Hayley Atwell Talks Cannes Style, Stunts & Shakespeare at ‘Mission Impossible’ Premiere

It was a mission in fashion when Hayley Atwell donned a structural Giambattista Valli gown for the Cannes red carpet Wednesday night.

For Atwell and stylist Jenny Kennedy, the Venus dress in red silk faille from Valli’s most recent haute couture collection was a “coup de coeur.” Valli’s team prepared backup looks, but they were never really in contention.

“It just felt so unbelievably easy, which is not always the case with these things. We wanted the drama and the elegance that showcases so well at Cannes, but with something that also felt very simple and understated,” Atwell told WWD as she prepped for the “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” premiere.

Atwell met Valli for the first time just ahead of the red carpet. Well aware of how important setting a scene is, she positioned herself so that when the door opened the first thing Valli would see would be her in the dress.

“He said it beautifully, and I agree, that the person wearing it is the final part of his creation. When you see that person, you don’t just go, ‘That is a great dress,’ you go, ‘They look incredible,’ because you’re taking in the whole image,” she said.

The actress has been known to take risks on the red carpet, often championing emerging and under-the-radar designers.

Her personal style reflects that same sense of intentionality. “It’s all within context of what I’m doing. A press tour is very different to a costume I’d wear on stage. But the common denominator in all of them is strength, sharpness and structure,” she said.

Atwell has mastered the most important lesson in fashion — knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

“For me, I know that I suit structure, and I suit boldness of color, and asymmetry. I’m always kind of aware what doesn’t work on me, and I can often feel it when I look back at images. I think you can always tell something that didn’t feel quite comfortable.

“As an actor, you’re very aware every day of the impact of what costumes do for your sense of identity, confidence in the world, but also the story that you’re telling, and what it is sharing with the rest of the world. If you decide to wear a paper bag on the red carpet, that is saying something,” she said. “Everything has an impact. It’s just a really interesting part of the art form.”

All of her looks are a collaboration with her glam team, she said, crediting stylist Kennedy, makeup artist Kenneth Soh and hair stylist Bjorn Krischker. “It’s all about the conversations that we’re having collectively together. It all has to come together as part of the finished, impactful look.”

If there’s a theme to Atwell’s career it’s range — not just sartorially, but artistically. From treading the boards in Shakespeare to performing her own stunts, the actress is as comfortable on London’s West End as she is performing action sequences.

It’s the second “Mission: Impossible” outing for Atwell, and (allegedly) the final film in the franchise.

“It’s a culmination of all the missions that have gone before and really it’s a love letter to Tom [Cruise] in terms of his love of pure cinema,” she said.

She loved the depth of the character Grace, a pickpocket partner in crime to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.

“Audiences want more from the women who feature in them — not that the women [before] didn’t have enough to give, but they actually weren’t showcased as being as complex as they are now,” she said, citing costars Angela Bassett, Janet McTeer and Hannah Waddingham.

“[We are] playing more than one thing — women in positions of power, women who have questionable motives, have romantic agendas, women who have an intellectual fission with Tom’s character,” she said. “I just love playing the unpredictability of her.”

That unpredictability extends into her training and preparation.

“I’d done stunts for a long time and in my personal life just loved physical movement — particularly on the stage and in classical productions.” But “Mission: Impossible” was a new level.

Atwell worked for five months ahead of the shoot to master the physicality of the role. She also spent time in the Arctic working with sled dogs at minus 40 degrees Celsius.

“That was about mental resilience more than anything, because working in conditions like that, you have to be acutely aware of how limited time you have of exposed skin to that kind of temperature, so let alone improvising scenes,” she said. “It was about making sure that although Grace was totally out of her depth, she was courageous enough to keep moving forward.”

Atwell is courageous in her acting choices, too, balancing blockbusters and theater. She recently played Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing” alongside Tom Hiddleston in the updated production of the classic Shakespearean comedy.

“I was built for variety and range,” she said. “I don’t believe that if an actor is capable of more, they should only pursue one medium, one genre. I feel like I’m a better film actor because of my stage work and a better stage actor because of my film work. They ask and require different things, and that makes what I do in each more distinctive,” she said.

That range doesn’t mean she’s stopped dreaming about roles yet to be played. “Too many,” she joked. But another Shakespeare character stands out, that of Iago in “Othello.” Atwell noted that the title character’s opponent is written as a male character.

“I looked at the text again from a female point of view, and a woman could definitely play that,” she said, citing a line from the prose: “By my choice, I’m as good as any other man.”

“A woman being denied a position of power is something that’s very relatable,” she said. “It would seamlessly fit into that play.”

More than specific roles, it’s the opportunity to work with directors that excites her. Cannes provides a unique opportunity to meet some of her favorites, including Chilean director Sebastián Lelio who she was set to be introduced to at an event Wednesday night. She also cited Céline Sciamma and Jane Campion as inspirational directors that have been honored by the festival.

“Filmmakers are so revered and respected and showcased here. That’s another reason why it’s such a privilege to be at Cannes, I get to be in the company of artists I really admire,” she said.

Despite all the focus on red carpet glamour, Cannes is at its heart about cinema.

“I’ve always seen Cannes as the absolute pinnacle of the celebration of auteur filmmaking and independent international movies,” she said. “The things that are celebrated in Cannes have a particular kind of gravitas and power to them… It’s a testament to how beloved Tom is here that we can premiere this movie.”