Mission: Impossible cast on Dead Reckoning’s "prescient" plot and working with Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise has assembled quite the team for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. An electric mix of fresh and familiar faces, the cast consists of exciting franchise newcomers plucked from pop culture’s heavy hitters – Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy), Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) – and series veterans (Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson, and Simon Pegg all reprise their roles here).

When GamesRadar+ and Total Film sat down with the cast in London, it was clear that what unites them is a deep-rooted admiration for the series’ seemingly immortal lead. 

"He’s such a consummate professional, entirely dedicated, always looking and searching for what’s going to feel most alive for the audience," Atwell tells us about Cruise, echoing the rest of the cast.

"The thing about Tom that I’ve always admired is that he’s not just a talented actor and an insanely talented stuntman and producer, he’s just a very warm guy. He’s a very magnanimous guy, all about supporting other people," says Elwes, who reunites with Cruise for the first time since 1990’s Days of Thunder. "He believes that he can’t do his best work unless everybody else is doing theirs. He’s really all about lifting you up."

"For me, it’s trusting the process, you know?" Klementieff remarks. "When you work with people who are so incredibly talented and are such amazing filmmakers, you just lean in and give options with whatever you do. You do a lot of takes, but you know they’re going to make it perfect."

Klementieff, especially, is one who knows all about trusting the process. She joins the cast as Paris, a "force of destruction" on Ethan’s tail and, crucially, a character who says very little. As Klementieff reveals, she took inspiration for her action-first henchman from the likes of Clint Eastwood and Takeshi Kitano – as well as putting her own flourishes on top.

"It was really fun to play. I think she brings something that is a little bit punk, even in the way she dresses and the way she behaves. She follows her own rules. She’s a rebel and quite lonely too. She’s a character that doesn’t speak much, but doesn’t need to. She’s almost like a cowboy, riding in and killing people," Klementieff says.

As for the look, complete with powder-white face and soldier garb? It all stems from the Guardians actor’s own experiences – and speaks to the collaborative nature of a global production.

"It was my idea. I thought it would be cool, instead of wearing a mask, because we’re supposed to be in Venice at a party, to draw a mask on my face. I actually did that years ago. I was invited to a party last minute and they said it’s a masked ball, so I drew a mask on my face. I thought the character would do the same thing."

Tech issues

Attention soon turns to the elephant in the room. AI, from ChatGPT and beyond, has made headlines for all the wrong reasons over the past 12 months. Despite filming starting in 2020, Dead Reckoning is eerily prescient in depicting a cold, calculating algorithm that can predict Ethan Hunt’s every move – fronted by Gabriel (Esai Morales), a ghost from Ethan’s past.

"I remember thinking this is really interesting because he is a villain but he’s working on behalf of a bigger villain which is AI or an intelligence we don’t understand," Kirby, who returns as arms dealer The White Widow, says of Dead Reckoning’s new antagonist. "That was a threat that, bizarrely, united everyone in that room. It wasn’t just Esai as the face of it, it was affecting him somehow as well. It was a really interesting concept and we were all learning about it at the same time together."

"Almost accidentally, when we started the film, McQ pitched the idea and I thought it felt very Mission: Impossible," Pegg, who plays tech whizz Benji for a fifth time, reveals. "It felt almost a little sci-fi but in keeping with [being] gadget-related… IMF is all about subterfuge, illusion, masks, setting up situations that aren’t real to capture enemies. Suddenly they’ve come up against this thing and that’s all it does. It’s what the IMF does, but it’s everywhere. It’s become prescient in these three years. Now, it’s on everyone’s lips. Back in 2019, less so."

"Totally prescient," Elwes adds. "McQ and Tom, they decided this was a subject matter they were going to tackle and it turns out, now, we’re talking to all of you. It’s the most prescient thing. Extraordinary."

Despite its contemporary subject matter, Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One still packs in the classics. Namely, the panic-inducing ticking clock.

Pegg, a master of the style of anxious acting that has peppered the franchise’s countdowns and near-misses, explains – as time runs out on our own interview – how he’s honed his craft.

"Rebecca and I had to defuse a nuclear bomb at the end of Fallout. It was one o’clock in the morning, the crew were really tired, we were edging into overtime. It was cold. That tension off-screen is brought in," Pegg recalls. "In this film – no spoilers – Benji comes up against a device. I remember the feeling on set being like we’ve got to get this done, it’s got to happen. McQ likes there to be…" 

"A pressure outside," Ferguson interjects.

"So I am genuinely just that stressed, is one way of saying it," Pegg jokes.

For more from our interviews with the cast, check out the latest episode of the Inside Total Film podcast and our latest coverage:

• How Mission: Impossible's Hayley Atwell brought her "scrappy" Dead Reckoning newcomer to life
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’s Hayley Atwell spent 100 days on set before recording dialogue
• Mission: Impossible director on why Dead Reckoning is split into two parts
• Chris McQuarrie opens up on Dead Reckoning: "I’m more frightened now than I was on my first Mission: Impossible"
• Cary Elwes says Dead Reckoning is the biggest action movie of all time