Tom Cruise refused to kick his Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning co-star in the stomach despite her pleas

There’s pretty much nothing Tom Cruise won’t do when it comes to playing the Mission: Impossible franchise’s protagonist Ethan Hunt, from playing through a broken ankle to performing over 500 skydives in preparation for one big scene. But even in the bigger, bolder world of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, there are still lines Cruise won’t cross for the authenticity of the role.

According to Pom Klementieff, who plays a skilled and dangerous killer named Paris in the new film, one of those lines was kicking her in the stomach during a fight scene. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Klementieff—who is also known for playing Mantis in the MCU’s Guardians Of The Galaxy series—says that Cruz refused to test out her ab strength with a real kick to the gut.

“I kept telling him to just kick me here,” Klementieff tells EW, while reportedly gesturing to her midsection. “[I said], ‘You can just go for it.’ He was like ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ I was like, ‘But it’s going to help me!’ But he wouldn’t do it.”

In the film, Paris and Ethan Hunt clash consistently as Ethan tries to, somewhat per usual, save the world from great imminent danger and fight off a mysterious, tough-to-vanquish foe. Klementieff describes Paris as a “chaotic element” in the story.

“She’s a rebel, she’s a killer, she’s extremely skilled and quite lonely too,” Klementieff said of her character.

The new Mission Impossible is the seventh installment in the action franchise, and the first in a two-part film, with a second half slated for a June 2024 release. Early reactions to the film have lauded its immense scale, elevated set design, and immersive action sequences (although not every critic preferred it over Fallout).

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One premieres in theaters on July 12.