The latest Mission: Impossible film, Dead Reckoning Part One, is great, and despite having the likes of Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, and Vanessa Kirby in its A-list ensemble, the film belongs to Pom Klementieff.

In the film, Klementieff plays an assassin named Paris. She's after Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and Grace (Atwell) from the start and is aligned with Gabriel (Esai Morales) — the film's human antagonist. From fighting in an alley to driving through the streets of Venice as unhinged as humanly imaginable, Klementieff makes the most of the screentime she's given.

ClutchPoints spoke to Klementieff about stepping into the MCU and Mission: Impossible franchises (especially given that she entered both after they were established with previous installments); what unique traits she wanted to bring to the table with her character; her friendship with Simon Pegg, and even physical media.

Pom Klementieff-Mission: Impossible 7 interview

ClutchPoints: I know you've been in a couple [of] big franchises — you've done the Guardians [of the Galaxy] franchise and Mission: Impossible — and in both cases, you were introduced into them when they were already established (you were introduced into Guardians of the Galaxy in the second film, and Mission: Impossible is seven movies in now), so I was curious if you could kind of compare the experience of coming into franchises while there's already a cast established and people know what this franchise is?

Pom Klementieff: Oh, yeah. I mean, I've been very lucky [that] for these two movies to be just working with these amazing people and, you know, I didn't feel like out of place. I felt really welcomed in both franchises by all these actors [laughs]…

What do you have like behind you? Do you have DVDs?

CP: Yes. Yeah. A bunch of DVDs and Blu-rays and books.

PK: Oh, that's cool. That's cool.

CP: Are you a physical media collector at all?

PK: I mean, I used to, but like now I don't really [collect]. I'm trying to not have too much s**t at my place [laughs]. So I'm trying to not stack too many things.

CP: Fair enough. Well, it's a nice aesthetic at the very least for my sake [with interviews].

PK: [laughs] That's nice. That's nice.

I kind of miss physical DVDs because now it's like everything is just downloading [it] and [is] on your laptop and on [streaming], you know, it's kind of like nice to have the object [smiles].

CP: In the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise you had a great dynamic with Dave Bautista on-screen, and I'm sure off-screen as well, but I was curious [because] your character in Mission: Impossible, Paris, is a lot more serious, so you don't really joke around as much, so I was curious if there was anybody, maybe when cameras weren't rolling, that you had a similar kind of dynamic with.

PK: Of course! Yeah. Simon Pegg — I had so much fun with him, for example, but we don't really interact in the movie [laughs], so it's funny.

I mean, I have the same thing with Karen Gillan in Guardians of the Galaxy. In the previous movies, I didn't really have any scenes with her, but we're like besties in real life, so sometimes it doesn't translate, you know, how much time you work with someone on set and how much time you spend with a, the person off [set], you know?

CP: It's funny you mentioned her because I was just watching an interview with the two of you guys. You guys seem to have a great dynamic, so it's cool to hear that you guys are actually friends.

PK: I mean, we [Klementieff and Pegg] even made a little movie together. Did you see it? Au Revoir Chris Hemsworth?

CP: No, I don't think I saw this.

PK: Oh, my God. You have to watch it. It's an homage to the French New Wave. We shot it in black and white. We [Klementieff and Pegg] wrote it together. I sing in French and he [Pegg] directed it. I mean, I came up with like all the ideas [with a] mood board, and it was really a collaborative process. It was so much fun. And we shot [it] in Venice when we were shooting Mission: Impossible and Tom [Cruise] makes a cameo at the end of the movie.

It's a little short movie. It was like for charity with the Russo brothers — the Avengers [Infinity War and Endgame directors] — who had to do diss tracks [for our] fantasy football league, but yeah, anyway, we make fun of Chris Hemsworth [smiles].

CP: Oh, well, I'll have to check that out. I haven't heard about that. I definitely will check it out.

PK: It's in my pinned videos on Instagram, but you can like type like ‘Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff' on YouTube, and I think it's going to show up.

CP: With Mission Impossible movies, everybody remembers the big set piece, right? But I think sometimes in recent installments, people also remember some of the characters — in the last one, everybody remembered Henry Cavill reloading his biceps, right? That was like a big thing. So for you, was there anything that you wanted to throw into your performance as Paris that you wanted to be like a defining trait?

