AND POM KLEMENTIEFF TALKS ABOUT DOING SCENES WITH ROLF SAXON AS WILLIAM DONLOE
The April 2025 issue of EMPIRE features a cover story on Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning which meantions the return of Rolf Saxon, who played CIA analyst William Donloe in the initial film directed by Brian De Palma:
We had scenes together," says Pom Klementieff, a Mission superfan who remembers watching the first movie on an old black-and-white TV in her native France. "And I saw him do a scene with another character that is very important to the story, and I was tearing up. It's a beautiful link between the movies."
Another part of the EMPIRE cover story, Tom Cruise On Every Mission: Impossible Movie’s Best Action Moment, has been posted at the magazine's online site, and it begins with that first movie:
The Langley HeistFor some, it’s still the signature sequence of the Mission: Impossible series, even though it doesn't involve a life-threatening stunt. Ethan Hunt infiltrates the CIA headquarters at Langley, to retrieve vital information from a high-tech, temperature-controlled computer vault that is seemingly impossible to access. Enter Ethan, gliding down from the ceiling in complete silence, showing perfect balance and poise before making off with the info...
“I was in Japan promoting a film, and De Palma called me and pitched me this. It was Rififi, but how do we do it? I knew this rig and I came back and showed him the rig that I wanted to wear. I was showing him different kinds of equipment and movement, and I would find out, ‘What could I do? How could I move through this space? What looks elegant?’ I would practise to make it look elegant. And we were testing different metals (to hold Cruise in place).
“The first metal I tested was soft, and it broke. If I’m up high and it breaks that's a problem. I’ll never forget that day, because when I go from the computer down to the floor, it was very challenging, physically. We wanted it all to be in one shot. And my face kept hitting the ground as I went down. So I went to the crew guys and said, ‘Empty your pockets’, and put British [bank] notes in my toes, and balanced myself. And I went from the computer down, and didn't hit the ground. I’m holding, I’m holding, I’m holding it, and I was sweating. Everyone’s holding their breath, and then I could hear Brian start laughing. He goes. ‘Alright! Cut!’ And we both laughed and hugged each other.”