tom cruise do his own stunts in mission impossible

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How Tom Cruise Executed His 'Most Dangerous' Stunt in 'Mission: Impossible –Dead Reckoning Part One'

The death-defying moment in the franchise's seventh installment involves Cruise driving a motorbike off a cliff

Collection Christophel/Alamy

Tom Cruise  turned up the action for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning   Part One .

While the film marks the seventh installment in the highly successful franchise, Cruise, 61, made the occasion even more special by challenging himself to perform one of his most dangerous stunts yet.

The death-defying moment involved Cruise driving a motorbike off a cliff, fly off the bike, and parachute to the ground. While fans got a glimpse of the stunt through the film's action-packed trailer in May, Cruise, along with writer-director  Christopher McQuarrie , first teased the big moment in 2021 at CinemaCon.

The pair explained in a special behind-the-scenes video at the event that the stunt took 500 hours of skydiving training and 13,000 motorbike jumps to get it just right. The stunt involved Cruise being attached to a set of wires as he rides a speeding motorcycle off of a large ramp before he throws himself from the bike, backed by the safety wires attached to his back.

Speaking about its execution, McQuarrie, 54, explained in the video that it was "by far the most dangerous stunt we've ever done." The clip then ended with Cruise performing the stunt himself, with a crew member saying, " Tom Cruise  rode a motorcycle off a cliff six times today."

McQuarrie "tried to kill me," joked Cruise at the New York City premiere.

Christian Black/Paramount Pictures

The film's long-awaited release comes after multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic . According to an official synopsis, it finds Cruise's Ethan Hunt as he and his team are tasked with tracking down "a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands."

During its world premiere in June , Cruise gave a speech about his passion for the franchise and filmmaking. He said in part, "It’s something that I grew up with, that made me and inspired me to dream and want to travel the world. My goal since I was little was to make movies and travel. And not just be a tourist but work in that world and understand their culture."

"Through my movies, I’ve been able to have that because everyone here has allowed me to entertain them," he continued. "It’s a privilege that I have never taken for granted."

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Mission: Impossible   - Dead Reckoning Part One is out now.

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Tom cruise hangs on for dear life to his 'mission' to save the movies.

Justin Chang

Tom Cruise is back, and doing his own stunts, in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. Paramount Pictures and Skydance hide caption

Tom Cruise is back, and doing his own stunts, in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.

For some time now, Tom Cruise has been on what feels like a one-man mission to save the movies. Back in 2020, when Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One was shooting in the U.K., Cruise was recorded screaming at crew members who'd violated COVID-19 lockdown protocols, all but claiming that the industry's future rested on their shoulders. Earlier this year, Steven Spielberg publicly praised Cruise for saving Hollywood with the smash success of Top Gun: Maverick .

Now, with the box office still struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels, Cruise has become a kind of evangelist for the theatergoing experience, urging audiences to buy tickets not just to his movie, but also to other big summer titles like Barbie and Oppenheimer .

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'mission: impossible' is back, but will you accept it, or will it self-destruct.

Cruise's save-the-movies spirit goes hand-in-hand with his self-styled reputation as the last of the great Hollywood stars. In this seventh Mission: Impossible movie, the now 61-year-old actor and producer still insists on risking life and limb for our viewing pleasure, doing his own outrageous stunts in action scenes that make only minimal use of CGI. And so we see Cruise's Ethan Hunt, an agent with the Impossible Missions Force, or IMF, tearing up the streets of Rome in a tiny yellow Fiat, riding a motorcycle off a cliff and — in the most astonishing sequence — hanging on for dear life after a deadly train derailment.

The plot that connects these sequences is preposterous, of course, but reasonably easy to follow. In an especially timely twist, the big villain this time around is AI — a self-aware techno-being referred to as the Entity. It's an invisible menace, everywhere and nowhere; it can wipe out data systems, control the flow of information and bring nations to their knees.

