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In Conversation With 'Mission: Impossible' Actress Rebecca Ferguson

Rebecca Ferguson details her experience being on the film's set and portraying her character, Ilsa Faust, in the epic adventure that is the 'Mission: Impossible - D

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<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/25b93474-86b6-4925-9cd3-fb4cfbe14f07_mi7-ff-319r.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Rebecca Fergusion in " Mission="" Impossible="" Dead="" Reckoning="" Part="" which="" opens="" in="" cinemas="" on="" July=""/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Rebecca Fergusion in &#x27;Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,&#x27; which opens in cinemas on July 12<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Photo: Paramount Pictures  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>																When she was cast in <strong><em>Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation</em></strong>, nobody could have predicted what ahuge part of the <em>Mission: Impossible</em> family <strong>Rebecca Ferguson</strong> would become. </p><div><br/></div><p>Originallyintended to feature in just one movie, her character, <strong>Ilsa Faust</strong>, was so instantly popular that shereturned in <strong><em>Mission: Impossible – Fallout</em></strong>, becoming a core part of <strong>Ethan Hunt</strong>’s team. Since herfirst appearance in the series, the Golden Globe-nominated Ferguson has become one of theworld’s most celebrated performers, also starring in other worldwide smashes including <em><strong>TheGreatest Showman</strong></em> and <em><strong>Dune</strong></em>.</p><div><br/></div><p>					A British MI6 agent entrusted with its most dangerous missions, Ilsa Faust first crossed pathswith Ethan Hunt while working undercover to bring down powerful terrorist organization TheSyndicate. She is both fiercely independent and fiercely loyal, always putting the lives of othersbefore her own. Their shared belief in doing what’s right, whatever the cost to themselves, hasseen her form a deep connection with Hunt. In <strong><em>Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One</em></strong>this partnership comes up against a terrifying new adversary: Gabriel (<strong>Esai Morales</strong>), a man witha terrible mission of his own.</p><div><br/></div><div>									</div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/536733e8-2b36-4681-81b6-46f7c05bb630_mi7-07375r4a.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Photo: Paramount Pictures  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div>																</div><div><br/></div><div><strong>The <em>Mission: Impossible</em> movies have a unique creative process. They don’t start with a completescript but evolve as they go. How would you describe that on-set experience?</strong></div><p>“Tom and McQ have a way of working which from the outside could look very odd, but it’sgenius. The story is mostly in McQ and Tom’s heads, not on paper. For people who are new tothe game, I guess that could be stressful because they don&#x27;t really understand the process. Butthat’s why everyone’s there, to support everyone. The creation happens in the conversationsbetween Tom and McQ. Everything that is created is enhanced by the dynamic between them.It is incredible to watch. It all comes together in front of you. It is extraordinary how muchknowledge they have about film and camera angles and storytelling and building tension andcharacter. Tom is extremely focused on character. ‘Why?’ is Tom’s question all the time. ‘Why isthat happening? Why is he doing that?’ It’s so detailed.”									</p><div><br/></div><div>																<strong>How would you describe the threat that the team face in this movie?</strong></div><p>					“What has been really interesting and extremely intelligently created by McQ and Tom in thesemovies is that they play with the question of what is actually good and bad. There’s a scene wecut from the last movie, between Ilsa and Ethan, where she is saying to him: ‘Why are we doingthis, you and me? Why don’t we give up? There will always be people like us who can take over,so why don’t we let them and go and live the life that other people get to live?’ But it’s also thereverse. Who is really bad? In <em>Fallout</em>, Sean Harris’ Solomon Lane talks about bringing them overto a world that’s better, but in our world he was seen as evil because of the destruction [that																							would entail]. But is it? Or is it human growth? These films have always played with big thoughtsof ownership and world control – how we have been controlled by the police, state andgovernment, the politicians. Obviously [in these stories], the baddies are the baddies – and weknow they are because they kill and want to destroy everyone and everything. But there’salways a philosophical mind at play in these stories too. What is actually ‘bad’ if you break itdown? For a lot of these characters, that will depend on the balance of their beliefs – on whatthey believe is truthful and real. In this movie, Gabriel, the antagonist, is in full belief of what hewants, and that is justice, for the betterment of all mankind, or for whatever is left of it whenhe’s done.”</p><div><br/></div><div>					<strong>What is it about this story that’s so big it needs splitting into two movies?</strong></div><p>					“These movies just become bigger and bigger, with larger and larger themes. They are so bigand grand, location-wise. It really is a mission, shooting these movies. So, linking two together?That is not an easy task, in any way, shape or form. But I think that the scale of what Tom andMcQ have attempted here demands two movies. To let the story and characters breathe againstthis never-bigger, action-packed backdrop.”									</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/3eb003a0-d855-41a9-a606-d4852d6b82e6_midr - rebecca ferguson.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/10fa214c-475a-40b9-8e27-1526eed15fd4_midrp1dom2037x3000payoffdigital1sht01fin18.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Let’s talk Ilsa. What is she going through in this movie?</strong></div><p>					“This is where it gets hard! [Laughs] Because it’s very hard to promote a story that you don’tfully know. The way we work is that we shoot a lot of footage, and then they cut it together.Then we get to see that version at the premiere! And we go, ‘Oh, that makes sense!’ But thatworks perfectly for these films because the fact is that in these movies, these characters neverhave the full picture in front of them. The fun of watching these films is watching thesecharacters discover things as they go. That’s where that wonderful dynamic comes from. Arethey working together? Are they not working together? We ended the last movie thinking thatthere is sort of a collaboration here between Ilsa and Ethan. We begin this one very confusedagain. It’s that dance between these two characters that I have fallen in love with.”