By Caelin Milkto / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TOM CRUISE is well-known for doing his own stunts, and the trailers for the newest installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise play off this well, highlighting a scene where he hangs off the side of an airplane as it lifts off.
Like its predecessors, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation is action-packed and full of jaw-dropping stunts. The trailer also features Cruise and his new female costar, Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson, 31, as they jump off the top of the Vienna Opera House.
Like Cruise, Ferguson chose to do her own stunts for the film, and the jump off the Vienna Opera House took place on the first day of filming.
“I wrapped my legs around Tom Cruise and swore every bad word in the dictionary. He smiled and said, ‘Are you ready?’ I said, ‘Go for it,’” Ferguson said by phone from Philadelphia while on the publicity tour.
During the month and a half leading up to the jump, Ferguson had practiced in the harness working up to the height of the Vienna Opera House. It was challenging, in part because she has vertigo.
However, once they did the jump in Vienna, she was all in.
“We must have done it 10 to 15 times, and I wanted to do more and more,” Ferguson said. “[Cruise] said that’s good because you have a 120-foot free fall.”
Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation is the first time Ferguson has done stunts like this, and it marks quite a change from her previous work. She was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2014 for her portrayal of Elizabeth Woodville in the BBC miniseries The White Queen. When she was called in for Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, she was on location in Ouarzazate, Morocco, shooting The Red Tent.
“I was on a camel called Barbie when they called and said, ‘Tom wants to meet you in London in 17 hours,’” Ferguson said.
She flew to London for the meeting, knowing that she would have to be back in Morocco to continue shooting The Red Tent. The appointment was the first time she met Cruise.
“I walked in the room, and there he was, in black jeans, a black T-shirt and a golden smile,” she said.
The meeting was “mostly a chemistry test to see how we got along,” she said.
The test went well, and Ferguson was added to the cast of the Mission: Impossible franchise for the latest installment.
“All these characters have something, and for me to come in and deliver something to the established cast, it’s quite intimidating and lovely, as well. You just have to go with the flow, ride the wave, put on your skates,” she said.
Ferguson plays Ilsa, a mysterious assassin, who joins Ethan on his road to defeat the Syndicate. Her connections to the Syndicate are unclear, but she’s certainly not to be overlooked. Ilsa’s signature kill move is something Ferguson calls the “killer thigh move.”
“It was the stunt director Wade Eastwood who came up with it. He said, how do we create an exciting technique for your character because she’s smaller and needs graceful attacking moves?” Ferguson said.
The move was part of how she tried to use her love of dance to help her with the stunts she performed. She does the killer thigh move several times throughout the movie.
“And I try to do it every Friday evening while out dancing,” she said.
Ferguson’s dance experience was one of the things she used in preparing for her role as Ilsa, although the stunt moves definitely required extra training.
“I’ve always liked moving, running, jumping and stunting. It didn’t come naturally. It wasn’t easy. Doing a stunt movie is hard, hard work,” she said.
Now Ferguson is gearing up for two more movies. Despite the Falling Snow, slated to be released later this year, features her in dual roles as Katya and Lauren in the Cold War, story of a female spy who falls in love with an idealistic politician in Moscow.
She also is working on Florence Foster Jenkins, which stars Meryl Streep in the titular role of the socialite/opera singer, and Hugh Grant as her partner and manager Saint Clair Bayfield. Ferguson plays Bayfield’s wife, Kathleen.
Despite the oncoming stream of publicity, Ferguson seems remarkably calm about the prospect of fame.
“You don’t want to be prepared for that thing, if you want to call it fame, that comes with publicity,” Ferguson said.
She is happy with her life in a fishing village in Sweden.
“I’m very lucky. I can do what I love and go home and read stories to my child,” Ferguson said.