'Top Gun: Maverick' is ridiculous. It's also ridiculously entertaining

Hunt and his IMF team are determined to destroy the Entity before it becomes too powerful or falls into the wrong hands. But his old boss, Eugene Kittridge, played by the sinister Henry Czerny, warns Hunt to fall in line with the U.S. government, which wants to control the Entity and the new world order to come.

This is notably the first time we've seen Kittridge since Brian De Palma 's 1996 Mission: Impossible — the first and still, to my mind, the best movie in the series. That said, the director and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie has done a snazzy job with the most recent ones: Rogue Nation , Fallout and now Dead Reckoning Part One .

Coronavirus Updates

Sorry, tom cruise fans — new 'top gun' and 'mission impossible' movies delayed again.

Here, he seems to be paying sly tribute to that 1996 original, even evoking its horrific early setpiece in which Hunt watched helplessly as his IMF teammates were murdered, one by one. That trauma was formative; it explains why, in movie after movie, Hunt has repeatedly put his life on the line for his friends.

If you're kept up with the series, you'll recognize those friends here, including Hunt's fellow operatives played by Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson. You may also remember Vanessa Kirby , reprising her Fallout role as a ruthless arms broker and giving, in a single sequence, perhaps the movie's best performance. There are some intriguing new characters, too, including a wily thief, well played by Hayley Atwell, who draws Hunt into an extended game of cat-and-mouse. Pom Klementieff steals a few scenes as a mysterious assassin, as does Esai Morales as a glowering enemy from Hunt's past.

That's a lot of characters, double-crosses, chases, fights, escapes and explosions to keep track of. But even with a running time that pushes north of two-and-a-half hours — and this is just Part One — the movie never loses its grip. McQuarrie, a screenwriter first and foremost, paces the narrative beautifully, building and releasing tension at regular intervals.

Compared with the visual effects-heavy bombast of most Hollywood blockbusters, Dead Reckoning Part One feels like a marvel of old-school craftsmanship, just with niftier gadgets. Even Hunt wears his devil-may-care recklessness with surprising lightness and grace, spending much of the movie's third act on the sidelines and even playing some of his most daring escapades for laughs. Not that the actor doesn't take his mission seriously. I don't know if Tom Cruise can save the movies, but somehow, I never get tired of watching him try.

Tom Cruise did that motorcycle stunt in ‘Mission: Impossible’ on Day 1 — here’s why

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More than half a year before the release of the upcoming movie “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One,” Paramount Pictures made sure audiences got to see Tom Cruise once again risking his life.

Cruise’s mind-blowing stunts have become a signature of “ Mission: Impossible ” films, each one seemingly topping the next. The key stunt in the franchise’s seventh installment involves Cruise driving a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff, dismounting and parachuting into a Norwegian valley. With the drop of its behind-the-scenes footage in December , the studio billed it as “the biggest stunt in cinema history.”

Though the moment has already been watched on YouTube more than 13 million times, and 30 million more times in the film’s trailers, it’s among the film’s most anticipated scenes. After all, we still don’t know how the stunt fits within the plot — What could be so dire that agent Ethan Hunt must jump off a cliff?

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While answers won’t come until the movie’s theatrical release July 12, we now know that the risky stunt was the first thing Cruise did on Day 1 of filming, which began in 2020. And it was all about risk assessment.

In a recent interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” Cruise said they started with the scene, in part, to allow the cast and crew to see whether he would be able to star in the $290-million film. After all, he could either get injured or die — or both.

“Well, we know we’re either going to continue with the film or not,” Cruise said, letting out a laugh. “Let’s know Day 1, what is gonna happen: Do we all continue, or is it a major re-run?”

Cruise added that he wanted to make sure his mind was clear enough to focus solely on the stunt.

Watch ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’ director Christopher McQuarrie on Ultimate Summer Movie Showdown

Week 13: ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’ director Christopher McQuarrie joins a live chat from London about the blockbuster franchise.

