Hayley Atwell Talks Grace Arc

There’s a common sentiment in the Mission: Impossible franchise that accomplishing each movie is just as difficult as the mission on the screen. And Hayley Atwell now knows that firsthand after shooting 2023’s Dead Reckoning and this week’s The Final Reckoning in close succession. Between the pandemic’s impact on the former and the double strikes’ effect on the latter, nothing came easy for Team Mission, as they traveled around the world in order to capture cinema’s most jaw-dropping action sequences in the most breathtaking settings.

In Christopher “McQ” McQuarrie’s possible final chapter, Atwell’s world-class thief character, Grace, is now a full-fledged member of the Impossible Missions Force. With the evil AI known as the Entity on the brink of achieving global nuclear annihilation, Grace and co. must journey to the Arctic’s Bering Sea (Svalbard in reality) for an extended second-act sequence, as well as South Africa for the grand finale. Both environments presented the Tom Cruise-led cast and crew with unexpected obstacles on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

“We had to stop shooting because a polar bear walked across the [Arctic] set, and that is something I’d never thought I would hear myself say,” Atwell tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of The Final Reckoning’s May 23 release. “In South Africa, we had to stop the car because a tortoise was walking across our path. We had to wait for him to cross before we carried on, and we were like, ‘Just another day on Mission.’”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Atwell also discusses how Cruise uses fear to his advantage, before addressing two unanswerable questions about the futures of Mission’s Grace and the MCU’s Peggy Carter.

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We knew that you’re a great pickpocket, but we did not know that you’re a great popcorn catcher as well. 

(Laughs.) Thank you. Multitalented here. 

All this time, you didn’t need death-defying stunts to sell these movies; you just needed Tom Cruise to throw popcorn at you.

There you go. And it was delicious! 

You signed onto this two-part Mission in 2019, and while you probably didn’t expect it to last until 2025, how did your overall experience compare to what you first imagined?

I knew that it would be an opportunity to develop my skills as an action actor, and I knew that it would be a rigorous training regime that got me to a state of readiness. So I had real faith in the filmmakers, but I had no idea what it would require and how long it would take. The fact this would be the seventh and eighth installments, I knew exactly the tone. I also knew what the demographic was, and ultimately, I trusted [the team]. I knew that I was in really good hands.

The filming of both Reckoning movies overlapped to some degree. Did you ever go back and forth between them? 

I can’t quite remember because it’s non-linear, really. You’re ready to just inhabit the character and do anything that’s required of you in that moment. So you are living in the world of it, and then when it’s put together, it’s like, “Oh, I think I shot that in that year. I may have re-shot that three years later.” But it was so fun to see it as an audience member because it refreshed my mind. I was taken on the journey as well because it’s been such a vast experience.

We’ve talked before about how the Mission movies are in a constant state of flux. Did you not have a clear grasp of what you made until the Japan premiere screening last week?

Yeah, I had absolutely no idea. There’s so much that we shot, and it’s such an epic adventure. There’s so many characters, and there’s so much storyline in it. The set pieces are vast, and this film really is an accumulation of all the films that have gone before it in this franchise. So I knew it would be quite an epic rollercoaster. I also knew it would be very emotional because it’s so centered on the team and the importance of belonging and the importance of self-sacrifice for the greater good. So I knew that it would have quite an emotional punch to it, but I love the fact that I saw it with an audience because that’s how these movies were designed to be seen.

Grace is quite startled by Ethan’s early acts of violence. She’d seen him lay waste to people before, so why was this time different?

I don’t think she’s ever seen violence to that extent before. She’s a pickpocket, which means that she’s used to ducking and diving and getting out of situations really quickly. I don’t think she hangs around to see the fallout of her actions. She fights, but I don’t think she’s fighting to create harm. She’s fighting as a defense mechanism to make an escape. Also, in [Dead Reckoning], she doesn’t know if she can trust Ethan Hunt. So by the time she watches him be violent [in The Final Reckoning], she’s shocked and bewildered that the person that she’s instilled all her trust in is also capable of a lot of physical harm when he needs to. 

How would you review the experience of riding on and/or driving a dogsled in the Arctic?

Invigorating, empowering, mind-blowing, surreal. We had to stop shooting because a polar bear walked across the set, and that is something I’d never thought I would hear myself say. We lived on an icebreaker ship. We played cards at night, and we ate together. It was really important that we cultivated a sense of rapport and teamwork so that we were able to trust each other on the ice. 

If it was any other movie, I’d be fazed by the polar bear story. But because it’s Mission, it just sounds like another day at the office. 

