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Tom Cruise gave my Gran a private tour in a Helicopter!
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May 23, 2025
Hayley Atwell stopped by Heart studios to reveal behind the scenes on the making of Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning. From filming in -40 degree temperatures to helicopters to work, Hayley shares all. #missionimpossible #tomcruise #hayleyatwell _ Subscribe for regular entertainment! http://bit.ly/1qyfc2T Watch videos in full + exclusives here: https://thisisheart.co/heartglobalplayer Honest Celebrity Interviews: https://thisisheart.co/honestinterviews Music Artists: https://thisisheart.co/3YVm8wN Film and TV Stars: https://thisisheart.co/filmandtv _ We're the UK's biggest commercial radio brand creating memorable moments with the most recognised names in entertainment!
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It was wild. I'd get picked up in a helicopter in the morning on a Sunday by Tom
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This is not a set. It has been a privilege. You know, it's been such a..
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I knew in every day of filming, I knew that this would not be forever
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and that I would never be really in a position like this again. And he goes, are you ready to go on a helicopter with me
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And she just went, yep. Puts down the walking stick. Changed her mind
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Marches into the helicopter. Hi. Hi. Hayley, well, I am so excited to meet you, by the way
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Massive fan. Thank you. No, you're welcome. First of all, I do want to say a huge congratulations, by the way
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on Much Ado About Nothing. Yes. I have to get that in there
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It broke box office records in the West End. You and Tom Hildeson killed it
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We loved it. I mean, we've known each other 20 years. We always wanted to work together
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Yeah. And then this was a dream, dream job. and we could feel the audience every night on their feet at the end
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2,000 people just willing and wanting to have that kind of radical optimism
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thrown at them. So we just had a great time. And loads of your friends came
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Did Tom? He did. He did? Okay, then he's a good friend. Okay, he's good
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He's a very good friend. He and Chris McQuarrie, the director, he came. They brought donuts for everyone backstage
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You know, and I think he's just like, he loves art. He loves seeing people thrive
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he's such a supporter of other people's work. I think we should talk about Mission Impossible
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Please do. Okay, are you ready for this? The final reckoning. So we filmed both films over the space of five years
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and sometimes we would be filming elements of this one while the other one was being edited
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So there was a kind of a sense of like a, for me they sort of sometimes merged into one
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and the exciting thing is, as I'm sure some people will know
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is that there isn't really a script. So you have these big set pieces and you know what the action is
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And it was meticulously planned and prepped for that. But in terms of the scenes and the story, that can always evolve and change and be tweaked
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So it was the time when I was doing Mission Impossible. Still eight shows a week. And my Sundays, days off, I would be shooting mission scenes
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Wow. Okay. It was wild I get picked up in a helicopter in the morning on a Sunday by Tom flown to set and I get into like a 10 metre tank or there would be
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or they would have seen part of the edit and gone, oh we've got another idea
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we want to try for Grace and so there'll be a dance a fight sequence we'd have to learn
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or different kind of dialogue. And so even right up to the end of when
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we finished, which was only a few weeks ago, they were still
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working out what made it the most exciting version it could possibly be for an audience
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And that was so exciting because it just meant that I was on top of my toes the whole time
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Yeah. And it created more spontaneity in the sense of sort of anything is possible here
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Yeah. And they really wanted to, with every one of these films
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just do a bigger job than they've done before, so push everything a little bit further as they possibly can
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And partly because they take so long, of course, the technology is advancing so quickly
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that they're going to be using new technology, new cameras anything that's that's available to really enhance the experience of the of the you
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know the movie going spectacle that it is do you know what i think that that's one thing that you
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guys have done extremely well it's as you say making each and every film bigger than the last
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it's just consistently done that it's like a an action roller coaster that's the only way that i
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can really like put it into a sentence do you know i mean and it sounds really interesting hearing you
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speaking about it that it's the same for you being in it as it is for us actually watching it
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yeah completely tell me about your experience that you had when filming in was it minus 40 degrees
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minus 40 degrees um it was in svalbard in the arctic it was the most beautiful place i've ever
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been because it's so other in time like humans shouldn't be up we're not designed to really
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thrive in a condition like that and so to be there was a once in a lifetime opportunity
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and even the ground that we on was frozen sea. You know, this wasn't kind of a mountain we were on
