His first "Mission: Impossible" film was in 1996. Almost three decades and seven films later, Tom Cruise is now 62. And his co-stars in "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" doff their hats to the producer and high-octane action star who has made every MI film all his own -- and also mega hits.
For Hayley Atwell, Cruise is a one-man studio. Greg Tarzan Davis says the man is filmmaking school in himself, Simon Pegg remembers when they went feeding sharks, Esai Morales recalls the energy that he brings to every frame and Angela Bassett just loves to see him run.
After all, Cruise has not only headlined the series as Ethan Hunt, the American spy out to kill the baddies and save the world, but also redefined what it means to be an action star. He has been battered, broken many bones and still insisted on doing his own stunts.
Atwell, who essays the role of his ally Grace, said he is never just an actor on set. He is many things.
"I think it is his ability, how to be spatially aware and how he can be focused very intensely in the scene. But yet you also know that he can see through the lens what is picking up on the camera," Atwell told PTI in a virtual interview.
"He knows where the focus puller is. He knows what the lighting is doing. If someone sneezes at the back of the set, he'll bless them and ask them if they are okay. He has the ability to be an actor, a producer, a writer, a director, a lighting designer, a focus puller and a cameraman all at the same time," she said.
Cruise, who debuted as Hunt in Brian De Palma's "Mission: Impossible", has almost written himself into legend in his subsequent turns as the spy, giving audiences a cinematic experience in all MI movies since.
He has taken the art of performing stunts to an unknown level -- jumping from one building to another in "Mission: Impossible III" (2006), scaling the Burj Khalifa in 2011's "Ghost Protocol", hanging off a flying plane in "Rogue Nation" (2015) or riding a motorcycle off a cliff in the previous entry "Dead Reckoning" (2023).
In "Final Reckoning", speculated to be his swansong, Cruise has pulled off some more daring stunts, including one where he hangs from the wing of a plane.
"He was up there piloting the plane himself obviously, and he was performing on the wing. And he's the only one really who can be aware of what the camera's going to pick up and where the light's going to be and how much he needs to kind of position himself so that the camera can see his performance," Atwell said.
"So that feels very Tom Cruise to me. He's a one man studio," she added.
Pegg, who has been a regular in the franchise as tech genius Benji Dunn since "Mission: Impossible III", recalled the time the cast was shooting in South Africa.
"We were doing a drive up this big long road and the helicopter would follow up the road filming us and then we'd get to the top and we'd all jump in the helicopter and Tom would fly us back down... And then we'd do the shot again," he said.
The actor said they tried the shot six times and Cruise flew them down every time. "We got the shot and we had a little bit of time left in the day and Tom said, 'Hey, do you want to go diving with sharks?' "And we said sure. And so we all got in the helicopter with Tom. We went out to the coast and the next thing we knew it was me, Pom (Klementieff), Tarzan, Hailey and Tom all in a cage, feeding these giant eight foot copperhead sharks. That is a typical Tom Cruise day." Bassett first worked with Cruise on the sixth movie "Fallout" in 2018, playing CIA deputy director Erika Sloane. She returns for "Final Reckoning" but this time as US president.
In both movies, Bassett said she would always look forward to Cruise's running sequences that have also become a signature of the franchise.
"On set I remember seeing the movie or seeing all his movies and commenting, 'Boy, that guy can run.' I know they're all the big crazy stunts that he does but I really just love to see him sprint nonstop," she said.
Her off-stage memory of Cruise is watching him dance.
"We know he's a pretty good dancer, a good dance partner. So his birthday occurred while we were working and we were able to get him to give us a few steps here and there." Morales, who plays the villain Gabriel in "Final Reckoning", said he is simply in awe of the Hollywood superstar as well as director Christopher McQuarrie, who has helmed all the four instalments since "Rogue Nation".
"There's nothing they won't tackle. There's nothing they won't consider at least, to bring joy and thrills to their audiences." Ethan Hunt is now older and weather-beaten, and just as compelling.
According to Morales, the MI franchise sees Hunt evolve.
"You see him from this cheeky young agent. If you go back and see he is literally cheeky. He is like a kid in the beginning of this... Into this weathered person. Every line in your face is a story." He also remembered the time Cruise screened a behind-the-scenes promo for the cast.
"It's nice to have a dinner party. And then he said, 'I've got a surprise for you.' And we watched this massive screen and at the end of this, you see this little boy emerge from him.
"He would go like, 'isn't that great?' And it's so infectious and you really see that these folks live for their audiences. They live to entertain and hopefully enlighten, but mostly entertain." Davis, who also starred in Cruise's 2022 blockbuster "Top Gun: Maverick", said the superstar always puts his best foot forward.
"He demands a certain type of excellence and hard work. And it was cool to be able to see it through both projects... He embraces the fandom and what the audience wants to see and he gives his all to it.
"What I learned from him is understanding how the audience views film and storytelling. I'm looking forward to taking all the knowledge of this Tom Cruise School of Filmmaking and applying it to my own projects in the future," he told PTI.
"Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning", directed by McQuarrie and co-produced by Cruise, will be released in India in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu in 4DX and IMAX on May 17. The film is presented by Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions.
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