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‘Mission: Impossible’ Star Hayley Atwell on Facing Anxiety, Advice From Tom Cruise
Even one of the biggest stars in two of the biggest superhero and action franchises can suffer from a common affliction.
“Mission Impossible” star Hayley Atwell admitted to needing a bit of reassurance when on the set of the 2023 iteration of the film series, subtitled “The Final Reckoning.” Atwell appeared as Grace in the movie, taking on the female co-leading role next to series star Tom Cruise.
She spoke about her struggles while appearing on “Reign with Josh Smith.”
Finding and Attacking Anxiety
While all seemed well and good on screen, Atwell – who also stars as Peggy Carter across multiple Marvel properties – professed to dealing with bouts of social anxiety in her life – which can affect her on screen work.
Host Smith asked her about her working relationship with Cruise, who is known for his upbeat attitude and gung ho want to make big, brash movies.
“He’s like a positive hairdryer,” Atwell says. “You’re on the receiving end of his positivity and you feel like you’ve got this hairdryer.”
Cruise gave Atwell a much needed pep talk when she needed it most.
She discussed her aptitude towards social anxiety and what stirs up those feelings inside of her: “…It can often be a new environment or an environment of a particular kind of group of people or work situation or like friend situation. It can also be about large groups of people or more intimate groups of people.”
Atwell says when these feelings rear their ugly head, she wants to retreat inward. Of course, Atwell recognizes anxiety isn’t a single given entity. It can happen anywhere to anyone at any given moment.
“It manifests in different ways,” she continues. “I don’t think there’s actually like a ‘I only feel anxious on a Tuesday afternoon in this particular environment.’ I think it’s a fluid that we feel anxious.”
Cruise suggested Atwell use the opportunity to do exactly the opposite of what she’s doing now.
“Try to look out and look around the room and go, where is it? Where is the thing that I have attached onto my insecurity?,” Atwell recounts. “Is it that person over there that reminds me of my school bully? Is it that person over there that didn’t give me a job once? That person over there that I think was mean to me once?”
“Is it, where does it live outside of me? And where do I feel like the source of it might be coming from?,” she continues. “And if I look at it for long enough, the anxiety then can have a name, it can have a label, it can also be more contained instead of a free-floating one where I’m just in a total struggle internally with my own anxiety.”
Atwell indicates she leans toward recognizing the anxiety upfront. “It tends to not be the monster under the bed anymore,” she says.
“Keep going through it,” Atwell ends the section of the chat. “You’ll keep coming out the other side.”
