Fans of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise will be glad to know that the delayed seventh instalment, “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” is headed to the big screen this week.
In the latest action spy thriller, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team face off with a mysterious and powerful enemy Gabriel (played by Esai Morales).
By far, this is one of their most dangerous missions to date as the team work hard to recover a new weapon that could wipe out humanity should it fall into the wrong hands.
There is much at stake and Ethan is aware of this. The film also stars Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff and Henry Czerny.
In a recent interview with Atwell, the British actress playing Grace (a reluctant ally of Ethan’s), and Ferguson, who reprises her role as Ilsa Faust, a former MI6 agent who has been on Ethan’s team in the previous two movies, shed light on the latest offering.
Grace, by the way, is a bit of a loner. But she is forced to work with Ethan after an assignment goes pear-shaped, placing her in grave danger.
Despite their oil and water personalities, the two are forced to team up against a mutual threat.
Interestingly, director Christopher McQuarrie described Atwell’s character as “a chaotic force of nature”. In an interview, she provided a bit more content.
Atwell said: “She’s an artful dodger, a lone wolf. Also, quite out of her depth! Her dynamic with Ethan is really fun. Grace and Ethan are two people who shouldn’t be in the same room together but are forced to be because they have a shared common goal.
“The more she exasperates him, the funnier it becomes.”
She continued: “From the very beginning, it was Tom and McQ and I all talking about character. We were working out what the language of our movie was.
“They wanted to have a comedic element to it that didn’t feel farcical and didn’t feel pushed but also felt kind of not cute.
“Within the context of the plot, and within the context of these stunts, we’d come up with ideas, try different kinds of dialogue. They would listen to the way I delivered my lines based on my own vocal rhythms and then suggest lines to me that would really help my character pop.
“I watched Tom and McQ like a hawk, trusted the process and listened intently to what I could hear they were excited about finding in the scenes. For Grace and Ethan, that relationship had a particular quality.
“They’re very different people, from very different backgrounds, but they have a very equal balance.”
She expanded: “For instance, Grace and Ethan have a 20-minute car chase sequence through Rome, and we did most of it as a two-shot – I’m reacting off him, he's reacting off me.
“We’re working together. But we’re also trying to find moments where we show that Grace basically doesn’t know him.
“He’s put her in this tiny yellow Fiat and he’s trying to be cool. But when he gets in, he turns on the windscreen wipers instead of the car itself. So, in her eyes, Grace is like, ‘Who is this guy? I don’t think this guy knows what he’s doing!’
“It was about finding little moments of physical behaviour where the audience could see that Grace doesn’t really trust this guy.”
Par for the course with the franchise, is the plethora of action scenes, which are physically demanding and carry some risk, too. But, according to Atwell, Cruise is very mindful of placing any of his co-stars in danger.
She shared: “He’s like your boxing coach in the corner of the ring. Before we’d do anything, the stunt department would break down what we were going to be asked to do, and Tom would go, ‘Okay, let's have a look. Let me see’.
“He’d check your harness for you. That’s what he’s like. Yes, he does extraordinary things, but he is so thorough in his detail of preparation. His approach is never reckless.
“I think what happens is that he gets to a level of competence, where he has trained and drilled and practised over and over again, which means he can do it and it looks spontaneous.
“He knows how it’s living within his body. Watching his approach is very inspiring. If I was working with someone who did those things but was either very nervous or very reckless, it would create a fear in me that would probably mean I’d hold back more.
“With him, you feel safe. Like you can go for it, take those big risks.”
On working with Ferguson, she admitted: “I’ve absolutely loved it. Loved it. And Rebecca is such a powerhouse. She knows this world and I came in very much as a newcomer.
“Rebecca has this extraordinary stillness that carries a lot of natural authority on camera, which is a very different energy to Grace. Grace is a bit more in a sort of hyper-vigilant mode all the time.
“She’s constantly taking in all her surroundings; she doesn’t ever quite know where she is or what she’s doing there. A lot of the time, she’s just wanting to get out of wherever she is!
“So, it’s a very different kind of energy. But I think that’s what Mission does and has done in this film so well. It has such different, distinctive female characters.
“You’ve got Vanessa Kirby, who glides. Her voice is like silk, and she’s like a tall glass of champagne. You’ve got Pom Klementieff, who is the assassin, fiery, constantly taking everything in around her so she can kill you really fast.
“The four of them, they’re all such different kinds of characters, with such different energies. We all had such fun.”
Cast as a fiercely independent and fiercely loyal person, Ferguson added: “Tom and McQ have a way of working which from the outside could look very odd, but it’s genius.
“The story is mostly in McQ and Tom’s heads, not on paper. For people who are new to the game, I guess that could be stressful because they don’t really understand the process.
“But that’s why everyone’s there, to support everyone. The creation happens in the conversations between Tom and McQ. Everything that is created is enhanced by the dynamic between them. It is incredible to watch. It all comes together in front of you.
“It is extraordinary how much knowledge they have about film and camera angles and storytelling and building tension and character. Tom is extremely focused on character. ‘Why?’ is Tom’s question all the time. ‘Why is that happening? Why is he doing that?’ It’s so detailed.”
As for the nemesis they encounter this time around, she noted: “What has been really interesting and extremely intelligently created by McQ and Tom in these movies is that they play with the question of what is actually good and bad.
“There’s a scene we cut from the last movie, between Ilsa and Ethan, where she is saying to him: ‘Why are we doing this, you and me? Why don’t we give up?
“There will always be people like us who can take over, so why don’t we let them and go and live the life that other people get to live?’ But it’s also the reverse.
“Who is really bad? In Fallout, Sean Harris’s Solomon Lane talks about bringing them over to a world that’s better, but in our world, he was seen as evil because of the destruction (that would entail). But is it? Or is it human growth?
“These films have always played with big thoughts of ownership and world control – how we have been controlled by the police, state and government, the politicians.
“Obviously (in these stories), the baddies are the baddies – and we know they are because they kill and want to destroy everyone and everything. But there’s always a philosophical mind at play in these stories too.
“What is actually ‘bad’ if you break it down? For a lot of these characters, that will depend on the balance of their beliefs – on what they believe is truthful and real.
“In this movie, Gabriel, the antagonist, is in full belief of what he wants, and that is justice, for the betterment of all mankind, or for whatever is left of it when he’s done.”
On the movie being split into two parts, she explained: “These movies just become bigger and bigger, with larger and larger themes. They are so big and grand, location-wise.
“It really is a mission, to shoot these movies. So, linking the two together? That is not an easy task, in any way, shape or form. But I think that the scale of what Tom and McQ have attempted here demands two movies.
“To let the story and characters breathe against this never-bigger, action-packed backdrop.”
In the trailer, Ilsa is seen embracing Ethan, which has got fans curious about whether there is more to their relationship. But Ferguson wasn’t about to give anything away.
She did say it’s been an epic adventure, especially shooting in the places that they have.
As such, fans will have to catch the movie to find out more.
∎ “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” opens in cinemas nationwide on Friday, July 14.