Henry Czerny describes himself as “the bread in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ sandwich,” present at the franchise’s beginnings in 1996 and now returning for what may be its conclusion.
The Canadian actor reprises his role as CIA director Eugene Kittridge in “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” a character he calls morally ambiguous by design.
“If you were in their shoes, you’d kind of go, ‘Yeah, exactly. Well, actually, you know what? He’s got a point,'” Czerny said. “I don’t like him because he reminds me of parts of me that I don’t particularly like. But maybe he’s got a point.”
Czerny first portrayed Kittridge as the former head of the Impossible Mission Force in the original 1996 film, often serving as an antagonist to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. After a 25-year absence from the franchise, he returned for the last two installments.
“They ask you to come back and we’re going to have another look at that character after he’s been through a whole bunch of stuff. What do you say? It’s brilliant,” he said.
The actor, who describes himself as a weekend bongo player and woodworker, draws stark contrasts between his off-screen persona and the intense, bile-filled character he portrays.
“You read it, you imagine what this person has gone through, you dig into everything that you have that might relate to something that they’ve done in their life,” Czerny explained about his preparation process. “You put all the other stuff away, and somebody calls action and you get the hell out of the way and see what happens.”
Working with director Christopher McQuarrie and Cruise has evolved Czerny’s approach to acting over the decades.
“As a young actor, you want to get it right. And over the years, you realize, you know, pack up the instrument and get the heck out of the way when somebody calls action,” he said.
Czerny praised the franchise’s recent iterations for giving even antagonist characters depth and dimension rather than making them simple villains.
“They give people weight, they give people dimension as opposed to ‘you need to grimace at him because he’s got to be the guy that wins the day,'” he said. “They allow people to have dimensions.”
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” is distributed by Paramount Pictures and opens in theaters nationwide Friday.
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