Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 may have ended its theatrical run, but Pom Klementieff has another big summer blockbuster up next. After playing the innocent Mantis, Klementieff swings at the other extreme of the fence, portraying a negative character who’s after Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. In a wide-ranging chat with EW, Klementieff revealed a few interesting tidbits about her character and the action sequence she was a part of.
It’s no secret by now that for the longest while, Klementieff’s character didn’t have a name. And neither did many other characters. When she did get one though, Klementieff revealed it meshed nicely with her French origin while also playing a nod to another character from another popular franchise: the Great Paris played by Leonary Nimoy in Star Trek.
When Christopher McQuarrie cast me for the role, he didn’t know which name the character would have. It was cool to name me Paris, me being from France, and then they decided that I would speak French because I speak French in real life.
Talking a bit more about her character’s motives, Klementieff described her character as a chaotic rebel, slaying everything in her part. She is simultaneously lonely and skilled at what she does.
[Paris is a] very, very, very much a chaotic element in the story. It doesn’t matter how deep in the background she is, you’re going to be watching her at all times and wondering what she’s going to do. [She] destroys everything in her path. She’s a rebel, she’s a killer, she’s extremely skilled and quite lonely too.
Klementieff also exclaimed just how much fun she had shooting the elaborate action sequence in Rome. Prominently seen in the trailers, the said sequence shows her chasing Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Hayley Atwell’s Grace in a hummer as the duo escape in a yellow fiat.
I had so much fun shooting this scene. It was so special to be on location in Rome. We were shooting during COVID, so we were very lucky to be here. I was trying to not laugh too much because I was having so much fun in the car following the Fiat.
It certainly sounds like Klementieff had a lot of fun and nothing but positive experiences to share being a part of another big budget franchise. Director Christopher McQuarrie previously showered praise on Klementieff as well, daring audiences to resist looking at her. We’ll see how well that translates on screen to her performance in a month from now.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One releases in theaters on July 12, 2023.