</p><div><br/></div><div>					<strong>In the trailer, we see Ilsa and Ethan embracing. What can we read into that?</strong></div><p>					“You can read whatever you want into that [laughs], but I don’t want to give anything away.What I will say is that we have always, for years, talked about the relationship between thembecause it’s so complex. The bond between these two people has been born of trauma andchaos – these are emotions that go beyond any form of love affair or kinship. They have thispure urge to protect and support each other, but also to have their own rights. They’re two verysimilar characters. What do you see? Is it love? Is it friendship? Is it family? Is it support? Is itjust knowing that something’s about to blow up? That’s the whole point of this dynamic.”									</p><div style="text-align:center"><br/></div><div class="youtube-iframe"><iframe width="400" height="345" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2m1drlOZSDw" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><br/><div><strong>The trailer also gives a glimpse of a showdown between Ilsa and Esai Morales’ Gabriel in Venice.What can you share about that sequence?</strong></div><p>“It&#x27;s always a wonderful moment when bad and good meet. What was fun about this meeting isthat I got to train to sword fight for the scene, which was ridiculously hard and wonderfullyexciting to do. I’ll never forget shooting that scene – sword fighting over turquoise waters inVenice. And Esai is phenomenal. He’s unpredictable, a classic baddie. It’s a dance.” </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>What made the sword fighting so difficult to master?</strong></div><p>					“It’s so tricky. You always have the possibility of doing the fighting with lighter replicas. So, insome angles you have the sword and for certain other angles, if it’s dangerous, you switch thatsword out for the replica, so you don’t chop someone’s head off. But the part you don’t realizeuntil you first do it is how important the weight is. Because the weight is so important, you haveto train with the real weapon. And then you have to remember what that weight feels like, soyou can fight with something that’s not equally weighted but make it look the same. It’s not justthe choreography – which is difficult enough in and of itself – but retaining the muscle memoryof training with the real weapon. There’s so much more to it than I ever understood before.” </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>A lot of the characters in this movie are exploring their darker sides. How does that play out onscreen?</strong></div><p>“I remember McQ and Tom talking a lot on the last movie, Fallout, about what they wanted todo with this one. They talked about not being scared, about wanting for the next film tobasically eat up the franchise emotionally, to give the audience another level of action andemotion. People know the ingredients that make these films so great and one of them is theirability to give you a metaphorical emotional stomach punch. And Tom and I have often talkedabout not being afraid of giving these characters physical tasks and emotions to deal with.Whether it’s loss or love or fear, we have never been afraid to go deeper, to go further. And thismovie is maybe the pinnacle of that.”									</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/28fb100d-2faa-4adc-b6ce-f7deeb021cb3_mi7-ff-265rc.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt=""/></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div>																<strong>Is there a sense that these two new Mission movies are almost a love-letter to the whole series?</strong></div><p>“Honestly, everything Tom and McQ do is intentional. Everything. Every angle, every shot, everyline, every prop, the costumes, the music, the edit. This is a movie that has so much boom andabandon and adventure. But, also, there is so much in there that is an homage to somethingthey loved in the previous movies, or something they loved in all the classic movies the two ofthem are always referencing on set. They are far too smart for me to ever try and even pretendto know what they’re talking about [laughs]. At the beginning, they’ll go, ‘Have you seen thisclassic movie or that classic movie?’ And at the start [on her first Mission movie, <em>Rogue Nation</em>],I would sometimes pretend that I had, to look smart. And then go and watch it that night. Butnow I’m just honest and say I haven’t seen it. I’ll be like, ‘Send me a list of all the films you wantme to see. But remember I’m a novice.’” </p><div><br/></div><div><strong><em>Dead Reckoning Part One</em> promises to be a truly epic adventure for audiences. How much of anadventure have you had making it?</strong></div><p>“It’s been incredible, it really has. The places we’ve seen, the things we’ve done. I absolutelyloved Abu Dhabi. It was phenomenal. The desert location and the footage you get from it is justexquisite. Putting us into nature that is so uncontrollable, whether it’s a sandstorm or whatever,and us just having to adapt to it, was so beautiful and so apt. It’s the same with all the differentinputs of nature – from rain to wind – that came into play on Tom’s bike jump. No matter howmuch planning you do, you can’t control Mother Nature. That’s what makes it so dangerous.And that’s what makes it so exciting to watch. People will never understand what it took foreveryone involved to make that bike stunt work.”									</p><div><br/></div><div><strong><em>Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One opens in cinemas July 12. The Part Two is scheduled for release next year.</em></strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Photos courtesy of <strong>Paramount Pictures</strong></p><div><br/></div><div><strong>Related Story: </strong><a href="/culture/film-tv/new-and-upcoming-films-to-watch/35784" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New and Upcoming Films to Watch With Your Family and Friends</a></div><div><strong>Related Story: </strong><a href="/culture/film-tv/the-childe-movie-review-kim-seon-ho-kang-tae-joo/35873" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Movie Review: &#x27;The Childe&#x27; Is An Action Noir With Hints Of Dark Comedy</a></div><div><strong>Related Story: </strong><a href="/people/celebrities/korean-stars-cameos-in-netflix-series-celebrity/35905" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">All The Celebrity Cameo Appearances In Netflix’s “Celebrity”</a></div>

Rebecca Ferguson details her experience being on the film's set and portraying her character, Ilsa Faust, in the epic adventure that is the 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' 