Rebecca Ferguson is giving some additional insight into her widely reported on-set clash with another movie star.
The Mission: Impossible actress, who next stars in Netflix’s thriller A House of Dynamite, spoke to The U.K.’s Times, where she was asked about her previous viral comments about an unnamed top-billed co-star who “screamed” at her, prompting the actress to refuse to shoot scenes with him for the rest of the production.
The Times asked if she had heard from the actor since her comments were widely reported last year. Ferguson said she hadn’t and that “I don’t care,” and noted, “other people who have worked with this person also had a shitty time.”
All that said, Ferguson suggested the situation was actually rather “complex” and that “she was not blameless,” the Times paraphrased.
Going back to directly quoting Ferguson, she reportedly added, “I will shove someone under a bus in front of an entire crew to make a point. I don’t applaud my own behaviour in that. It’s a really tricky world. We put a lot of blame on bullies and when we get older we can understand that people are insecure. When you start standing up for yourself, it’s really tricky. They’ll fire you and give the job to someone else.”
In her original revelations, Ferguson said, “I did a film with an absolute idiot of a co-star — doesn’t matter who it is. I’m going to try not to give this away, but I remember there was a moment, and this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out. And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at,” she said.
She explained that “because this person was number one on the call sheet, there was no safety net” for her. “So no one had my back. And I would cry walking off set,” Ferguson said. “This person would literally look at me in front of the whole crew and say, ‘You call yourself an actor? This is what I have to work with? What is this?’ And I stood there just breaking.”
Ferguson said she felt “scared” after the ordeal and confronted her co-star, noting it was the first time she spoke up for herself as an actor. “I looked at this person, and I said, ‘You get off my set. You can F off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again.’”
After the producers informed her she couldn’t do that to the “number one” and the person would have to remain on set, Ferguson said, “The person can turn around, and I can act to the back of the head.” And that’s what she did. “I remember thinking that time I was so scared. I feel it now when I’m saying it,” she continued. “But I thought, ‘It shouldn’t have to be that way.’”
After the comments went viral and sparked a guessing game as to which actor she was talking about, Ferguson said in a follow-up interview that she received panicked phone calls.
“I got phone calls from amazing co-stars who I’ve worked with going, ‘You understand what you’ve done, right?!’” she continued. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God. No, I didn’t think.’ I mean, it’s not my responsibility, to be honest. I don’t really care. You know, ‘You’re great, but my story is my story, and if you’re a good person, then don’t worry about it.’”
Both Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt publicly denied they were the “idiot” co-star. Johnson posted on X, “Hate seeing this but love seeing her stand up to bullshit. Rebecca was my guardian angel sent from heaven on set. I love that woman. I’d like to find out who did this.” Blunt denied it was her through a rep statement that read, “Rebecca and Emily are friends and there’s nothing but love between them.”
Ferguson has also ruled out Tom Cruise, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds.
Speaking of Cruise, in the new interview, she also spoke fondly of her frequent M:I co-star, calling him “a man-child in a good way. I often joke that there’s someone with a tranquilizer gun and a net looking for him. It’s frustrating because you’re ready to shoot and the sun’s going down. Tom goes, ‘What are we waiting for?’ and I go, ‘You!’ And he laughs and goes, ‘Fuck, I’m sorry.’”
