underwater stuff because you can’t have an orchestra underwater. So, all of the music and all of the sound is stuff that is kind of organic, and that throughout the whole film is such a great accompaniment to what you see. Thank you for giving me some extra time. PEGG: You’re welcome, bro. And really, congrats on being part of a franchise that’s going to be remembered for a very long time. PEGG: Bless your heart. Thank you, man. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in theaters now.

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