Aug. 4, 2020

“You have to be razor sharp for something like that; I don’t want to drop that and shoot other things and have my mind somewhere else,” Cruise said. “You don’t want to be waking up in the middle of the night, ‘It’s still, I still, I still,’ and it has that effect.”

Cruise is no stranger to aerial stunts with a high probability of death. The “Top Gun” actor said preparing for the recent stunt “was years of planning,” a culmination of all the training he’s done with motorcycles, cars and aerobatics.

In the franchise’s last film, “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” (2018), Cruise jumped into a helicopter in midflight , taking the controls to chase another helicopter. In the same movie, he parachuted from a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III from 25,000 feet, close to five miles up, becoming “the first actor” to do so in a major motion picture, according to Paramount (most skydiving attempts occur at 10,000 feet).

In 2011 for “ Ghost Protocol ,” the “Jerry McGuire” actor climbed along the exposed walls of the world’s largest building, the Burj Khalifa of Dubai. And in 2015 for “Rogue Nation,” Cruise hung off the side of an Airbus A400M Atlas as it was taking off, a stunt that veteran stunt coordinator and frequent Cruise collaborator Wade Eastwood called “a stressful experience.”

The recent motorcycle stunt, which Cruise had apparently repeated six times, was no exception. Though the film’s computer-generated images make Cruise appear to be jumping off the rocky surface of the cliff, the scene required a large ramp to be built.

While Cruise is seen atop the motorcycle in the behind-the-scenes video, accelerating off the ramp, a helicopter and drone fly overhead to gather footage. The film’s crew, including director Christopher McQuarrie, are huddled in a nearby tent, faces glued to a set of monitors. After he abandons the bike and hangs in the open air, Cruise releases his parachute and the crew erupts in cheers.

“The only thing you have to avoid when doing a stunt like this are serious injury or death,” Eastwood, who has managed stunts for the last three “Mission Impossible” films, said in the BTS video. “You’re falling. If you don’t get a clean exit from the bike and you get tangled up with it, if you don’t open your parachute, you’re not gonna make it.”

Review: Tom Cruise returns, crazy stunts and all, in ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’

See Tom run. See Tom jump.

July 13, 2018

The scene wasn’t the only stressful one to shoot: Cruise said he also worried about a car chase that involved him handcuffed to a small car, steering with one hand while drifting along the cobblestone streets of Rome, with his co-star Hayley Atwell in the passenger seat.

“It’s plenty of challenges,” Cruise said with a wide grin, laughing once again.

“Dead Reckoning” had its world premiere Sunday at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome with Cruise and other cast members, including Atwell and Vanessa Kirby , in attendance. “Part Two” is expected to be released in June 2024. Filming wrapped in September for what has been rumored to be Cruise’s final appearance in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.

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Tom cruise on performing his own stunts and dead reckoning details, the mission: impossible star breaks down the risky stunts he's performed for the blockbuster action franchise and the evolution of super-spy ethan hunt..

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Tom Cruise sat down with RT correspondent Nikki Novak and spilled new details about his upcoming movie Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One . He dives deep into performing his own stunts and the challenges that come with it, Ethan Hunt’s character development, and more.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) is in theaters on July 12, 2023.

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Watch Tom Cruise Rehearse and Perform the 'Biggest Stunt in Cinema History'

Here's how the movie star prepared for his most ambitious action sequence yet in 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning.'

A mini-documentary released on YouTube by Paramount Pictures follows the months of preparation that went into planning and executing a heart-stopping chase scene in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One , in which Cruise's character, secret agent Ethan Hunt, rides a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff and goes into a base jump, free-falling towards the earth before pulling his parachute cord.

"There's a lot going into this stunt," says director Christopher McQuarrie. "So Tom put together this master plan to coordinate all of these experts in each of the particular disciplines involved, to make this whole thing happen.

