Haley Atwell found an alliance in Hollywood through Tom Cruise.
Atwell will collaborate with Cruise in 2023’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” and will appear alongside the actor in the upcoming film “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.”
Ahead of the release of his latest film in the “Mission Impossible” franchise, Atwell appeared on the “Governance with Josh Smith” podcast to discuss his working relationship with the A-list star.
Atwell described the best “pep talk” cruise, reflecting on the universal experience of social anxiety and the advice he gave to conquer it in public.
“Social anxiety tends to be something people say a lot at this point. It’s a pretty topical conversational term, and it seems a lot of people have social anxiety at some point,” Atwell said. “Everyone is, and it can often be a new environment, or a certain type of group of people, or a work situation or a friend situation. It can also be for a large group of people, or a group of more intimate people. It can manifest in many different ways.”
Atwell said Cruise’s “pep talk” helps them overcome the feeling of “retreating into themselves” and “starting to rethink.”
“And he said, “Try the opposite. Look around the room and where are you going?” “Is it the person over there who reminds me of the bullies there? Didn’t the person over there work once? Do you think the person over there was mean to me once? Where does that live outside of me?
Atwell said, “I can look at it long enough, anxiety can have a name, labels, and more containment instead of a free floating thing that is only fully fighting internally with my anxiety.”
The “Agent Carter” star went on to explain that once she was able to identify the issue, she “named the loud demon.” She was able to find a way to let it go.
“As soon as you can actually name what it is, there’s a general sense of anxiety that floats at your disposal and you have the opportunity to actually do something about it,” she said.
“He was like, ‘If you’re scared of something, just keep watching it,'” she shared. “‘Don’t close your eyes or turn your back. Keep watching it. It often gives you information about what to do to overcome it.”
