There are movie stunts, and then there are “Mission: Impossible” stunts. Since the first film premiered in 1996, the franchise has stood in a league…
There are movie stunts, and then there are “Mission: Impossible” stunts. Since the first film premiered in 1996, the franchise has stood in a league of its own, upping the game with each subsequent action-packed flick. The tradition continues in “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” in theaters Thursday, which features Tom Cruise, 56, tearing through some of the most insane stunts ever undertaken by a Hollywood actor. Here are three standout moments.
In an early sequence in the movie, Cruise takes on a HALO jump, which stands for “high altitude low opening” and is a skydive from 25,000 feet with a parachute opening at below 3,000 feet — this one out of a C-17 cargo aircraft speeding at 140 knots above Abu Dhabi.
To prepare, Cruise first trained to flip and move with the necessary equipment in a wind tunnel the filmmakers had built outside of London — the largest outdoor wind tunnel on the planet. A special helmet with a wider visor than is standard was also crafted so that audiences could see Cruise was really the one doing the stunt. Then the team took to the skies, where the scene was shot in three segments of two minutes each, which is about how long the free fall lasts. Including training, Cruise jumped from the plane 106 times in Abu Dhabi, says skydiving coordinator Allan Hewitt.
“I’ve been teaching for 35 years,” says Hewitt. “To put it bluntly, he impressed the hell out of me.”
Making matters more complicated: The scene takes place at twilight, meaning the lighting was so specific, they could only shoot it once per day.
“[It was] a ridiculous plan and should have never been allowed, but we did it,” says producer Jake Myers.
Running and leaping from one London rooftop to another should have been a piece of cake for Cruise, but it’s the moment that caused him to break the talus bone in his right ankle joint, effectively shutting down production for about eight weeks.
“It was probably the simplest stunt in the whole film, really,” says stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood.
Attached to safety wires, Cruise was to jump, narrowly miss the rooftop, hit the wall instead and then climb up. But perfectionism got the best of him.
“Tom really wanted that form in the air with a leg outstretched and that look of absolute desperation to make that gap or fall to death,” says Eastwood.
When he hit the wall, his foot was locked out in front, which didn’t allow for the necessary whip back. Ever the professional, Cruise still managed to climb over the edge with the broken bone and hobble out of frame, ensuring the shot was not wasted.
Cruise trained for months to earn his private and commercial helicopter licenses in order to shoot a grueling chase that’s part of the movie’s climax. After climbing a towline, Cruise takes control of a bad guy’s copter, and what audiences see reflects reality: Cruise, alone, flying the aircraft in New Zealand.
Among the most nerve-wracking aspects of the scene for the filmmakers was a 360-degree alpine descent amidst the mountainous terrain.
“You basically put the helicopter’s nose down and tail straight up, and you do a spiraling descent, so you’re almost like an American football spiraling down to the ground,” explains Eastwood.
With no safety net, everyone just had to hope Cruise’s training was enough and that, as Myers puts it, this wasn’t “the ‘Mission’ that kills Tom.”
“Tom is in control of his own situation,” says Myers, adding with a laugh, “I didn’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘You need to fly a helicopter.’ That was something that he wanted to do, which he’ll remember selectively depending on the day.”
