Vanessa Kirby and Pom Klementieff filmed "40 takes" to simply pick up a key on ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One'.

Vanessa, 35, plays arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis, while Pom's alter ego is assassin Paris in the action sequel, which sees Tom Cruise reprise his role as Ethan Hunt for a seventh time.

The actresses have spilled on Christopher McQuarrie's directing style and revealed that he insisted they do the little things over and over again, but rather be frustrating it merely added to the "fun" on set.

In a joint interview with website Collider, Vanessa said: “We did 40 takes of picking up a key, and it was so fun because actually, you realize by take 30, you're thinking as an actor, yeah, you're just picking up a key, but I thought, 'How many ways can a human being pick up a key?'

Pom, 37, added: “Yes, it tells a different story.”

Vanessa continued: “And you get to play them all. That's just one tiny example, but in many moments, you get to play many, many different things because you get the opportunity because there's time and space, and it's the process of, 'Let's see what comes out.' Then we have loads of time in the edit putting things together that are unusual."

Pom praised McQuarrie for possessing “such a sense of frame” and their “incredible crew” that worked so hard to make “everything perfect” for the entire cast which included Hayley Atwell, 41, Greg Tarzan Davis, 29, and Shea Whigham, 54, Rebecca Ferguson, 39, and Simon Pegg, 53.

Pom said: "Christopher McQuarrie has such a sense of the frame, and he's surrounded by such an incredible crew, and the lighting is beautiful and the set. Then we just play around and just really take the time to make everything perfect, so it feels very special to get the opportunity to do that.”