Mission: Impossible III star Keri Russell recalls filming one of the movie’s gunfight stunts and Tom Cruise’s advice for if her hair catches fire. Directed by J.J. Abrams, the third installment in the hit Mission: Impossible franchise was released in 2006, with Cruise returning as superspy Ethan Hunt to recover a mysterious item known as the Rabbit’s Foot. Russell appears in Mission: Impossible 3 as Hunt’s trainee, Lindsey Farris, and the beginning of the movie features an extended sequence in which Hunt rescues her from a guarded factory complex.

In a recent video for Variety in which actors try to remember which of their movies certain lines are from, Russell reflects on filming Mission: Impossible 3 with Cruise. The actor recalls a stunt in which she and Cruise jump onto a van as a building explodes behind them, sharing that her costar had some advice for if her hair were to catch fire from the blast. That advice, she reveals, was to “just shake it out.”

Russell then recalls filming the gunfight portion of the sequence, touching on one particular gun throwing stunt that Abrams wanted to accomplish using CGI. Cruise, however, pushed to do it for real. Check out Russell’s recollection of her time filming the action sequence below, or watch Variety‘s video (relevant section begins at 1:17):

“Epic gun battle scene. Epic. Oh my God. First of all, Tom Cruise does most of his own stunts, so because they’re seeing his face, I got to do it too. Like, jump out of a building that’s about to explode, landing on top of a van as it pulls away. And he goes, ‘Listen, if we’re jumping down and your hair catches on fire, just shake it out.’ I was like, ‘Okay, really?’ P.S. I have a lot more hair than he does.

“I think it was around this line, Tom is supposed to look at me and then, in slow motion, chuck me a mag, or chuck me a gun, I don’t even know. And then I catch it and do like some badass move. J.J. [Abrams] said, ‘No, so what you’re gonna do is he’s gonna pretend to throw it and then we’ll superimpose, like, something CGI. So just make your hand like that.’

“And Tom goes, ‘No, no, no, she can do it.’ And I was like, ‘Tom, I can’t.’ So, he’s like, ‘We’re gonna do one, we’re gonna do one. See if she can do it.’ Did it. It was so cool.”

What Mission: Impossible 3’s Stunts Meant For The Franchise

J.J. Abrams’ Film Marked A Turning Point For The Franchise

Cruise is now an actor known far and wide for his willingness and enthusiasm for doing extreme, dangerous stunts. The Mission: Impossible franchise, too, has now morphed into a series mostly built around specific stunt sequences, but it wasn’t always this way. The Burj Khalifa stunt in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) is really what cemented this new direction for the franchise, and the third film served as something of a transition film.

The 1996 original Mission: Impossible was a hit, but the reception to the second film in 2000 was less than stellar. Mission: Impossible 3‘s reviews were generally positive, but the film experienced a dip at the box office, and still stands as the lowest-grossing entry in the franchise. Despite this, the third film still set the stage for the franchise’s new direction, featuring a handful of stunts – most of which were accomplished for real – that shaped the next four movies. Russell’s story of Cruise’s attitude toward stunts is a perfect representation of how the franchise would evolve.

Mission: Impossible 3 grossed $398.5 million worldwide against a budget of $150 million.

Our Take On Russell’s Mission: Impossible 3 Story

Cruise Takes His Action Movies To The Next Level

When Mission: Impossible cast members talk about Cruise, they tend to highlight just how dedicated and serious he is when it comes to entertaining people. He evidently puts a lot of this burden on himself, but as is supported by Hayley Atwell’s stunt stories from filming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, he also pushes those around him to work at a higher level and to push themselves.

Cruise pushing Russell to try to do the gun stunt practically is a testament to why Mission: Impossible stands apart from other action franchises. Even though it may be safer, cheaper, and more convenient to rely on VFX for certain sequences, that extra effort that Cruise puts in and that he encourages others to put in makes a big difference. Mission: Impossible 3 may not be the best entry in the franchise, but it’s still a remarkably entertaining action movie, and Hunt’s rescue of Farris remains a standout sequence.