(Laughs.) Yeah, exactly! When we were in South Africa, we were driving up this windy road on this mountain, and we had to stop the car because a tortoise was walking across our path. We had to wait for him to cross before we carried on, and we were like, “Just another day on Mission.”

Driving around Rome while handcuffed to Tom Cruise was probably the ultimate challenge in Dead Reckoning, but as we see in the Final Reckoning teaser trailer, where does the underwater revival of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt rank on your list of challenges?

Oh, wow. I’d gotten my PADI diving certification for this movie, so I was pleased to be able to put it to use, really. For me, the work underwater is about being very relaxed and very calm. The minute you get into panic or you think, “Oh my God, I’m underwater. I can’t breathe,” then it becomes quite dangerous. You have to force yourself to a place of calm and stay there. So I loved that, and I found it very meditative. It was another way of learning a new skill for this movie that I can take with me.

Tom was onced asked why he risks his life doing stunts, and he responded, “No one asked Gene Kelly, ‘Why do you dance?’” And while I see his point, Gene Kelly wasn’t risking his life doing the foxtrot. Have you figured out why he puts it all on the line?

Well, Tom said on his last day of filming that making movies is not something he does; it’s who he is and what he loves. He is a very accomplished pilot, an aerobatic pilot. He loves speed, as we know. So I think he was just built this way. It’s in his nature. Even sharing about what he was like as a kid, he was always jumping off things and climbing up things and challenging himself. He was born quite fearless and adventurous, and that’s something that he’s then put into his movies. He’s found a way of living that life, and at the same time, he’s able to delight audiences by including them in that. So he just has an adventurous spirit, and it’s a very strong part of who he is. 

Have you ever sensed genuine fear in Tom before a stunt?

Oh, yeah! Every time he’s done anything that required putting his life on the line. The thing with Tom is that he doesn’t let fear stop him from doing it. That’s really inspiring to see. If he was fearless, then it would feel like it wasn’t relatable and not very human. It’s human to experience emotions. So he doesn’t mind feeling them, and they certainly don’t get in the way. 

We didn’t end up getting clarity on Grace’s real name. We saw a few letters — “Mar Fr” — on a passport in Dead Reckoning, but who knows if that was even real. What was McQ’s final verdict on the subject?

Oh my gosh, I’ve yet to ask him, so I don’t know. It took a long time for me to be christened Grace. It was halfway through [Dead Reckoning] that Tom and McQ approached me and said, “We’ve come up with a name for your character.” And it was based on having watched me work and how I conducted myself on set and how I approached the training. They said, “We’ve called you Grace,” and I loved that. So it was very flattering that it was a quality rather than just a character name that they plucked out of nowhere, and that meant a lot to me.

Rolf Saxon’s Bill Donloe returns in the Arctic section of the movie. Was it interesting to hear his perspective on the 1996 Mission: Impossible film that started it all? 

He’s a wonderful actor. He also has a lot of stage work behind him, as do I. So we bonded over our shared love of theater and of the classics, and he brings a lot of dignity and quiet resolve and stoicism and kindness to his role. There’s a real warmth in him on screen. I know he’s a beloved character from before, and I think audiences are really going to love seeing him again.

Lucy Tulugarjuk plays Donloe’s partner, and the two of you end up having a rather unique dynamic.

Lucy and I developed a bond in the Arctic. Our characters don’t speak the same language, and we had to create this understanding between us where you believe that they trust each other and that they are working with a shared value system. So I spent a lot of time with Lucy, and she brings a real gravitas and a quiet power to the role. She’s very kind, incredibly intelligent, and she just added so much to that sequence. I felt really, really grateful to get the experience to work with her.

The impossible question: Is this the end for you and Grace?

Oh my goodness, I think the audience is going to have to watch the movie and decide for themselves. It is designed for them to see it on a big screen with lots of people. It’s such a spectacle of a movie, and as I said, it’s an accumulation of all the Missions that have gone before it. 

Many decades from now, when you’re swaying back and forth on a rocking chair and your loved ones are gathered around you, what day on Final Reckoning will you tell them about first? 

Probably the day we saw a polar bear. To do these things and be stopped in our tracks because the environment that we are in is so awe inspiring and humbling. I knew that I would never be in a position to get that close to that kind of environment had it not been for being part of this franchise. 

Lastly, do you expect to catch up with Peggy Carter soon? 

In your career, it’s so unusual to revisit a character as I have done several times with Peggy, and it’s always a pleasure when someone brings her up. She represents such a wonderful value system of knowing her own value. So I’m always happy when her name is mentioned.

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Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning opens in theaters nationwide on May 23.