Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning's Holt McCallany Talks Joining the Stunt-Heavy Franchise

The original Mission: Impossible featured a handful of impressive action sequences, but as the series progressed, each installment would raise the bar for spectacular cinema. The most recent entry, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, is no exception, as audiences got to see star Tom Cruise embarking on a variety of death-defying on-screen encounters. Understandably, when actor Holt McCallany got news that he had the chance to join the franchise, he was immediately excited about the possibility of getting to embrace the more physical demands of the series, though his role relegated him to largely having tense conversations in a military bunker. While the actor was excited by the opportunity, he was jealous of costars who got to embrace the more action-oriented encounters. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is now available on Digital and hits 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on October 14th.

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When asked by ComicBook if he was envious of the rest of the cast who pulled off impressive stunts, McCallany confirmed, “I would say ‘envy’ is not a strong enough word. Deeply jealous is better. Green with envy is perhaps the expression that we use, because I love doing the action. I think it’s one of the, really, most fun parts … It’s an action movie, at the end of the day. It’s a huge-budget, blockbuster, tentpole film, but it’s an action movie. And you want to be a part of the action. I’ve always been an athletic guy, like Tom, I’ve always tried to do all my own stunts — perhaps not on the level that Tom does, because he does some truly extraordinary things. But he challenges himself, and I admire that.”

He continued, “To be honest with you, I do have certain friends of mine who are actors, whom I love dearly, but who refuse to do any stunts. They won’t put themselves in any kind of situation where they might have to take a few bumps or get shot and fall over or anything at all. Boy, I think it’s part of the job, right? You signed on to an action movie, I think you better be able to do the action. You’ve got to be athletic, you’ve got to keep yourself in shape. You’ve got to practice the things that you’re going to do, and practice makes perfect. I’ve always prided myself on being good at that part of it, so to be in a great action movie, to be in the final installment of this iconic franchise, and not to have participated in the action is frankly, my only regret. But you know what? It really is my only regret, because every other aspect of it was a truly positive experience for me, from start to finish. I like working with Tom, I really have a good relationship with [director Christopher McQuarrie]. Hopefully I’ll get to work with these guys again on another project, and, who knows, maybe I’ll get to do some of the action.”

Even if the actor didn’t get to experience any scenes that put his physical prowess to the test, having shared the screen with talents like Angela Bassett and Nick Offerman allowed him to put a different set of skills to the test.

“When you’re with great actors, like Angela Bassett, and Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, they bring … It’s like, what’s that expression? ‘A rising tide raises all ships.’ There’s an old adage in acting that you can’t be better than your opportunity, so when you have an opportunity to be opposite really good actors, it’s only gonna bring your game up,” the actor expressed of his costars’ talents. “I would much rather be with them than be with people that aren’t quite up to their standard, because then you’re kind of struggling, do you know what I mean? To carry somebody, in a way. And I’ve had that experience and it’s much, much better to be with veteran actors, experienced, talented pros and that’s what those people are.”