After years of waiting, and more than three years since Mission: Impossible 7 first tried to begin production, the movie is finally coming. The final cut is in the can and we’re just waiting for the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One release date to finally see what Tom Cruise and company have created for us all to enjoy. In addition to all the returning players, there will be a few new faces this time around, including Hayley Atwell who says she got some good advice from Cruise on the set of the film.
Speaking with Empire, Atwell reveals that Tom Cruise gave her some advice that she turned into a sort of manta while filming Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Cruise, who is known for putting his body on the line to accomplish incredible stunts for the Mission: Impossible films, cautioned Atwell against being “safe.” She explained…
Tom would often say, ‘Don’t be safe, be competent.’ That was a great mantra for me.
Honestly, this sounds like the most Tom Cruise advice one could possibly get. He certainly doesn’t approach the new Mission: Impossible film with a plan to be safe, considering that Cruise jumped off a cliff riding a motorcycle for the movie, something he had to do more than once. At the same time, Cruise certainly never looks anything less than competent, so this advice is something that he himself follows.
Certainly, in all things actors need to often take risks, whether that’s with stunts or with certain decisions in a performance. Being willing to take those risks is important, but one should always strive for competence, as that can certainly mitigate some of the risks that come with not playing it safe. It's about knowing your limits but also being aware of what you're actually capable of. And when you’re acting alongside Tom Cruise it’s perhaps necessary since he’s not going to play it safe, so I’m not sure Hayley Atwell had a choice.
And as it turns out, the advice from Cruise may have been very useful not only for Atwell but for her character as well. Elsewhere in the Empire piece director Christopher McQuarrie says Atwell plays a character that gets tangled up with Ethan Hunt’s mission for unrelated reasons and is somebody who has no business being in a Mission: Impossible story. The character will be anything but safe, the only way she’s going to make it through is to be competent.
Director Christopher McQuarrie says Mission: Impossible 7 is done. The movie has been completed, and now we just need to wait about one more month for the film to finally be released, nearly two years after the original release date.
