Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning actor Cary Elwes has high praise for the latest instalment in the long-running action franchise.
"It’s not just probably the biggest action movie of all time, I think it’s also one of the most emotional action movies we’ve ever seen," Elwes, who plays Denlinger in Dead Reckoning, tells 12DOVE and Total Film.
"That was what blew me away. I was fully just expecting amazing stunts and cool locations, but the emotional journey the audience is going on is, for me, what sends it into a whole other stratosphere."
- Mission: Impossible 8 director says the latest movie features "the most difficult thing we've ever done" – and it's got the perfect first reaction from an early screening: "I almost had a heart attack"
- Tom Cruise says he had to "train himself to breathe" for intense Mission: Impossible 8 stunts: "There were times I would pass out physically"
Simon Pegg, who plays Benji in the series, agrees that Mission: Impossible’s scope and scale keeps getting bigger and bigger.
"It did feel different," Pegg says. "Not just because we were making it when we made it, but you know Tom [Cruise] and [director Christopher McQuarrie] are never going to rest on what they’ve done before. They’re going to push it forward. Every film, when it ends, we get asked 'What’s next?' and we think, 'Well, what could we possibly do?'"
Despite the "enormity" of the movie, Elwes – who has appeared in everything from The Princess Bride to Stranger Things – was struck by how nonplussed director Christopher McQuarrie was by the globetrotting production.
"There was never a bead of sweat on his head, not once," Elwes reveals. "We had to deal with all kinds of things then – COVID, all kinds of logistical things – that a huge production of this nature entails. The guy never broke a sweat. He was totally, totally chill the whole time. So he set the tone on-set and so everyone felt [like] this is great, this is just a fun day at work."
For more from Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, check out our coverage on:
- 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"
