Tom Cruise On His Difficult Stunt For Mission: Impossible…

Summary

Cruise performs heart-pounding stunts in Mission: Impossible.
Cruise's childhood dream stunt atop a biplane came true.
Cruise's hands-on work for decades has made him a go-to star for actors who want to master action scenes.

Tom Cruise got candid about his experience filming Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. The action star shared that the stunt he did in the upcoming film was something he envisioned doing as a kid.

Cruise debuted as secret agent Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible, directed by Brian De Palma, released in 1996. It spawned seven more sequels — Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), and Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning due this month. Several directors helmed the film, but the last four were directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Cruise has done several stunts in the franchise, which he has been part of for nearly 30 years. In a recent interview, he spoke about what he did in the upcoming film, teasing fans about what they could expect in the potential final Mission: Impossible movie.

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By Nicola Austin

In The Final Reckoning, Cruise's character, Ethan, hangs from the wings of a 1940s-era biplane while it's up in the air above the Drakensberg mountain range in South Africa and crawls his way in. He admitted that he envisioned himself doing the same stunt as a child. "I remember seeing old footage of wing-walking," Cruise told People. "Those aircraft were only traveling at, I don't know, 40, 50 miles an hour. This aircraft is up to over 120 miles an hour. Going out there, I was realizing that it takes your breath away." McQuarrie was also very impressed by Cruise, even complimenting the actor for being a "one-man film crew." Cruise reportedly flies, acts and operates the camera during the aerial sequences. Wade Eastwood, the stunt coordinator, assured fans that they didn't use green screen for the death-defying stunts. Eastwood said:

I guarantee there was not one single shot that was not on a plane flying for real.

It's not the first time, Cruise shared some details about the major stunt. He previously told Empire that sticking one's face out of an airplane flying 120 to 130 miles an hour means" you're not getting oxygen." Cruise said he had to train himself to breathe in that environment, but it was physically challenging because there were times he passed out and couldn't get himself back into the cockpit. In the same interview, Cruise admitted that he never stopped learning new things. He "constantly" trains himself with different skills, which he can eventually use in his acting profession. For instance, he trains how to dance, play the piano, parachute, or fly airplanes or helicopters. As for his piano skills, Cruise said he wouldn't say he could play the instrument and instead preferred to say he enjoyed "hitting the keys" because he found it "relaxing." The Jack Reacher star added that these skills could always be improved.

Cruise is very hands-on with his stunts in his action movies and did a lot in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Among the things he did were free solo climbing in Mission: Impossible 2, HALO jumping and flying a helicopter in Fallout, climbing Burj Khalifa in Ghost Protocol, motorcycle cliff jumping in Dead Reckoning - Part One, and an airplane hang-on stunt in Rogue Nation. Another impressive stunt he did was holding his breath for over six minutes in Rogue Nation. For that, Cruise trained with freediving record holder and performance trainer Kirk Krack. The expert taught him techniques and helped him train his body and mind to hold his breath for extended periods.

Cruise is not afraid to push his boundaries for filmmaking and his total commitment to his craft makes him a respectable action star. This is evident in his relentless training and non-stop enthusiasm to learn new skills. He also has innate instincts for action timing, pacing and escalation, making his action scenes convincing and natural. Cruise has maintained his leading man status for decades and has always been bankable. It's understandable why he is a go-to person for those who want to master their action sequences. For instance, Glen Powell said Cruise was the first person he called when he was cast to lead the reboot of the thriller The Running Man. Powell said he wanted some tips on "how to run" from Cruise.