Warning: SPOILERS for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could be the end of an era. What may turn out to be Tom Cruise’s last outing as field agent Ethan Hunt is a high-octane thrill ride that honors the franchise’s near-30-year legacy while still bringing much that is new to the table–including a rogue AI hell-bent on wiping out humanity.
But the stakes are made even higher by the fact that many in the United States government don’t approve of Ethan Hunt’s methods. One such official is Secretary of Defense Serling Bernstein, played by Mindhunter’s Holt McCallany. McCallany is also known for work on projects including The Waterfront and The Lincoln Lawyer.
ScreenRant’s Joe Deckelmeier interviewed Holt McCallany about his work on Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. McCallany explained what it was like to work with Tom Cruise (although not on the stunt that nearly broke Cruise’s back) and Christopher McQuarrie, and how it felt to join the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Holt McCallany Explains Working With Tom Cruise & Christopher McQuarrie
In the Mission: Impossible films, Ethan Hunt and his crew are often flying by the seat of their pants, having to improvise after being faced with an impossible choice, betrayal, or other nasty surprise. As it turns out, the actors on set have to deal with a fair bit adapting as well.
“Tom and Chris work super closely together, so sometimes you’ll be set to shoot a scene and the ᴀssistant editor will come over to you and say, ‘Hey wait a beat. Tom and Chris are reworking some of the dialogue,'” Holt McCallany revealed. “Maybe a couple of hours will go by,” he shared, “and then they’ll come with new pages.”
But McCallany was up for the challenge. “Fortunately for me, I’m a quick study,” he said. “I’ve been doing this a long time … after many, many years, I can read something a couple of times and know it, if I’ve made choices about who the guy is.”
And McCallany did know. “Chris was very clear with me about how he envisioned the character,” he said, “why he thought I was the right guy, and how I was going to contribute to the narrative.”
“So, I didn’t mind; you’ve got to roll with the punches.”
“You’ve got to be light on your toes,” the actor continued, “You’ve got to be flexible, and you’ve got to be able to move … hopefully, if you do that, you’ll find moments that really work and are memorable, that the director is going to see in the editing room and say ‘That moment has to be in the movie.’”
“I had a few of those,” McCallany reflected, “and I was really happy about that.”
Secretary Of Defense Bernstein’s Story Arc, Explained
“He’s the skeptic,” McCallany said of his Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning character. “He’s a guy who sees Tom’s character as kind of a cowboy–as somebody that shouldn’t be completely trusted. He’s very suspicious of Tom, so he questions his motives, his ideas, and everything that he intends to do.”
“But he’s also a big enough guy to be able to admit when he has been proven wrong.”
That last quality is one McCallany particularly enjoyed playing, he revealed: “I liked the fact that Christopher included that.” That is best exemplified in a moment “at the end of the film,” McCallany said, “where I say ‘He did it. The son of a b**** actually did it.’”
Interestingly, the actor revealed that that line “was added very late in the process.” “This is what I mean about staying light on your toes,” McCallany added, “and … trusting Christopher McQuarrie and his tremendous talent. If you give yourself over to that, you’re going to find little moments that are really fertile dramatic territory to explore.”
He detailed more. “Sometimes [Chris will] get an idea and say, ‘Hey, Holt, I just thought of something. Try one like this and it’ll perhaps be something very different than we [were] doing a moment ago.’ And suddenly he’ll go, ‘You know what? That’s it. I love that. Let’s go with that.’”
“I was grateful to Chris, and I hope that Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning won’t be our last collaboration.”
Why Joining Mission: Impossible Was “Sweeter” Now Than Ever For Holt McCallany
Holt McCallany is thrilled that he got to be a part of a franchise he called “one of the most iconic in Hollywood history,” and his reason is deeper than you might think.
“As a guy that had kind of toiled away over many years working my way up the ladder,” McCallany shared, “when you start to get calls from people like Christopher McQuarrie saying, ‘Hey, Tom Cruise and I would really like you to come work with us on the final installment of Mission: Impossible,’ it’s gratifying.”
“There were many years,” McCallany added, “when I wasn’t getting those kinds of calls. It took some time, but better late than never. And a wise man once said that the most important thing is not how long it takes a man to get to his destination; the most important thing is that he gets there.”
“And sometimes, when success comes a little later in life, it’s sweeter in a way because you get to feel like you earned it.”
“You worked for it,” McCallany added, “you waited for it, you sweated for it. And now you’re there on one of the biggest movies in the world with one of the biggest movie stars in the world and with one of the best writer-directors in the world.”
“If that’s not success, it’s going to have to do until the real thing comes along.”
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is on digital platforms now.
