Filming Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning In The Pandemic Had A Silver Lining For Simon Pegg

"Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" didn't have the smoothest journey to the big screen. Filming was supposed to begin in February of 2020. Then came the pandemic, halting production. Filming, with new COVID-19 protocols, began again in September of 2020, but the production wasn't out of the woods yet. In October, production shut down again after 12 people on set tested positive for COVID-19. 

Filming would pick back up a week later. Eventually, principal photography on the film wrapped in September of 2021. Now, in 2023, the film is finally ready to hit the big screen, with Tom Cruise yet again risking his life for our entertainment. 

And as it turns out, shooting "Dead Reckoning" during the pandemic wasn't a bad experience. According to Simon Pegg, who plays IMF agent Benji Dunn, making a movie in Venice under COVID-19 lockdown rules turned out to be a blessing in disguise. 

Speaking with Cinemablend, Pegg said, "[W]ith the pandemic being the way it was when we were shooting this one, our time in Italy was incredible because we were all in these bubbles, we spent all our time with each other, the new cast members, we all bonded so quickly and so sort of intensely." Yep, it looks like being in bubbles with the cast turned out to be a bonding experience for the group, which was no doubt a bonus, especially for new cast members who had yet to be fully part of the team.

But there was more fun to be had. As Pegg puts it, the lockdowns caused Venice to look practically empty, which is not something you see everyday. "[H]aving Venice to ourselves, we were in Venice when it was virtually deserted to the point where myself and Pom Klementieff went off and made a little short film called Au Revoir Chris Hemsworth, it's on YouTube, check it out," Pegg said. 

I searched "Au Revoir Chris Hemsworth" on YouTube and found this music video featuring Klementieff which I think might be what Pegg is talking about.

Pegg added: 

"Because we just had this beautiful Italian city to just have fun in. And we got shut down for ten days because we had a COVID case in the crew. So, yeah, so many memories, so many stories, I'd bore you, I'd waste your time with it."

So there you have it: at least something good came out of those long "Dead Reckoning" delays. No word on what Tom Cruise was doing during all of this, but my guess is he was probably thinking up some crazy new way to risk his life.