Prior to the shoot in Hellesylt, Norway in 2020, Cruise undertook a year of training to master motocross, base jumping and advanced skydiving, including working on his strength and stability to ensure he can control his own position mid-air, and manoeuver the parachute canopy in the right way.

"You train and drill every little aspect over and over and over and over again," says Cruise.

When the prep for the shoot was at its most intense, Cruise was doing 30 jumps per day, and he racked up more than 500 skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps over the course of rehearsal. Throughout this entire process, Cruise also wore a GPS chip so that they were able to track his speed and location in three-dimensional space at every stage of the stunt, which then enabled them to plan exactly where the drone cameras needed to be for the shoot.

"The key is me hitting certain speeds and being consistent with that," says Cruise. "There's no speedometer, so I do it by sound and feel of the bike. And then as I depart the bike, I'm using the wind that's hitting me, I'm pumping my chest, that will give me lift."

On the day of the shoot, all conditions have to be perfect for Cruise to pull off the staggering feat, and things are tense behind the camera as the actor shoots off the edge of the precipice and plummets into the valley below... a total of six times.

"We've been working on this for years," says Cruise. "I've wanted to do it since I was a little kid."

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‘He is taking it to the next level’: the expert verdict on Tom Cruise’s epic Mission: Impossible stunts

Amy Johnston, a stunt veteran of Suicide Squad, Deadpool and more, analyses the new blockbuster’s hair-raising action sequences – and praises the star’s commitment to realism

T om Cruise’s new film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is stuffed with spectacular stunts, but one in particular has grabbed the world’s attention: riding a motorbike off the top of a 1,240 metre-high crag, plummeting down its vertical, semi-cylindrical face, and opening his parachute, base-jump style, just before he hits the ground.

Cruise says its “far and away the most dangerous thing [he’d] ever attempted”, and in a video released by the film-makers , revealed he had trained for the stunt by making more than 500 skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps over an 80ft mound, as well as training for a year in base jumping (a specialist skill involving parachuting from fixed objects including radio masts and skyscrapers). A practice ramp was constructed in a quarry in Wallingford, Oxfordshire , stuffed with fall-breaking plastic bags, before taking on the actual leap off the Helsetkopen in Norway. Cruise performed the stunt six times for the cameras.

Amy Johnston, a stunt performer on films such as Suicide Squad, Deadpool and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as well as the TV series Westworld, said: “In the movie theatre where I watched the film, as soon as he dropped, the audience was just dead silent. Everybody was trying to hold their breath, kind of they all felt like they were just having a heart attack.

“What he is able to do is create spectacle, and he knows how to entertain people. He did some of his biggest stunts to date in this film, and I was absolutely very impressed.”

Cruise has been making Mission: Impossible films for nearly 30 years, and will be for another 20 if he has his way . Since the premiere of the first Mission: Impossible in 1996, the role has been particularly testing, with the series renowned for its elaborate and physically challenging stunts, for which Cruise, 61, prides himself on his personal involvement. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh entry in the series, carries on the tradition, with other set pieces including a somersaulting Fiat 500, and train carriages hanging over a steep drop.

Johnston points out that while Cruise will have stunt doubles to assist him, as well as elements of CGI to heighten impact, the fact that he gets involved so heavily himself has an influence on the way scenes are filmed and their impact. “He knows how to bring the realism – you can see that it’s happening to him in closeup, like the effect of freefall on his face - and then you can also keep the frame very wide and see the action play out. It adds to the experience, and audiences definitely feel that.”

For all that, Johnston says one of the hardest stunts in the film is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment at the very start, when Cruise’s character, hiding in the desert, has to mount a horse as it gets up from a prone position. “This is very specialty-trained movement; it really needs timing, and it’s dangerous as well, because the horse could lay down on his leg if the timing is off.

“That is what Cruise always brings to his films, the extra details, because he didn’t need to do that. But he wants to do those things, and it adds a lot.”

