13 of Tom Cruise’s Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts

Within the first installment within the Mission: Inconceivable franchise in 1996, Cruise reportedly by no means swapped out for a stuntman in a single explicit scene involving an aquarium. Within the sequence, Ethan Hunt, who would change into one of Cruise’s most well-known characters, deliberately blows up an enormous aquarium that stretches the size from the ground to the ceiling to assist get away rapidly. The explosive was so highly effective that one other individual was despatched flying by means of a glass panel, whereas Cruise went working with 16 gallons of water following proper behind him.

In 2000’s Mission: Inconceivable II, Cruise confirmed no indicators of plans to cease testing his limits. Within the opening scene of the John Woo-directed movie, the actor may be seen climbing and hanging off big rocks on the facet of a cliff. Throughout filming, Cruise reportedly had solely a security cable to assist soften any influence, which led to Woo actively sweating all through the complete sequence as a result of of how harmful it was.

In 1986’s High Gun, Cruise started in search of the fun of doing his personal stunts. However the scene when Maverick (Cruise) and Goose (Anthony Edwards) are ejected from the jet and parachute into the water (resulting in his co-pilot’s demise) practically didn’t go as deliberate. High Gun‘s Barry Tubb informed the New York Submit on the movie’s twenty fifth anniversary that “Cruise got here as near dying as anyone on a set I’ve ever seen.” Throughout filming, when Cruise was lifting up Goose’s physique from the ocean, Cruise truly started to sink resulting from water build up in his parachute. In keeping with Tubb, Cruise would have drowned if it was not caught early sufficient to get him out.

On the time of filming High Gun, it was additionally reported {that a} veteran fighter pilot died while shooting aerial footage for the film.

In 2003’s The Final Samurai, Cruise as soon as once more practically averted a tragic accident whereas doing his personal stunts. Whereas filming a battle sequence between Nathan Algren (Cruise) and Ujio (Hiroyuki Sanada), the 2 have been driving on what have been truly mechanical horses, during which one was purported to cease transferring earlier than Sanada takes a swing at Cruise with an actual samurai sword. However the horse didn’t cease, and Cruise reportedly got here inside an inch of the sword earlier than Sanada was capable of pull again, avoiding contact with Cruise.

“Tom’s neck was proper in entrance of me, and I attempted to cease swinging my sword, however it was exhausting to regulate with one hand,” Sanada previously told the Daily Mail. “The movie crew watching from the facet all screamed as a result of they thought Tom’s head would fly off.”

At this level, on-set accidents are nothing new to Cruise, and the identical goes for an incident whereas filming an motion scene with Jamie Foxx for 2004’s Collateral. Throughout an interview at the time, Foxx thought he practically killed his co-star when he smashed into Cruise’s Mercedes-Benz throughout a chase sequence. “I hit the fuel, the cab goes straight head on into [Cruise’s] Mercedes, and the Mercedes lifts off the bottom and goes off the set,” he defined. Cruise added that though he was OK, he was tossed across the automobile. “I used to be hitting the roof,” he stated. “I used to be down on the bottom.”

While filming 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow, Emily Blunt confirmed to Conan O’Brien on Conan at the time that Cruise “really does everything and wants to do everything” when it comes to doing stunts. But she revealed that during one scene, his luck was tested once again. The actress said in one action sequence when she was driving and Cruise was in the passenger seat, the stunt coordinator tasked her with driving really fast down a road and then taking a sharp turn. She noted that the first take went well, but during the second, she took a turn too late and “drove us into a tree and I almost killed Tom Cruise.” Thankfully, Cruise was OK, and Blunt added that he was actually laughing afterward.

Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol director Brad Bird said watching Cruise take on death-defying stunts is “just another day at work” for the film’s crewmembers. Specifically for the 2011 movie, the actor scaled Dubai’s 163-floor Burj Khalifa. In behind-the-scenes footage, Cruise can be seen climbing, swinging and running up and down the building, with only a wire keeping him from falling.

In 2015’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Cruise decided to take his intense stunts to the sky. In the film, the actor can be seen dangling on the outside of an Airbus 400 as it takes off. Robert Elswit, director of photography, told The Hollywood Reporter at the time what went into making the stunt a reality while keeping Cruise safe.

“Tom was in a full body harness and he’s cabled and wired to the plane through [its] door. Contained in the plane was an aluminum truss that was rigorously bolted to the aircraft, which held the wires that went by means of the door, which held Tom,” the cinematographer stated of the security measures. “He was additionally carrying particular contact lenses to guard his eyes. If something hit him at these speeds, it might be actually dangerous. They have been very cautious about cleansing the runway so there have been no rocks. And we took off in sure climate situations; there have been no birds. And he’s kind of protected by the way in which the air strikes over the wing.”

In the Christopher McQuarrie-directed film, Cruise went from doing stunts in the sky to doing them underwater. For the said sequence in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, the actor actually had to undergo training to be able to hold his breath underwater for six minutes. For comparison, professional divers hold their breath for anywhere between four and seven minutes, according to the American Physiological Society, but even that can be very dangerous and could cause brain damage. Although Cruise scared crewmembers a few times by testing his limits underwater, in the end, he successfully completed the mission.

“It’s something I have always wanted to do,” Cruise said during an interview with USA Today at the time. “We’re underwater and we’re doing breath-holds of 6 to 6-1/2 minutes. So I was doing all my training with the other stuff (on-set). It was very taxing stuff.”

While filming a building jump scene in 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Cruise actually got hurt, which shut down production for six weeks while he recovered. During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the actor not only detailed exactly what went wrong but shared a video of the moment he broke his ankle during the stunt.

In the scene, while attached to two safety wires, Cruise’s character is meant to jump from one high-rise to another when chasing Henry Cavill’s character. Although he was meant to miss the landing and hit the side of the wall, his foot actually slipped and bent upwards on impact. The actor noted that he “knew instantly it was broken.” Cruise also revealed that his ankle was still healing while he was on the press tour for the film.

In the seventh film in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Tom Cruise shows that he has no plans to stop doing death-defying stunts anytime soon. For Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, the actor learned how to do what director Christopher McQuarrie called “one of the most dangerous sports in the world.” Speed-flying, which is similar to paragliding, combines elements of parachute swooping to allow people to fly at high speeds down mountainsides while maintaining close to the slope. And Cruise did just that for one of the scenes in the latest installment of the action franchise. McQuarrie even noted that when Cruise was “flying very close to rocks,” the filming crew was in “absolute terror” behind the cameras. 

For Mission: Impossible 7, Tom Cruise said he got to do a stunt that he had wanted to do “since I was a little kid.” And that stunt was riding a motorbike off a cliff and parachuting down to safety. Director Christopher McQuarrie explained that there were many elements needed to actually make it happen, as well as years of different types of training. Once Cruise felt like he was comfortable with each aspect of the stunt, that’s when the crew built the film’s final ramp on a cliff in Norway. A crewmember added that Cruise did a total of six takes of one of the “biggest stunts in cinema history.” 

For the final installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Cruise really went out with a bang, completing one of his most difficult stunts to date. In The Final Reckoning, the actor can be seen dangling from an upside-down plane during one of the sequences. A behind-the-scenes clip of the scene also notes how physically demanding the stunt was for Cruise. “You can’t imagine how physically punishing it was for Tom to be on the wing,” a voice says in the video. “The wind distorts your vision. It’s almost impossible to breathe.”