Mission: Impossible star Simon Pegg calls Tom Cruise bike stunt a 'nail-biting experience'

What was Simon Pegg doing when Tom Cruise rode a motorbike off a cliff in Norway on the first day of the shoot for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (out July 12)? The British actor was on set, watching his co-star disappear into the wild blue yonder, and chewing on his cuticles.

"All the cast that were in Norway at the time, we all went up there together," says Pegg, who plays the character of Benji Dunn in the Mission: Impossible movies. "It was a genuinely nail-biting experience."

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty, Monica Schipper/WireImage Simon Pegg and Tom Cruise

The stunt took place on Sep. 6, 2020, and found Cruise, who portrays Impossible Mission Force leader Ethan Hunt in the franchise, riding a custom-made Honda CRF 250 off a ramp on the side of Norway's Helsetkopen mountain. Cruise then fell 4,000 feet before opening his parachute a mere 500 feet from the ground.

"Obviously, you hear the idea and you get an idea of what it is in your head," Pegg says. "But it wasn't until I got up there on the mountain that I realized just how death-defyingly awesome the whole thing was. For all his preparation, for all the parachute jumps he did, for all the motocross training he did, there is still always a degree of uncertainty with something like that. He went off the cliff and then vanished out of shot, and we just stood there and waited for the radio to tell us he was okay and that his shoot was open. That gap between him vanishing behind the rock to that radio message felt like an eternity. We could be facing losing our leading man. It was genuinely a fear. But, my god, it was exciting."

Christian Black Tom Cruise and director Chris McQuarrie on the set of 'Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning - Part One'

Pegg reveals that Cruise not only fell through the air for more than half a mile but delivered dialogue while doing so.

"When we see the stunt in the trailers, all we see is Tom go off and go down," the actor says. "Tom delivers a line in free fall. I mean, who's ever done that? Who's ever BASE-jumped and acted at the same time? Nobody."

Christian Black 'Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning - Part One'

Pegg was first cast as Dunn in 2006's J.J. Abrams-directed Mission: Impossible III after the Brit's eye-catching turn as a zombie-battling Londoner in filmmaker Edgar Wright's 2004 horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead. The actor has now reprised the character in four more franchise entries: 2011's Abrams-produced Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol; 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation; 2018's Mission: Impossible – Fallout; and the new movie, which, like the previous two entries, is directed by Christopher McQuarrie. (The filmmaker is also overseeing Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, which is set for release in June 2024.)

"When I first played Benji 17 years ago, he was a lab technician," the actor recalls. "Then J.J. called a year later and said, 'How would you like it if Benji was a field agent?' I was immediately enthused by that idea. Then here I am on my fifth film." Pegg describes how Dunn has evolved over time: "He's grown up. He's a lot less wet behind the ears. He's a more capable, more mature member of the team, but no less human in his responses to the crazy stuff that goes on. He's maintained that position of being the heart of the group. It's really fun to play him, particularly after Fallout, where he was almost killed. I feel like he's taken all that on board and he's a little bit more battle-weary than you've seen him in previous installments."

Christian Black

Pegg and Cruise are joined in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One by series regulars Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, and Vanessa Kirby. The film also features newcomers Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, and Captain America actress Hayley Atwell. The latter plays a thief named Grace who falls into the orbit of the IMF team.

"Hayley's character is not part of their world," says Pegg, whose other credits include Scotty in the Star Trek film franchise and the father of Jack Quaid's character on The Boys. "She's not a spy, [but] she's not a Kate Capshaw-in-Temple-of-Doom fish out of water. She's very capable, she's her own thing. The crackle of chemistry between her and Tom is so, so fun. Hayley has great comedic chops to the point where I was like, Hey, whoa, that's my job!"

While shooting Mission: Impossible has occupied most of Pegg's time over the last few years, the actor reveals he has been mulling future projects. These include a possible re-team with Edgar Wright, with whom he wrote Shaun of the Dead, as well as 2007's Hot Fuzz and 2013's The World's End, both of which also starred the actor.

"I haven't been writing recently because I'm on strike in that regard," he says. "But, yeah, Edgar and I have been getting together and having talks about stuff. That will happen when we can sync up our diaries and manage to get our most recent commitments out of the way. I'm always working in my head if nowhere else."

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will be released in theaters July 12.

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