BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., May 19, 2000 — As Prince Henry in “Ever After,” Dougray Scott rode in gallantly on a horse, tossed his cloak over his shoulders and wooed Drew Barrymore to a fairy-tale ending. The young girls of America swooned.
Two years later, Scott sneers, crashes motorcycles, dodges bullets and comes up a faceful of blood and bruises, courtesy of Tom Cruise. He even woos (this time, Brit beauty Thandie Newton) but to no avail.
But you won’t hear the 34-year-old actor complaining. After all, he’s part of the movie of the summer, “Mission: Impossible 2,” and despite the frustrations of filming and the physical toll (not to mention losing out on another film-franchise role, but we’ll get to that later), Scott couldn’t be happier.
“I watched it last night, and I was just really kind of proud of that,” Scott says of the film. “The amount of work people put in and how phenomenal the film is. And it’s just an extraordinary feeling, of not self-congratulation or anything like that, but feeling proud and pleased that it worked out so well.”
This time around, the Scotish actor plays Sean Ambrose, a former IMF agent who comes into possession of a lethal virus and its antidote (which, as any pharmaceutical company will tell you, can really rake in the money). Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) goes after him by attacking his weakness – a lingering love for ex-girlfriend Nyah (Newton). “Mission: Impossible 2” is directed by Hong Kong auteur John Woo, which inevitably means action scenes that pack a wallop.
“A lot of it is me,” Scott asserts. “But a lot of it is a stunt guy, because he’s got to do a lot of stuff — and because I’m not that stupid.” (Laughs). “But a lot of the physical stuff I really wanted to do, like the fight stuff and the bike stuff. And Tom did lots of stuff — he’s crazy. But he’s great at all that stuff. … I trained really, really hard for this, a long time I trained for.”
But no amount of training could prepare the cast for days and days of waiting. Torrid rains during the film’s Australia-based shoot caused production to run over schedule and over budget. Some days, Woo couldn’t get a single shot.
“We just kind of tried to relax, but it was really frustrating because there was nothing you could do,” says Scott, who spent his time chatting with co-stars in their trailers. “Everyone was really positive about it — ‘just keep going’ and ‘we’re gonna finish this movie. Whatever it takes, we’re gonna finish this movie.’ It was just too good a thing to throw away and compromise, really.”
Running over schedule also caused Scott to pull out of his next film, July’s much-anticipated “X-Men,” for which he was to play Wolverine. The role eventually was given to Hugh Jackman.
“I would have loved to do the film, but they waited three months for me to finish ‘Mission’ and it wasn’t anyone’s fault,” Scott says diplomatically. “‘Mission’ just took that long to film, and I was really happy to finish that film. So no, I have no regrets about not being able to do it … if it would’ve compromised ‘Mission.’ You move on, and I wish them all the best, and I hear it’s gonna be an amazing film.”
But missing out on one huge summer film won’t cost Scott anything in the long run. With “M:i-2” poised to be a smash, Scott’s due for some frenzied attention of his own — whether he welcomes it or not.
“I’m on my next film [The World War II drama ‘Enigma’] already, so I’m just thinking about that,” Scott says. “And yeah, I think [‘M:i-2’] is gonna be a huge movie, for the right reasons. It’s got great characters in it, great action … I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s phenomenal. And myself, I was going, ‘No, can’t possibly do that — Oh my GOD, he did!’ — and I was in it! So who knows what’ll happen. I’ve always got my hair different anyway, so people don’t really recognize me that much.”
