Yahoo News Hayley Atwell and Simon Pegg Rave About 'Mission: Impossible' Costar Tom Cruise: 'He's Just a Guy'
"I like being normal with him," Pegg said of his 'Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One' costar Cruise
Christopher Khoury/Australian Press Agency via ZUMA Wire
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One stars Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise pose together during a Sydney, Australia photo call.Tom Cruise may be a worldwide movie star, but he’s also “just a guy," according to his Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One collaborators.
Despite his enduring fame, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell and director Chris McQuarrie insist that the actor, 61, is just a man who loves making movies.
Pegg, 53, who plays Benji Dunn in the iconic spy series, told The Times that Cruise is involved “in every part of a film” — from filling its lead role to helping out on-set caterers. “I just don’t think anybody else can be as arsed as he can,” he told the outlet.
The star, who met the Jerry Maguire actor nearly two decades ago, cited the actor’s tendency to do his own stunts while describing his intense dedication to the movies he creates.
“With special effects, you know something is artificial — it removes a degree of tension — so Tom pushes things to the limit, to the point of risking his life,” Pegg said of Cruise.
Atwell, 41, seconded Pegg’s claims of Cruise’s dedication to making movies that audiences will love.
"It’s very rare," she told The Times of the Risky Business star’s attention to detail on set, recalling when he gave a runner-slash-aspiring-cinematographer a laminated cinematography guide.
The actress, who plays Grace in the action film, added that — similar to his treatment of everyone on a film set — Cruise values viewers and their experience with a movie above all else.
“He doesn’t want to make movies now to punish an audience,” Atwell told the publication. “He doesn’t want films with the message that if you do not understand this, you’re not smart.”
Related: Tom Cruise Says He Would ‘Love’ to Make a Movie with ‘Enormously Talented’ Scarlett Johansson
Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images for Paramount pictures
Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell and Christopher McQuarrie share the love at the premiere of Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One in Seoul.The Marvel star continued, “I can tell when I watch some movies that the director has made it for themselves. I don’t feel involved or I think, ‘Am I stupid?’ Tom’s not a snob.”
An example of this, Atwell said, was during a script read for a Mission: Impossible film — not Dead Reckoning Part One — when Cruise told the crew that he “didn’t get” a line, which translated to “the audience will not get it” — and thus it was cut.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
McQuarrie, 54, the director of several Mission: Impossible movies and a longtime friend of Cruise, echoed Pegg and Atwell’s statements about Cruise’s desire to make movies that are fun for audiences.
“There is an outsized importance placed on Oscars [and] films that not many people are going to see,” he told The Times, noting that it is a phenomenon that he says is a “wedge has been driven into the [film] industry.”
“Are you an artist or an entertainer?” McQuarrie posed, before adding that Cruise — who introduced himself to McQuarrie as a maker of “mass entertainment” in 2006 — does not see these titles as “mutually exclusive.”
TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty
The cast of Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One in Rome.Pegg also raved to the publication about Tom’s intense love of movies — the intersection of art and entertainment — and what it means for the future of film.
“People can argue that cinema is frivolous, but it’s not,” he told The Times. “Cinema brings people together at a time we’re pulling apart, and that just added to Tom’s determination to put people in a room together.”
He continued, “The power of cinema is, for him, precious and it’s vital we sustain it.”
The Shaun of the Dead actor also opened up about his personal relationship with Cruise, telling the outlet that he was able to “hack my way through all the bizarre mythology” surrounding the Top Gun star.
“On one side he’s Tom Cruise — this enigmatic film star everyone wants to know about — and on the other he’s just a guy,” Pegg said. “I like being normal with him.”
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