Johnston also talks admiringly of the car chase scene in which Cruise and Hayley Atwell are handcuffed together as they manoeuvre a Fiat 500 around the narrow streets of Rome. “It was really fun, and not just because of all the somersaults and car hits, but the fact they were connected by handcuffs was so creative. I would love to break it down frame by frame, but I think that Cruise was definitely driving one-handed while being handcuffed. That whole scene [was a] really great job by the stunt coordinators and the stunt performers.”

Johnston says that a scene in which Cruise fights a selection of bad guys on top of a speeding train employed a mix of stunt trickery and actual exposure to the conditions. She suggests that film-makers may have employed harnesses or wires attached to a crane, which are then erased in post-production, for wide shots, and that greenscreen backdrops, where the background is added digitally, were probably used for tighter shots. “But the part where he had to duck under a bridge is one of those things that you have to really work on and go over and over and over and really get the timing right. It’s very scary to do something like that.”

Johnston is also supportive of the stunt industry’s campaign to gain recognition for its work through inclusion in the Oscars, which is spearheaded by John Wick director Chad Stahelski . “It would make a lot of sense, especially with how hard the stunt teams work to make a great film. These fight scenes, and car scenes, are all designed by the stunt team, who also figure out the best way to film them. The stunt coordinator and the stunt crew are such a huge part of a film.”

Mission: Impossible’s main rival in the blockbuster stunt world remains the Bond franchise , which stages equally elaborate scenes for its star performer – until recently Daniel Craig. But for Johnston, Cruise remains the gold standard: “It’s how he shoots action, doing his own stuff, that adds to the experience. I know in the Bond films, the actors are definitely doing a lot of fight scenes and such, but Cruise is taking it to the next level. It’s not that the action is better, but Cruise’s process does make a difference.”

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Tom Cruise explains that death-defying Mission: Impossible 7 stunt captured in an amazing photo

The actor says riding a motorcycle off a cliff was one of the riskiest stunts of his career.

Christian Holub is a writer covering comics and other geeky pop culture. He's still mad about 'Firefly' getting canceled.

This time last year, the much-anticipated seventh Mission: Impossible film was stuck in a production pause as the world reckoned with the COVID-19 pandemic . But now it's 2021, people are getting vaccinated, and film sets have strict health protocols in place. So Tom Cruise is talking about Mission: Impossible 7 as a movie that's going to come out in the near future, which means viewers will soon get to see the superstar actor perform death-defying action stunts.

Cruise always does his own stunts on the Mission: Impossible films, and each installment in the franchise tries to outdo its predecessor. Set photos have already previewed what looks to be one of the actor's most thrilling feats yet: Riding a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff. In a new interview with Empire , Cruise explained why this jump was "the single most dangerous thing he'd ever done." Check out the photo of it below and you'll get an idea of the risk.

"If the wind was too strong, it would blow me off the ramp," Cruise said. "The helicopter [filming the stunt] was a problem, because I didn't want to be hammering down that ramp at top speed and get hit by a stone. Or if I departed in a weird way, we didn't know what was going to happen with the bike. I had about six seconds once I departed the ramp to pull the chute and I don't want to get tangled in the bike. If I do, that's not going to end well."

Thankfully, all's well that ends well. Cruise is still in one piece, and he still loves this stuff. As he recently said on The Graham Norton Show , Cruise has even been told sometimes to stop smiling while performing his stunts because it ruins takes.

Mission: Impossible 7 is currently set to hit theaters on May 27, 2022, and will start streaming on Paramount+ some time after that.

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Did Tom Cruise Really Do All the Stunts in ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’?

The 56-year-old actor never even uses a body double

At this point in his career, the stories of Tom Cruise doing his own stunts are almost legendary.

The building jump gone wrong for his latest film “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” — the take of which ended up in the final film — has been a favorite on this press tour . But truth be told, that stunt, during which Cruise broke his ankle, isn’t even the most daring in the film. Cruise told Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on “The Tonight Show” that jumping from one building to the next was suppose to be an easy one.

