Simon Pegg On Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning’s AI Villain & Unbelievable Stunts

Ethan Hunt and his IMF team will face their most dangerous mission yet in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. When a powerful new weapon threatens the fate of the world, Ethan Hunt will do whatever it takes to keep it out of the wrong hands. However, when enemies from his past return, Ethan is forced to put the mission first, even above those he loves.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Erik Jendresen. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Henry Czerny. Cruise and McQuarrie are also producers of the movie.
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Screen Rant spoke with Simon Pegg about Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. He broke down Benji’s evolution since the third Mission: Impossible movie and what Atwell brings to the franchise. Pegg also discussed Cruise’s stunt preparation and whether he is actually a spy.
Simon Pegg on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Screen Rant: My goodness, Dead Reckoning Part One. I don’t even know what’s going to be left for Part Two. The action in this is incredible. You play Benji, and you started with the franchise in M:I 3. How has your understanding of Benji changed throughout the course of the film series leading to Dead Reckoning?
Simon Pegg: Well, I’ve seen him grow from being a lab technician to a field agent; from a very sort of wet-behind-the-ears new guy in the field to now being this sort of legacy character that’s much more mature and much more capable, but still very human character. Benji is often described as the kind of heart of it all, and I think that’s because he’s very emotionally open. He loves his friends, and this is very much a theme in Dead Reckoning, which is great to play.
All the Mission: Impossible movies have amazing tech, and I feel that the films have been a step ahead of where we are usually in real life. However, with the Entity, this one feels very relevant. Talk to me about how this can almost seem like a cautionary tale if you’re looking at it, especially in the view of AI. What do you expect audiences to take away from that aspect of this film?
Simon Pegg: You’d be amazed. When we started making the film, McQ told me about the idea for the villain, and I thought, “This is perfect. This is so Mission: Impossible.” Mission: Impossible’s always been about technology and about masks and gadgets, and this feels like… “Yeah, of course.” But as we were making it, it suddenly became more and more prescient and felt more and more like a reflection of what is happening now in society. To the point where it could be happening now in society, but we don’t know yet. I think it’s a very understandable fear and concern of ours. This is a very nascent technology. We’ve always been scared of things that might decide to replace us or become more powerful than us: gods, monsters, robots, aliens. AI feels like that, but possible. It feels very on point for Mission: Impossible.
Hayley Atwell’s Grace is a new addition to the IMF force and the Mission: Impossible world. What did she bring to the Mission Impossible world that we haven’t seen before?
Simon Pegg: I love the way that Hayley’s character, Grace, is such an outsider. She knows nothing of the IMF. She’s not even a spy. She’s just a force of chaos, I guess, and that really comes across in her relationship to the situation and her relationship with Ethan. She’s incredibly capable, so she’s not a sort of a character who’s a fish out of water in that respect, but the dynamic between Grace and Ethan is lovely. I think that the interplay between them really crackles, and she’s a great addition to the characters.
Benji’s always been one to really help out with the tech and really help with the new tech for the IMF team. How was he challenged versus the Entity in this film?
Simon Pegg: The Entity means that they’re a little bit stuck for using the internet because there’s nowhere they can hide. Everything they use has to be detached; has to be analog. They have to go old school in order to avoid the Entity getting into what they’re doing. They come up against it at several points and realize that they can’t just hijack satellites. They can’t just use coding or hack, because it’s everywhere. So, that’s been a really interesting part of the tech; having to deescalate their tech savviness and go back to old-school ham radio stuff that doesn’t require digital interference.
Tom Cruise can drive almost any vehicle on Earth. He knows how to fly planes, fly helicopters, and he’s done most of his own stunts. I actually feel he has the skillsets to be a real spy. Is Tom Cruise a real spy?
Simon Pegg: Well, this is the thing. Is he? We wouldn’t know if he was, because he wouldn’t be at liberty to tell us. He could be masquerading as an incredibly successful actor, but in actual fact, he is Ethan Hunt. Maybe that’s the whole thing. Maybe we’re hiding in the light. Maybe I am. Who knows?
I’ve got to talk about the action because I just don’t know how you top any of this stuff, from the car chase scene in Rome to the trade scene and the Austrian Alps. How different is the action from anything else we’ve seen, and how does Tom Cruise elevate that?
Simon Pegg: Every time we get to the end of a film, I’m always asked, “How can you top this?” And I always reply, “I have no idea.” And then we always do. The fact is Tom and McQ just get their heads together, and Tom suggests something he’s always wanted to do, usually. And then they figure it out. Tom trains for it; he researches it. He works so hard on doing the stunt, making it as safe as it possibly can be. He’s not reckless in any way. It’s a misnomer to call him crazy because he’s not. He’s very sane when it comes to this kind of stuff. They just ratchet it up again and again. It’s fascinating to watch and truly awe-inspiring that they actually manage to do it. And they will do it again. It is quite extraordinary.
There you go. That’s my quote. Exactly. That’s going to be on all the promos. Thank you so much, Simon. I appreciate it, man.
About Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team take on their most important mission yet when a new weapon threatens the world and future at large. Ethan will need to do whatever it takes to keep the weapon out of the wrong hands including enemies from his own past. With the fate of the world at stake Ethan Hunt will be forced to put the mission first even over those he cares for most.
Check out out other Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One interviews here:
Hayley Atwell
Pom Klementieff & Vanessa Kirby
Greg Tarzan Davis & Shea Whigham
Source: Screen Rant Plus