What Working with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible Is Really Like, According to the Cast (Exclusive)

Tom Cruise has been hailed as a daredevil stuntman, a giver of coveted coconut cakes and a filmmaker who “saved Hollywood’s ass.” But what is working with him on one of his action movies really like?

As the actor-producer, 62, prepares to launch another Mission: Impossible into cinemas with eighth installment The Final Reckoning on May 23, his castmates recall highlights of their time with Cruise on set for PEOPLE’s new special issue.

“The most thrilling portion was being in the makeup trailer each morning and hearing Tom come to work,” says Angela Bassett, who returns to the series as Erika Sloane after first appearing in 2018’s sixth movie Fallout.

What exactly did she hear that signaled Cruise’s arrival? “The whir of the helicopter,” says Bassett. “That’s kind of different, so it put a smile on my face.”

While some stars like Bassett or Henry Czerny have worked with Cruise in a handful of Missions — Czerny, 66, was the first actor to deliver the iconic line “Your mission, should you choose to accept it…” — others have had a front row seat to collaborating with the Oscar nominee. “Thank God for Tom Cruise,” Ving Rhames, who has appeared in all eight movies as techie Luther Stickell, tells PEOPLE.

“We became good friends in a very positive relationship,” Rhames, 66, adds of his longtime costar. “We have a nice chemistry with each other.”

“I remember that first day when I was on set and I met Tom and Ving for the first time,” says Simon Pegg, who has played field agent Benji Dunn since 2006’s third installment. “I just remember how lovely they were to me, and how welcome they made me feel.”

Cruise’s friendship extends beyond just when they’re on set, according to Pegg, 55. In addition to the famous coconut cake, the British actor has received birthday treats from the Top Gun star. On one occasion Pegg, snowboarding in the Alps, was surprised with a cake from a nearby bakery that Cruise had called. “He managed to get them to make me this really beautiful birthday cake, which they then took up the mountain,” he recalls. “That one really does take the cake, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

“I loved the sense of fun,” says Hayley Atwell, who in Final Reckoning returns as thief Grace after 2023’s Dead Reckoning. “Levity is important. [It] builds trust… When you’re making a movie of this scale, there has to be an element of fun.”

Many Mission costars note that Cruise and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who has helped helm every movie since 2015’s Rogue Nation, have developed an almost telepathic shorthand. “They like to work with a lot of spontaneity,” recalls Atwell, 43. “I really love [it] because it keeps me on my toes.”

Rewrites from Cruise, McQuarrie and Final Reckoning co-writer Erik Jendresen would often come “mid-scene,” reports Czerny, who plays CIA director Eugene Kittridge. “We had a catchphrase, you know: ‘These sides will self-destruct in five minutes.’”

If there’s one thing about Cruise no Mission cast member fails to mention, it’s his passion. What Atwell calls an “unadulterated sense of joy and love of cinema” can’t help but be infectious for the rest of the crew.

Pegg recalls seeing Cruise with a “big s—-eating grin on his face” hanging mid-air between takes of a vertigo-inducing sequence in 2011’s Ghost Protocol. “I’ve said, ‘You’re absolutely nuts’ many times to him,” he quips. “But he just cares that much about it.”

Bassett calls Cruise “pure enthusiasm,” adding that he “just wants to pull the best out of everyone, wants everyone to look great, do great and work hard. No one works harder than he does… To work with someone who cares that deeply, that profoundly, that completely, is a joy.”

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is in theaters May 23. For more on the franchise, including exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes photos, PEOPLE’s special edition is out now.