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This was a seabed, a frozen seabed. And we'd have to stop shooting because of Polar Bear Patrol. No
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Did you see any? We did. We saw several. The one that really stuck with me though was the one that came to visit the ship that we were on Hang on you were on a ship Were you living on a ship We were living on an icebreaker yeah Oh there so much I need to ask you Go We had a skidoo from the ship to the base camp
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to where we'd filmed to the set. And we had a polar bear patrol on the outskirts
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the perimeter of this set, and every time that there would be an announcement
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that we'd have to stop filming, go back to the ship, because the polar bear would be walking through the set
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and we'd have to obviously respect not making nature sure that they knew that we were you know
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we were visiting them in their home yeah so we were cool about that and then we were in the ship
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one evening playing cards and then we just heard this excitement on deck and we all ran out putting
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all our layers on yeah like how can we get out that really quick enough but keep ourselves warm and we just saw the most beautiful healthy looking good good look it was you know just standing there
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watching this very quietly curious polar bear walk towards the ship but then put his paws up
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and he would be standing on his hind legs on the ship. Sounds like you've just had like the best
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time of your life filming this. It really does. It has been a privilege you know it's been such a
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I knew in every day of filming I knew that this would not be forever and that I would never be
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really in a position like this again and so to just to appreciate it and to be grateful for it
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allowed me to just to take everything in you know i've created such great friendships from it i can't
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wait to go and see it don't don't i'm really excited stop it um and earlier on you touched
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on the fact that tom uh is incredibly good at giving gifts oh my gosh i mean i don't want to
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brag oh here we go he uh gave my grandmother a lift in a helicopter on christmas eve at sunset
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a few years ago and that was a great gift that he gave me
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Was that just a surprise? Did you know? So you planned it? I knew, but she didn't
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So nice. And I took her to this heliport where there's like a cafe beside it and she didn't know
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And I said, I said, oh, look, there's a helipad out there
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And she went, oh, you wouldn't get me in a helicopter? Oh, no. Very dangerous and all
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We're like, oh, right, okay. And they were just having a cup of tea and then all of a sudden
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Tom Cruise walks around the corner and goes, hi. And she goes my grandma looks amazing She was like hiya Like she known him for years Hiya darling You right And like gives him a big hug and he goes are you ready to go on a helicopter with me and she just went
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yep puts down the walking stick changed her mind marches into the helicopter sits down in the back
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takes it all in and he was so um kind and gentle and explained everything that was happening
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what every every feeling or sensation was what the description of every kind of technical aspect
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of it um and it was beautiful it was so peaceful and to be able to kind of be in the helicopter
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with her over london and seeing the city from that view and just seeing kind of the look on her face
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um knowing that that that was a huge gift for me i think like and and what it what it meant for her
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it was just a sort of testament to how how you know how generous he is as a man oh you know you've
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got you've got a friend for life there you really have yeah um i've loved having you by the way
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Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me. But before you go, one thing that we do ask all of our guests is
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we want to know what is the one question that you hate being asked
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that you get it asked every single time, and you just wish that people would stop
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Oh, my goodness. What's that one question? Now, of course, I'll say this and people will be like, oh, well, they'll keep saying it
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But the one thing, and it comes off the back of doing a play. when you've done a play you know and or doing stunt sequence like this and the first you know
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the first response when someone has seen it when they come up to you go it's when they go like
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you must be exhausted and i'm like well i mean i find that question a bit exhausting
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because it's such a yeah it's the same thing of like uh how do you learn your lines and i'm like
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well i'm an actor it's my job you'd think that was like the first thing i'd have to do as a job
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description. We've put a line under it now. That's it. That was the last time whenever anyone's
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going to ask for that. They're never going to do it again. Done. Seriously, I have loved chatting to you
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and I would love to chat to you for even longer. I really would. Congratulations on everything that you're doing
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in your career as well. As I said before with the Much Ado About Nothing and this film
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I can't wait for people to see it. The fans are literally going crazy for it
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Thank you
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