Tom Cruise has proven to be a fearless actor, doing extremely dangerous stunts in his films. We revisit some of the craziest stunts from his “Mission: Impossible” movies.
Tom Cruise has proven to be one of the most daring actors in Hollywood.
Throughout his career, Cruise has starred in many action movies, most notably the “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun” franchises. While most stars opt to have stunt doubles perform the more dangerous scenes in their films, Cruise likes to perform them himself.
The actor proved himself once again, performing a jaw-dropping stunt during the closing ceremonies at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Following a performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” by H.E.R., the camera panned to show Cruise standing at the top of the State de France. He then jumped off the roof of the arena, soaring through the sky, before landing near the athletes who competed in the games, giving them all high-fives as he made his way to the stage.
Once on stage, Cruise was handed the flag by Simone Biles and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, for him to bring it to Los Angeles, where the 2028 Olympic Games are set to take place.
“Thank you, Paris! Now off to LA”, Cruise shared on X.
The stunt ended with a prerecorded video of Cruise on top of the Hollywood sign, which was configured to show the Olympic rings. Cruise was spotted filming the stunt in March when he flashed his abs at the camera while posing on top of the landmark.
So how is he able to pull off such demanding stunts?
According to Christine Haas, entertainment PR expert and CEO of Haas Media, it’s thanks to the consistent work he’s put into the body over the years.
“Tom Cruise is notorious for his physical fitness and overall rigorous discipline”, Haas explained to Fox News Digital. “After speaking with a director who worked very closely with Tom Cruise over the past decade, it was very apparent that he has a high level of energy and is consistently auditing his behavior and actions daily with the help of his Scientology team.”
“This level of demand and drive allows him to defy age and perform physically demanding stunts, leading to the consistent development of a masterful personal brand.”
But these stunts pose a serious risk. Doug Eldridge of Achilles PR explained to Fox News Digital that Keanu Reeves also did most of his stunts throughout the “John Wick” franchise, but Reeves and Cruise are really the only ones playing that dual role — of actor and stuntman — in Hollywood these days.
“Insurance is a big factor in all of this”, he explained. “Studios have to take out aggressive policies to cover actors, stunt sequences, set locations, etc. From their point of view, the idea of Cruise holding onto the wing of an airplane or jumping a cliff on a motorcycle has really become a one-off in Hollywood.”
“Few (if any) actors have the desire or dedication to do it, and even fewer studios have the willingness to underwrite that type of effort. In a sense, this is almost a ‘grandfathered’ aspect of Old Hollywood — Cruise is the last and only one doing this type of stunt work; when he’s done, that niche and chapter will close with him.”
Haas suggested, “I believe he is one of very few celebrities who can continue with these types of risks because of the intense physical and mental protocol he lives by . without that consistent training, it would be far more dangerous. Like someone training for a marathon, he stays prepared instead of allowing his fitness level to regress and expose him to injuries.”
Here is a look back at some of the actor’s most death-defying stunts over the years.HALO Jump
The sixth installment in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”, featured a number of crazy stunts, including what is known as the HALO jump.
Usually conducted by military special forces, HALO stands for “high altitude, low opening.” During the parachute jump, an individual jumps out of a plane at an extremely high altitude, usually 25,000 to 40,000 feet, and doesn’t open their parachute until they’re about 800 feet from the ground. According to the National Air and Space Museum, an average skydiver will only go up to 15,000 feet and deploy their parachute at 3,000 feet.
One of the biggest concerns about the stunt was the possibility of losing oxygen when jumping from such a height. According to the Hollywood Reporter, a special helmet was made to allow Cruise to execute the stunt, which also acted as an oxygen mask and a windshield to protect his face.
“The aircraft is going between these C-17s between 160 and 200 miles an hour, so at that level of turbulence, we had to find a way to exit the aircraft”, Cruise said in a behind-the-scenes feature. “Then it was, we only got one take a day. I spent the whole day training and at night we would get that one take, and if there was one mistake, that was it, the take was gone.”
They ended up doing more than 100 takes to get the shot just right.
Business Insider reported that the stunt, which was being filmed in England, almost didn’t happen because the Royal Air Force didn’t think it was safe and insisted they do the jump from a lower altitude.
“Tom didn’t want to fake it — he wanted to do it for real at 25,000 feet”, stunt coordinator Allan Hewitt told the outlet. “But the producers said they weren’t going to another country. It really looked like we were going to fake it with the RAF.”
They were eventually able to film the stunt how they wanted after production was halted due to Cruise injuring himself, causing them to miss the window of opportunity the RAF had set aside to film with them. They ended up filming the stunt in Abu Dhabi to get the scene how they wanted it.
“If Tom didn’t break his ankle, we would have ended up faking it, which nobody wanted”, Hewitt said.Broken Bones
Although it doesn’t seem like his most dangerous stunt on this list, jumping from one building to another for “Mission Impossible – Fallout” left Cruise with a broken ankle.
The star’s injury caused production on the movie to be delayed for a few months while he healed. In an interview on “The Graham Norton Show”, Cruise revealed he went back to filming the movie before his leg had completely healed in order to finish the film in time to meet the release date.
According to the film’s writer and director, Christopher McQuarrie, the stunt never involved Cruise successfully making the jump and landing on the roof of the second building.
“He was always supposed to slam into the side of the building. That’s what gives the stunt its energy”, McQuarrie told Empire in August 2017. “On the fourth try, he hit the building at a slightly different angle, and he broke his ankle.”
While on “The Graham Norton Show”, Cruise and the rest of the “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” cast watched footage of the actor’s accident, with Norton pointing out that Cruise continued acting and finished the scene even after the break.
“I didn’t want to do it again”, Cruise said.
