Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series has essentially rewired the very kernel of action films, and although Top Gun: Maverick was responsible for revitalizing cinema, the former will forever continue to be looked at as a hallowed creation.
And though the 60-year-old is practically worshipped in today’s date, there used to be a time when Cruise’s seemingly toxic behavior left the world divided in their support of him. In fact, his questionable actions are reported to be one of the primary reasons why Mission: Impossible III performed so poorly as to transpire as the bad seed of the entire franchise. Incidentally enough, the Oscar nominee wasn’t the only one going through a rough patch at the time, even his co-star was battling his own demons at the time of the project.
Simon Pegg’s Grave Plights During Mission: Impossible III
The movie that marked the genesis of Simon Pegg‘s Benji Dunn was also the one that perhaps held some of the most unsavory memories for the actor himself.
Back when Pegg, 53, was gearing up for his big break with the third installment in Tom Cruise‘s Mission: Impossible franchise, he was busy fighting a war of his own, one which culminated when his mental health reached an all-time low.
“I was not in a good place, emotionally and physically. It was a weird thing as well, because the dreams I’d had as a kid were manifesting and I wasn’t happy and I couldn’t figure out why. And that was down to personal things.”
What the Shaun of the Dead star ultimately needed was to unearth happiness in his own self before looking for it anywhere else, and though he would go on to check that box at a later stage, it’d still been incredibly “frustrating” at the time. “I just felt all at sea,” he admitted.
All the Inevitable Waiting Nearly Drove Him Insane
As if his grueling mental health struggles weren’t exasperating enough already, Pegg had to experience yet another thorn in the road when he was required to do nothing but sit idly with his thoughts in a Beverly Hills hotel during the film’s shooting. And well, his only reprieve then had been liquor (Pegg had previously opened up to the outlet about his alcoholism while filming Mission: Impossible III).
“I was put in a hotel in Beverly Hills and I waited for eight days before anyone called me and told me what I was doing or gave me any lines. I went completely stir-crazy, and I was drinking to pass the time. Then you get hungover, and you wind up not feeling great.”
He binged on beer till he could feel “some semblance of normality” trickling back to him when in reality, he was just aggravating his alcohol dependency. And although it would take him a few more years to look his demons in the eye and part ways with them for good, Pegg would eventually recover thanks to a brief stint at rehab and AA sessions that would get him sober indefinitely.
Mission: Impossible III can be streamed or rented on Amazon Instant Video.
Source: The Guardian
