One of the most impressive stunts from what we’ve seen out of Mission: Impossible 7 has to be the sequence where Hayley Atwell has to drive and drift while being handcuffed to Tom Cruise. With this legendary franchise of action movies favoring as many practical stunts as possible, the moment seen in many of Dead Reckoning Part One’s trailers meant that Atwell needed to study the art of drifting pretty intensely. The results speak for themselves, and you can pretty much call her fast and furious at this point.
Hayley Atwell went into greater detail about her preparation for this experience, as she recently sat down with ET Canada. The Captain America actor's remarks about her automotive antics not only showed how much she had to study the art of drifting, but also revealed the following challenges when bringing this big scene to life:
I had studied drifting for five months previously to principal photography, so my level of being able to drive competently had hugely developed and increased over that time. But also, you have to transport that particular car chase sequence to a real city, a real location that has a whole other level of obstacles, and the absolute necessity of making sure that we were treating it respectfully. And so the mechanics of something like that are so precise, that … if I was in fear, it would have been because we were in some way being reckless, and we weren’t.
The way that Atwell describes this Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One experience definitely tracks. As Hayley previously revealed, a key piece of advice from Tom Cruise was “don’t be safe, be competent,” which is something that totally covers having to drift in both a doorless BMW (as well as a small yellow Fiat) while bound to your co-star.
That competence is clearly exhibited in Hayley Atwell and her drifting studies, especially in the way she discusses transferring those skills from the track to the set. As we’ve seen in snippets across trailers and featurettes, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One involves a Rome-based set piece where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his new friend Grace (Hayley Atwell) are bound together in high speed pursuit.
Both of our protagonists get to engage in some risky business behind the wheel, especially with the way the two are cuffed together. It's one of the most ridiculous Mission: Impossible 7 stunts we've seen so far, and that's a good thing as all of that control sells the image of chaos so perfectly.
If history had shaken out a little differently, Hayley Atwell could have co-starred with Tom Cruise much sooner. While it’s exciting to think about what could have been, their pairing in the first half of this Mission: Impossible two-parter ended up giving Hayley some skills that she could use for future gigs.
Maybe with the Fast and Furious saga ending on a proposed trilogy, there’s a chance that Ms. Atwell could jump into another action fueled franchise. Not only would she have the ability to do her own driving stunts to boot, but there's still time to try and write her into the next installment, which isn't due in theaters until 2025. Who knows what Furious plans fate has in store?
There’s plenty more Hayley Atwell stunts in Mission: Impossible 7 headed our way, and next week’s theatrical debut of the seventh installment will unveil them all to the world. Which means that Paramount+ subscription of yours is about to become even more convenient, thanks to all six previous missions being available to stream on that platform.
