Hayley Atwell addresses speculation over Mission: Impossible future
Cruise has previously said he hopes to continue making the blockbuster films for decades
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Hayley Atwell has offered her thoughts on the future of action franchise Mission: Impossible, ahead of the release of the eighth installment, The Final Reckoning, this year.
Atwell stars opposite Cruise in the forthcoming film as Grace, a former thief turned IMF agent and ally to his character, Ethan Hunt.
She reprises the role after being introduced in 2023 film Mission: Impossible â Dead Reckoning Part One, which suffered at the box office due to its competition with the âBarbenheimerâ phenomenon of blockbuster movies Barbie and Oppenheimer.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the sequel is scheduled for release on 23 May and, with an estimated budget of $400m, will be one of the most expensive films ever made.
Speaking to The Guardian, Atwell said that working with Cruise is âa delightâ and described him as âvery kind, very professionalâ.
âWhen I started, I was very aware of the rarefied air around him and how there is no one like him,â she said. âAnd there never will be because actors arenât made like him any more.
âHe is a one-man studio and, to me, very kind, very professional. 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.â
Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in âMission: Impossible â Dead Reckoning Part Oneâ (© 2023 Paramount Pictures.)
Asked to confirm that the movie will be the last in the franchise, she commented: âI mean, look, they called it The Final Reckoning.
âOn the other hand, âTom Cruiseâ and âfinalâ are oxymorons, so I wouldnât be surprised if he goes, âWait, maybeâ¦â Although he has so many things that he is working on, so I canât see how another MIssion would fit into that.â
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Cruise, 62, has previously said that he hopes to continue making Mission: Impossible films for decades.
In 2023, he compared the franchise to Indiana Jones, telling The Sydney Morning Herald: âHarrison Ford is a legend. I hope to still be going. Iâve got 20 years to catch up with him.â
Tom Cruise during a stunt in âDead Reckoningâ (AP )
Cruise was 34 when he first took on the role of super spy Ethan Hunt in the 1996 film, Mission: Impossible.
In a four-star review of Dead Reckoning, The Independentâs Clarisse Loughrey wrote: âMission: Impossible is exactly the sort of franchise in which people simply roll their eyes when the bomb theyâre trying to detonate turns out (of course!) to be a nuclear one.
âThat lack of ponderousness is embedded bone-deep into Dead Reckoning, and how returning director Christopher McQuarrie chooses to operate.
Earlier this month, McQuarrie claimed that one audience member âalmost had a heart attackâ at a preview screening of The Final Reckoning.
The trailer for the new blockbuster features Cruiseâs character being put through yet another series of jaw-dropping stunts, including scenes that take place on planes and underwater.