Hayley Atwell’s ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Screen Test Was ‘Two Hours of Stunt Choreography’ So the Team Could ‘See My Natural Abilities’

Everything is supercharged when it comes to the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise, and that extends to the movies audition process. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Hayley Atwell revealed that her screen test for the mysterious role of Grace in the two-part Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning required a two-hour screen test that was essentially a stunt training course. Some actors screen test with dialogue, but not Mission: Impossible actors.

Who the character has become is a byproduct of the process, the films writer-director Christopher McQuarrie said. So when we went into the screen test, weve not written a character that were trying to find someone to fit with. Rather, were looking for an actress who we want to work with and well fit the character to her.

Atwells screen test was with stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood and was made up of two hours of stunt choreography just to see where my natural abilities lay, she said.

We did an unarmed combat sequence and mixed martial arts to see if I was someone who could grapple and trap or someone who was more into high kicks, Atwell added. [Its to] ascertain my natural style.

Once McQuarrie and Cruise decided Atwell was the perfect actor to bring Grace to life, they went about constructing the character to fit Atwells stunt capabilities. She went through an additional five months of stunt training after accepting the role.

From the physical training we discovered that I was a quick learner through sleight-of-hand tricks and using a prop so my character is an opportunist who can take an inanimate object and make a weapon out of it, rather than someone who is slick and skilled and formally trained, Atlwell said about the process. From that, this inconsistent character emerged: someone who is spontaneous, quite unpredictable, but not calculating.

Atwell added of her character, Tom and McQuarrie were interested in finding a different kind of tone for this film than wed seen before and a character who had a relationship with Tom that felt more cat and mouse, two people who through circumstances and pressure find themselves in each others company but theyre exasperated by each other. So therein will lie the chemistry between them, but also some of the comedic elements in the film.

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One opens in theaters July 12 from Paramount Pictures.