E-Paper
Mission Impossible actor Hayley Atwell: ‘Tom invited me to watch playbacks’
Hollywood actor Hayley Atwell gets candid about her relationship with actor-producer Tom Cruise and her love for India.
Actor Hayley Atwell is not in the mood to play a damsel in distress on screen, and is happy that strong female characters have become the buzzword in the world of Hollywood. She admits that as an artiste, her responsibility is to dive deep and explore the vulnerabilities of the characters.
“All the roles in my projects aren’t used as a gimmick. For instance my character in the Mission Impossible franchise, or pick any other female character from the film, all the women are distinctive. They’re not one thing, and that really made me bring things on set every day that could elevate her from being one kind of archetype. You can’t put the characters in a box or describe as femme fatale or damsel in distress. She is nuanced,” says the British-American actor.
The 41-year-old states that there’s a unanimous hunger for better written characters for female actors that are more “nuanced and dynamic”. She explains, “There is this buzz word going around which is ‘strong female characters’. Well, we want nuanced and dynamic characters that reflect the different qualities that we have as human beings. Because none of us are ever one thing. We evolve over time. Now, the filmmakers are really open to that and it allows it a very kind of creatively fertile environment we wish to thrive in.”
After making her debut in 2005, Atwell has made a name for herself through projects such as The Duchess (2008), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Cinderella (2015), The Pride (2013) and her character of Grace in the Mission Impossible franchise.
Reflecting on her journey so far, the actor admits she has been through her shares of ups and downs. “In the early stage of your career, you are learning the craft of how a movie gets made and your role within it, or you are looking at how to interpret a script. Afterwards the thought was what is the next challenge for me… And it is to investigate and explore what’s driving her? What does she want? What’s the obstacle in her way? That’s my responsibility as an actor to find details within the character in a natural way,” states Atwell, who reprised her famous role in the recently released Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One.
The actor also got to work with actor-producer Tom Cruise and she calls it an enriching experience. “We filmed the projects over the period of three years because we did it partly due to the pandemic. During that time, I got a real sense of his commitment to storytelling and always exploring and questioning with a real deep curiosity about what lands in the frame. The process was very inclusive. Tom along with director Christopher McQuarrie invited me to watch playbacks, and watch other movies which have their own distinct film language… I was learning things that I would be able to take on to future productions,” she tells us.
Given that Mission Impossible franchise enjoys a huge fandom in India, too, Atwell wraps up with a promise to visit the country soon. “I’ve never had the opportunity, but I’d love to come to India. I have had friends who have been to India, and when they come back, they talk about the vibrancy and the kindness of the people. I love eating Indian food in London. It is one of my favourite cuisines. If I ever got an opportunity to come to India, I would jump at the chance,” she ends.
