Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One: Hayley Atwell says her casting began ten years ago

The Rome premiere for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is officially underway, with cast members gracing the Spanish Steps for photos-ops and camera snaps. Among the guests is Hayley Atwell, who plays Grace in the latest chapter of the action-packed franchise. While fielding questions from press members, Deadline asked Atwell how she got involved with the film. According to the Marvel alumna, her casting started ten years ago when Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie approached her after the actress’s stunning performance in a stage presentation of The Pride.

“Chris McQuarrie came to see me in a play, The Pride, in Trafalga Studios, ten years ago,” Atwell told Deadline. “He met me afterward and said, ‘I want what you do on stage on a screen. I don’t know what that character is or what the movie will be.’ Cut to six years later, he calls me and says I’d like to talk to you about the new leading lady role opposite Tom. I went into the screen test, and what they made very clear is they didn’t have a character, didn’t have a definite script, but they wanted to work with an actor, and whoever that actor was going to be, they would collaborate and create the character as they went along.”

Atwell says her Mission: Impossible experience was collaborative, with her character taking shape on-the-fly as the movie developed. “It ended up being a very collaborative exercise where I had no idea. I didn’t even have a character name until way into the filming of it. It was a very creative experience.”

Atwell says Grace and Ethan sometimes see eye-to-eye, making their union difficult. However, the duo can table their differences to emerge from sticky situations when push comes to shove. “Pressure is always putting them together, but they’re also exasperated by each other. The physicality of them being handcuffed and getting in and out of the car, weaving around, rolling upside down in this tiny little Fiat 500, was so integral to the beautiful choreography of the piece. We spend months working on it.”

Hayley Atwell on how the casting process for #MI7 began 10 years ago when Chris McQuarrie spotted her performing in a play in London pic.twitter.com/cU62alhlNI

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 19, 2023

With their chemistry firing on all cylinders, Atwell is excited to continue working alongside Cruise on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, which she says still has several months (maybe years) of filming left.

Are you excited to experience Atwell and Cruise’s chemistry when Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One races into theaters on July 12, 2023? Let us know in the comments below.