Hannah Waddingham Says She and Tom Cruise Are “Similar-Minded Geeks” on Mission: Impossible Set

Hannah Waddingham isn’t holding back about her time filming Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning with Tom Cruise. The Ted Lasso star revealed she and Cruise instantly clicked on set, calling him a fellow “similar-minded geek.”

“We’re like ridiculous 12-year-olds,” she told The Sunday Times Magazine. “Me, him, and [director] Chris McQuarrie are very similar-minded geeks. On the aircraft carrier, I was spending hours a day filming F-18s landing and taking off.”

Waddingham, 50, plays a naval admiral in the upcoming final installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise. She and Cruise, who returns as Ethan Hunt, filmed on the George HW Bush aircraft carrier off the coast of Italy. The experience, she says, was like nothing she’d ever done-sleeping alongside 4,500 Navy personnel and witnessing Cruise’s over-the-top enthusiasm firsthand.

Before even stepping foot on the ship, she realized just how intense Cruise could be. “I was in the admiral’s quarters; he’d cleared out to some cot bed somewhere. Tom was in the captain’s quarters,” she said. “We’d arrived on a Black Hawk helicopter while the carrier was moving.”

As they came in to land, Cruise casually handed her his phone and said, “Film it.” Then, with a grin, he said, “Welcome to Mission.” Her reaction? “I was, like, you’re a lunatic.”

Despite the high-octane environment, Waddingham found camaraderie with Cruise and McQuarrie through their shared passion and geeky enthusiasm. But it wasn’t always this way for her in the entertainment industry.

The 5ft 11in actress has previously opened up about being told she was “too big on camera.” Although Jason Sudeikis had no hesitation casting her in Ted Lasso, not everyone on set felt the same. “I even had a couple of day players in Ted Lasso going, ‘Is it all right if she doesn’t wear shoes in this scene?’”

Her struggles go back to her drama school days. At just 19, she was told by a female teacher she would “never work on TV” because she looked “like one side of her face has had a stroke.” The comment crushed her confidence and kept her away from TV auditions for years.

Now, she’s reclaiming her space on the screen-unapologetically. “I hope she’s rotting somewhere. Silly cow,” she said, unapologetically. “People like that, it’s their own insecurities. And I know that now.”

With Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning on the horizon, Waddingham has officially cemented her status as a Hollywood heavyweight-and a proud geek alongside Tom Cruise.