In “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” which currently has a 98 percent rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Cruise’s IMF agent Ethan Hunt is caught in multiple chases (including one in a helicopter), free-climbs a cliff (again), does a HALO jump (high altitude; low open) out of a plane at 25,000 feet, and he runs. A lot.

And yes, at 56 years old, and after 22 years of “Mission: Impossible” movies, Tom Cruise s till takes danger in his hands . “Tom always does his own stunts and never has a double,” a person close to the film told TheWrap.

Watching Cruise’s Ethan Hunt hanging from and climbing a rope attached to a helicopter thousands of feet in the air, it might be hard to believe that it’s actually the actor pulling himself up of his own accord… but it’s him all right.

During an exhilarating chase in which Hunt rides a motorcycle through the streets of Paris and then against traffic around the Arc de Triomphe, that’s actually Cruise on the bike, and with no helmet mind you.

And, of course, what would a Tom Cruise film be without running (“Tropic Thunder,” maybe?). Cruise, as always, does all of his own running in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” and, boy, is there a lot of it.

The amount of running in the film is a stunt unto itself and director Christopher McQuarrie shows off Cruise doing it all himself, with long shots, and in other action sequences, with clever uses of the camera.

Mission: Impossible: Tom Cruise's Best Stunts in the Franchise, Ranked

Tom Cruise is famous for performing his own stunts, particularly in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and here are the best stunts, ranked.

Mission: Impossible is a long-running action spy franchise revolving around Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt as he takes on threat after threat and conquers the impossible. Based on the TV series of the same name created by Bruce Geller, the film franchise began in 1996 and has spawned a total of six films, with two more on the way. While the franchise is known for its ensemble cast, the one staple character to appear in every Mission: Impossible film is Ethan Hunt, portrayed by Tom Cruise .

Update July 2, 2023: This article has been updated with even more great Mission: Impossible stunts in honor of the upcoming release of Misson: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.

Part of what makes the Mission: Impossible movies so fantastic is Cruise's insistence on performing many of his own stunts. From Mission: Impossible to Top Gun , Cruise has been at the helm, performing a number of crazy stunts that many actors would not dare go near. While many of Cruise's action films feature him performing stunts of varying degrees, his stunts in the Mission: Impossible franchise are the most daring. These are Tom Cruise’s best Mission: Impossible stunts in the franchise, ranked.

10 Exploding Aquarium — Mission: Impossible

Although the first entry in this franchise is best known for its iconic shot of Tom Cruise suspended above the entrance of an alarmed vault, Mission Impossible probably has the least stunts of any in the series. However, Cruise was happy to get physical when requested, including one scene in which Ethan Hunt attempts to escape his enemies in Prague by exploding a restaurant aquarium. According to Parade , director Brian De Palma initially used a stuntman, but he didn't like how the scene looked. Despite a risk of being injured by flying glass or drowning in 16 tons of rushing water, Cruise agreed to do the scene himself.

Related: These Action Movie Stars Do Their Own Stunts (And Some Who Refuse To)

9 Knife on the Eye — Mission: Impossible 2

Arguably the most iconic stunt in the whole of the Mission: Impossible franchise is the knife on the eye seen in Mission: Impossible 2 . While this stunt could have easily been faked with CGI, the choice to do it for real was a gutsy one that definitely paid off. During the knife fight between Cruise and his co-star Dougray Scott, the knife is lowered through the use of a measuring cable until the sharp point was only a quarter inch away from Cruise's naked eye. Despite the fact that the overall size of this stunt is rather small compared to many others, that a single flinch or mistake while the stunt was done could have cost Cruise his eye is part of what makes this stunt so amazing.

8 The Shanghai Skyscraper Basejump — Mission: Impossible III

One thing is for certain. Ethan Hunt likes to take big leaps of faith, and his biggest was arguably featured in 2006's Mission: Impossible III. To rescue his kidnapped wife, Ethan and his team need to retrieve an item from the 56th floor of a building. As one does, the MI crew decides the best solution is for Ethan to jump from one building to another and slide down the glass windows until he reaches the floor he needs.

