No stunt could prepare Mission: Impossible star Hayley Atwell for an encounter with a polar bear

The Mission: Impossible films are known for their death-defying stunts, but for The Final Reckoning star Hayley Atwell, the most hair-raising moment didn’t come from a high-octane action scene — it came from an unexpected encounter with a polar bear.

“The hairiest thing was coming into close proximity with a polar bear who visited the boat we were staying on,” Atwell told Entertainment Weekly. “He was very curious, but thankfully for us, looked well fed. He looked majestic.” If you’ve watched any nature documentaries (or encountered any in the wild), you’ll know that a hungry polar bear can be downright ferocious.

Despite the close encounter with the polar bear, Atwell said he “absolutely adored” working in the Arctic, adding “It’s not lost on me that where we were able to go and how I was able to work there was a lifetime opportunity and only one that could have come through working with Tom Cruise.“

Atwell also teased that Grace is fully immersed in the world of the IMF this time. “In Dead Reckoning, Grace was a lone wolf, out for herself and distrustful of others,” she said. “It took her the whole movie to accept Ethan’s friendship and be part of a team. In this movie, she’s emotionally attached to her friends and has a purpose bigger than personal ambition. She’s begun her training in the IMF, and although she’s brave and competent, she’s in over her head, and this can get her into sticky situations.“

We still don’t know a whole lot about The Final Reckoning, only that it will follow the story set up in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, in which Ethan and his team were tasked with stopping the Entity, a rogue AI capable of controlling global defence intelligence and financial networks. The film was originally titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, but Paramount rethought its approach after the first movie was perceived as a box-office disappointment.

In addition to Tom Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, The Final Reckoning features Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Tramell Tillman and Angela Bassett, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, Rolf Saxon, and Lucy Tulugarjuk.

The Final Reckoning will hit theaters on May 23rd, and early box office projections hint that it could have a franchise-best opening.

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