The Mission: Impossible franchise is known for its ambitious stunts, and Tom Cruise has done a hell of a job over the last 30 years performing them. Simon Pegg has been lucky enough to be along for the ride, as he’s been playing technician Benji Dunn alongside Cruise’s Ethan Hunt for years now. Pegg has seen Cruise ride a motorcycle off of a cliff for Dead Reckoning and watched him scale the Burj Khalifa for Ghost Protocol. However, that tradition changed a bit for The Final Reckoning, much to Pegg’s delight.
Simon Pegg recently spoke to THR, opening up about his 20-year friendship with Cruise, as well as his enduring participation in the Mission: Impossible films. To some fans, it may seem cool that Pegg has been able witness many of the terrifying stunts Cruise has participated in over the years. But, for The Final Reckoning, the absolutely insane stunts were kept away from Pegg, which actually was probably for the best. He explained:
Thankfully, yes. It has always been a terrifying thing for me to be there, and I’ve been there for all the big stunts over the years. Weirdly, even if we had been able to be there when he was doing these stunts, we wouldn’t have been able to go up into the sky on the biplanes with him. Nor would we have been able to go underwater and see what he was doing. We saw the gimbal for the Sevastopol, which was the most incredible piece of film technology I’ve ever seen in my life.
underwater sequence in a sunken submarine and an aerial biplane sequence where Cruise climbs from one plane to another mid-air. Because these were essentially solo ventures for Cruise, the rest of the cast were kept at bay and unable to witness the heart-pounding, death defying stunt work for this particular film. However, to me, it’s pretty cool that everyone could still see the cinematic technology used for the submarine sequence, as the piece is truly remarkable and signifies an incredible piece of filmmaking.
he saw Cruise get nervous before strapping himself to the exterior of a commercial plane in Rogue Nation. While most of the time Cruise may seem calm, cool and collected, that doesn’t keep the stunts from being inherently scary for everyone else on set. Pegg told the trade:
But there was no nail biting and terror like there sometimes is on set when Tom is jumping off something or hanging onto something or generally putting his life at risk in the name of cinema.
Despite this anxiety, Pegg still found himself returning year after year for another Mission: Impossible adventure. I guess watching Cruise consistently risk his life comes with the territory when you sign up to be an integral character in the M:I films. Still, it’s good to know Pegg received a little bit of a reprieve for this (possibly?) final installment. Even if it was often hard for the Sean of the Dead alum to watch the spectacle up close, I think I speak for a lot of fans when I say the end results look fantastic on the big screen.
You can see Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, and their co-stars in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which is still playing in theaters nationwide. It’s a cinematic adventure of epic proportions, so make sure to check it out on the big screen while you still can. Fans can also revisit previous M:I films now, as the franchise is currently streamable with a Paramount+ subscription.