While it’s certainly exciting seeing a Mission: Impossible film on the big screen, it’s safe to say the films themselves remain an intense labor of love for the actors involved.
Valuing grounded practical effects over digital CGI, Mission: Impossible prides itself on its numerous death-defying stunts, many of which are performed by the actual actors involved in filming.
As the eight and final Mission: Impossible (The Final Reckoning) rolls into theaters nationwide, leading actor Hayley Atwell shed light on some of the most harrowing stunts she had to perform in the film — all the while nearly nine months pregnant.
Appearing on a recent episode of The Tonight Show, the 43-year-old MCU actress told host Jimmy Fallon that she was actually eight and a half months pregnant with her first child while filming reshoots for The Final Reckoning.
“During this fight sequence, we came back to it a few times to add a few elements to it, and in this clip, I’m actually eight and a half months pregnant,” Atwell said on The Tonight Show. “I’m serious, yes!”
As difficult as that feat might sound on paper, Atwell revealed that she was very eager to perform the stunt herself, shying away from any chance for a stunt double to substitute her performance in the film.
“I have to say, I was taken such good care of, everyone was so supportive,” the former Captain America actress said. “And they were like, ‘Oh, you can sit down and we’ll have a stunt double do it,’ and I was like, ‘No, I’ve worked too hard, let me do it!’ So I did it, and here it is.”
As part of the preparation for the film, Atwell said that she and her fellow co-stars had to learn to dogsled for their performances in The Final Reckoning, and that production for the film was briefly halted when a polar bear stumbled onto the set in Norway.
“We had to stop shooting because a polar bear walked across the set, and that is something I’d never thought I would hear myself say,” Atwell said with a laugh.