‘I Have No Idea What I’m Doing’: Hayley Atwell Discusses Her Unorthodox Audition For ‘Mission: Impossible’ Franchise

Hayley Atwell is kind of the coolest. If she’s not playing Agent Peggy Carter in the latest Marvel thing, she’s turning in fantastic performances for the likes of Black Mirror or Christopher Robin — proving without fail that she can do just about anything. Rock on Hayley, rock on.

Now, with Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One out and melting our minds, Atwell has a thing or two to say about her involvement in the film. In an interview with reporter Josh Horowitz, Hayley touched on what it was really like working on her first Mission: Impossible movie.

In this seventh installment in the M:I franchise, Tom Cruise and co. are looking to up the ante, and the film’s director Christopher McQuarrie has been all on board.

When asked whether or not her experiences had inevitably culminated in being about to star alongside Cruise in a new Mission: Impossible, Atwell had a lot to say about how he and McQuarrie bring a story of this scale to life.

“Totally, totally, and that was part of the screen tests with Tom and McQu. They were like, ‘We don’t have a character. We find the actor we want to work with, and we create the character with them.’ So they created this environment where I could just come up with lots of different readings and different choices, and they were saying in the edit, ‘You gave us so much range, we will dial you up or dial you down.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, because I have no idea what I’m doing.’”

It’s no secret that Tom Cruise runs a tight ship. Why wouldn’t he? He’s Tom Cruise. After all, the guy has been responsible for saving cinema TWO summers in a row. Last year it was Top Gun: Maverick, this time it’s around Mission: Impossible. Proving a theory I’ve been hypothesizing for at least a year now — if you have a colon in your movie title, it’ll inevitably be breaking the box office. Take notes, Hollywood.

Not much is known about Hayley Atwell’s mysterious character, Grace – other than the fact that she’s a professional thief helping Cruise’s Ethan Hunt out on his latest impossible mission. No pressure.

Hayley Atwell’s fate by the end of the film is still largely unknown, even if the movie is out and playing, mainly because I haven’t seen it. But that shouldn’t stop you from heading on over to your nearest movie theater to finally watch Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One.

Hayley Atwell is kind of the coolest. If she’s not playing Agent Peggy Carter in the latest Marvel thing, she’s turning in fantastic performances for the likes of Black Mirror or Christopher Robin — proving without fail that she can do just about anything. Rock on Hayley, rock on.

Now, with Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One out and melting our minds, Atwell has a thing or two to say about her involvement in the film. In an interview with reporter Josh Horowitz, Hayley touched on what it was really like working on her first Mission: Impossible movie.

In this seventh installment in the M:I franchise, Tom Cruise and co. are looking to up the ante, and the film’s director Christopher McQuarrie has been all on board.

When asked whether or not her experiences had inevitably culminated in being about to star alongside Cruise in a new Mission: Impossible, Atwell had a lot to say about how he and McQuarrie bring a story of this scale to life.

“Totally, totally, and that was part of the screen tests with Tom and McQu. They were like, ‘We don’t have a character. We find the actor we want to work with, and we create the character with them.’ So they created this environment where I could just come up with lots of different readings and different choices, and they were saying in the edit, ‘You gave us so much range, we will dial you up or dial you down.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, because I have no idea what I’m doing.’”

It’s no secret that Tom Cruise runs a tight ship. Why wouldn’t he? He’s Tom Cruise. After all, the guy has been responsible for saving cinema TWO summers in a row. Last year it was Top Gun: Maverick, this time it’s around Mission: Impossible. Proving a theory I’ve been hypothesizing for at least a year now — if you have a colon in your movie title, it’ll inevitably be breaking the box office. Take notes, Hollywood.

Not much is known about Hayley Atwell’s mysterious character, Grace – other than the fact that she’s a professional thief helping Cruise’s Ethan Hunt out on his latest impossible mission. No pressure.

Hayley Atwell’s fate by the end of the film is still largely unknown, even if the movie is out and playing, mainly because I haven’t seen it. But that shouldn’t stop you from heading on over to your nearest movie theater to finally watch Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part One.