PK: I mean, there's a lot of ideas I came up with. For example, the makeup in the Venice [scenes], you know, with the white and the teardrop, it was my idea because I thought that the characters were supposed to go to a party in Venice — a masquerade party — so I thought that instead of a wearing a mask, she would draw a mask on her face.

And I think that I wanted to bring something a little bit eerie and strange and a little bit scary because I don't speak a lot, but I wanted to bring some light to the face and something a little bit melancholic with a teardrop, you know?

I was inspired by pantomime and by this character from the Comédie de l'Arte called Pierrot Lunaire with the white makeup and with a teardrop, and he looks like a cute little pantomime clown, but like with sadness, you know? So I thought it connected with the character.

And then with the fight, you know, I sweat so much, it looks like I'm a monster too, so it's kind of cool too [smiles].

CP: And you have that really awesome fight sequence in an alley — that's my favorite part of the whole movie, to be honest — can you talk to me a little bit about filming, because it takes place in such close quarters, and I know your character gets her head smashed into bricks, right? I hope that those were foam!

PK: Yes [smiles]. Yeah, it was foam actually, you know, we rebuilt the set to make it safe. So it was like all foamed on the side and on the, on the ground [because] you don't want to like hurt yourself too much [laughs].

It was very difficult to shoot because it was so narrow, you know? So it was really hard to know where to place the camera, how to light the scene, how to show all the movements, you know? But it was really cool, too.

CP: With people outside of pop culture fandoms, there's sometimes a stigma when it comes to acting in franchise movies, particularly comic book movies. Obviously, you've been in the MCU for a while, and then I know you've talked about the DCU as well, and I was just curious, as an actor, what is it about comic book movies, in particular, that kind of interests you or keeps you wanting to keep doing them because some actors don't do them at all, some do it, and then there's always that stigma, you know?

PK: Yeah, I don't know! For me, it's about the directors, you know? So yeah, I mean, it [the roles] happen to be [in] big franchises, but for me, it's about working with James Gunn and Christopher McQuarrie — they're such interesting and amazing filmmakers with it with a vision. So for me, it's what draws me more to the project.

But, of course, I've always been a fan [of] Mission: Impossible, so yeah, it was my dream to be a part of it. And now it's just amazing.

CP: What was the requirement when you were in the casting process for this movie — did you have to have seen all the Mission: Impossible movies? Did they pop-quiz you on all six [films] prior to yours?

PK: [smiles] Oh, no, they don't. But you know, I was a hardcore fan, so of course I watched them so many times already.

CP: Do you have a favorite one?

PK: I mean, I always have a soft spot for the first one because it was the first one and I remember it's the first that I saw when I was a child. But, of course, I love all the ones that Christopher McQuarrie directed. I think they're so amazing and the characters are so cool, and the female characters also. Like Rebecca [Ferguson], when she first appeared, I was like, “Yes” [smiles].

I love the third one also with Philip Seymour Hoffman in it. He's so good. He's so incredible [smiles]. I don't know. I just love them all.

CP: I've only known you for the past eight minutes, but I would say that we've become pretty good friends over these eight minutes, and I was just curious because you did mention James Gunn a minute ago. I know everybody's asked you about the DCU and whatnot, but as a friend, I'm just curious if there were any hints you could say about that because there is one role that he's mentioned or at least looked at for you — is there anything else you could say about that?

PK: [laughs] No! Because each time I say some [kind of] little hint, it becomes a headline and I'm like, “Oh, come on.”

We just had conversations, but you know, nothing is set in stone right now, you know? But of course, I want to keep working with him. I love him and he has such a beautiful vision. I just trust him 300% in like anything that he does.

CP: Can you tell me what's your favorite thing about working with him? Because you talk so highly of him and I'm curious what it is likes to work with him as an actor.

PK: With James, it's just his kindness, and there's so much trust with him. And he's so kind. It's like his movie sets are so [light-hearted], like, everyone is just happy to be there. And he just casts the right people, like everyone gets along, it's just a blast just to go to work. And everyone is nice and funny. And it's not always the case, you know.

He has really great taste in human beings, I would say [laughs].

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is in theaters now.