Hayley Atwell has shared the advice that Tom Cruise gave her for dealing with social anxiety in large gatherings.
Atwell starred alongside Cruise in 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning and is due to reprise her role in what is presumed to be the last instalment in the series, The Final Reckoning, set for release in May.
Although Atwell is an established star in Hollywood in her own right, having played Peggy Carter in several Marvel films since 2011, she said Cruise once gave her a pep talk on how to deal with social anxiety.
Speaking on the Reign with Josh Smith podcas, the 42-year-old said: “Social anxiety tends to be something that people talk about a lot at the moment, right? And how a lot of people do have social anxiety at some point.
“It manifests in different ways, but the pep talk he gave me helps that, which is if you walk into a room and you feel the anxieties coming, and it makes me want to retreat into myself, I start to overthink, and go: ‘Do I look weird? Do I seem awkward?’
“We go into ourselves, and [Cruise] said: ‘Try doing the opposite. Try to look out, look around the room, and go, ‘Where is it? Where is the thing that I have attached to my insecurity?’ Is it that person over there that reminds me of my school bully? That person over there didn’t give me a job once? That person over there that I think was mean to me once?’
“Where does it live outside of me and, if I look at it for long enough, the anxiety then can have a name. It can have a label or what will happen is, I’ll go: ‘Oh, you’re really jealous’ or ‘I’m really lonely’ or ‘I’m really intimidated by the talent or the confidence of that person.’ As soon as I can name what it actually is, the general sense of free-floating anxiety goes and then I actually have an opportunity to do something about it.
“So he was just like: ‘If you are scared of something just keep looking at it. Just try not to close your eyes or turn away. Just keep looking at it and it will often give you information about what to do to overcome it.’”
Speaking to The Guardian in February, Atwell said that working with Cruise is “a delight” and described him as “very kind, very professional”.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
“When I started, I was very aware of the rarefied air around him and how there is no one like him,” she said. “And there never will be because actors aren’t made like him any more.
“He is a one-man studio and, to me, very kind, very professional. And because of that, I felt I was able to try lots of different things. There was never a risk of failure or being unsafe. Tom really likes people to thrive on set.”
Asked to confirm that the movie will be the last in the franchise, she commented: “I mean, look, they called it The Final Reckoning.
“On the other hand, ‘Tom Cruise’ and ‘final’ are oxymorons, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes, ‘Wait, maybe…’ Although he has so many things that he is working on, so I can’t see how another Mission would fit into that.”
Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning is set for release on 21 May.