WhileTom Cruiseis willing to risk his own safety by performing all kinds of death-defying stunts for his films, harming a co-star is a line he’s not willing to cross. In the upcoming sequelMission: Impossible–Dead Reckoning Part One, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is faced with a new adversary portrayed byPom Klementieff. Things get physical between the characters, evidently involving a kick to the gut at one point. But while Klementieff practically begged for Cruise to legitimately kick her for the sake of making their scene look better, her request was firmly denied.
“I kept telling him to just kick me here,” Klementieff toldEntertainment Weekly, pointing to her stomach. “I was squeezing abs. [I said], ‘you’re able to just go for it.’ He was like ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ I was like, ‘But it’s going to help me!’ But he wouldn’t do it.”
Klementieff’s name in the film is Paris, and she serves as a partner in crime for Gabriel, another new villain played by Esai Morales. TheGuardians of the Galaxystar says that the Paris name comes from the Great Paris, the character played by Leonard Nimoy in the originalMission: ImpossibleTV show.
“When Christopher McQuarrie cast me for the role, he didn’t know which name the character would have,” Klementieff explains. “It was cool to name me Paris, me being from France, and then they decided that I would speak French because I speak French in real life.”
On what’s different about Paris compared to the other ladies in the franchise, Klementieff added, “She’s very different style-wise from every other actress in theMission: Impossiblefranchise. She has a side that’s a bit more punk and she doesn’t really give a f—. So that was cool.”
Related:Mission: Impossible 7 Cast Fear for Tom Cruise’s Safety in Risky Stunts
When casting new villains for Ethan Hunt to face, McQuarrie knew he needed to go with Klementieff after watching her portray Mantis in the secondGuardians of the Galaxyfilm. He further described Paris as “very, very, very much a chaotic element in the story. It doesn’t matter how deep in the background she is, you’re going to be watching her at all times and wondering what she’s going to do.”
“[Paris] destroys everything in her path,” adds Klementieff. “She’s a rebel, she’s a killer, she’s extremely skilled and quite lonely too.”
McQuarrie wrote the screenplay for the sequel with Erik Jendresen. Along with Cruise and Klementieff, other stars of the film include Esai Morales, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Henry Czerny.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Onewill be released in movie theaters on July 12. The story will continue with the release ofMission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Twowhich releases next year on June 28, 2025.McQuarrie has also teased that the franchise will continueafter the release of that film, so the impossible missions aren’t over yet for Ethan Hunt.
