Mission: Impossible: Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis Compare Chasing Tom Cruise to Catching a Chicken

Tom Cruise’s running is so famous that not only are there fan compilations of it all over YouTube, but even other media, like the 2010s sitcom Cougar Town, have made their own running gags out of the “Tom Cruise Run.” It’s something that you expect to see in basically every Tom Cruise movie, where he will find himself sprinting even if he’s already on an aircraft carrier and there doesn’t seem to be many places left to go. The other end of that run, though, is even crazier. During the Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One junket, ComicBook.com spoke with Cruise’s costars Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis about what it was like to be the ones chasing down Tom Cruise.

Their opinion: Invigorating — and frustrating. Referencing a scene in Rocky II, Davis said that chasing Cruise is like chasing a chicken, which can always evade your grasp even when it seems like you’re right on top of it.

“you ever try to catch a, what is it? A chicken, right?” Davis told ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis.” It’s like trying to catch one of those chickens. You just keep…whoop, whoop, whoop!”

Whigham chimed in, “In a Rocky movie,” which Davis agreed with.

“After all this running, you wouldn’t think he’d still have it, but he’s fast,” Davis added.

“That’s the humorous version, and that’s true,” Whigham said. “There’s also a version of, he adn I would have pinch-me moments. When you get the chance to chase Tom Cruise, which he’s known for — that’s one of the things, along with the stunts, is his running. When you get to chase him through the streets of Venice on all-night shoots like six nights in a row? For an actor, it’s as good as it gets, man.”

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which premieres in theaters on July 12th. It’s the beginning of the end for the action-packed franchise, as Cruise reteams with longtime collaborator and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie for more death-defying and breathtaking stunts. Hunt and allies Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) attempt to track down a new weapon with the power to tear the world apart. Actors Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Esai Morales join the cast for the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, which is set to wrap up with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.