Director J.J. Abrams employed a green screen and stage rather than risk his star jumping from a real skyscraper. However, production notes from the movie reveal Cruise did a 50-foot free fall from a crane to enhance the scene. "Tom drops, stopping 18 inches above the concrete, and I found myself talking to someone else between takes," Abrams added. "I realized I had become complacent about having Tom Cruise — who was entirely my responsibility — dangling from a crane, dropping at breakneck speed, stopping just above the ground. I remember thinking: 'I have to get back to being terrified.'"

7 Speed Flying — Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

A behind-the-scenes video from Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One proves Tom Cruise isn't slowing down on death-defying stunts for the Mission: Impossible franchise anytime soon. The MI crew filmed Cruise speed flying through mountains in the United Kingdom, explaining that speed flying is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. Similar to paragliding, speed flying employs smaller wings and faster speed, making it more unpredictable. The movie's scene required Cruise to dodge numerous rocky surfaces as he flew close to the ground and toward the camera. As director Christopher McQuarrie says, "Filming next to rocks looks quite beautiful. Behind the scenes, we were in absolute terror." The film isn't even out yet but just the footage in the trailer alone lands it on this spot.

6 Riding a Motorcycle Off a Cliff — Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Tom Cruise was 60 when he performed what he calls one of the most dangerous stunts yet in the Mission: Impossible series' history — riding a motorcycle off a cliff and base jumping to the bottom. A behind-the-scenes video from Dead Reckoning Part One begins with ominous music and director Christopher McQuarrie's voice saying, "This is far and away the most dangerous thing we've ever attempted." Shot in Norway, the scene sees Ethan Hunt driving a motorcycle off a cliff, falling, and launching into a base jump. BASE jumping coach John DeVore calls it "pretty much the biggest stunt in cinematic history."

Related: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One: Everything We Know So Far

5 Helicopter Chase — Mission: Impossible - Fallout

When Ethan Hunt takes control of a helicopter in Mission: Impossible - Fallout , he goes on a high-speed helicopter chase, navigating the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Despite Cruise's experience, this is possibly one of the most dangerous stunts Cruise has ever performed, considering that he had to maintain a great level of focus in order to fly with precision and speed, all while remaining in character for the film. While this is not Cruise's first airborne stunt, it is, without a doubt, his most daring one in the air. Per Variety , the shots of the chase were long takes and, in classic Mission: Impossible style, it was filmed without any special effects in sight.

4 Deep Dive — Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

In Rogue Nation , Tom Cruise performed an underwater stunt. During this, Cruise held his breath for a total of six and a half minutes. Experts were brought in to help Cruise train him to be able to slow down his heart rate so that he would require less oxygen. As epic as this stunt is, Cruise admitted that this did not come without its discomforts as the training had conditioned him to breathe far less. When he was still and not performing any physical activity, Cruise would have to actively remind himself to breathe. This stunt ranks fifth on the list because, despite how tame it may seem on-screen, it's pretty hardcore to train yourself to hold your breath for over six minutes.

3 HALO Jump — Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Fallout was full of stunts that put Cruise's life at risk, including one that actually caused him to break his ankle during filming. Aside from that injury, Cruise became the first actor in history to film a HALO (High Altitude, Low Open) skydive, which is a high-risk military maneuver. A behind-the-scenes video explains nearly a year of preparation went into the stunt, which required the crew to specially design a helmet that would not only allow Cruise to breathe at 25,000 feet but also show his face. The actor also had to prepare by inhaling pure oxygen for 20 minutes straight to avoid decompression sickness. Then, he jumped out of a C-17 plane for the memorable free fall.

2 The Burj Khalifa Climb — Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

What better to add to this stunt-heavy franchise than the tallest building in the world, referred to as the Burj Khalifa. Despite the fact that this extremely dangerous stunt could have been pulled off using CGI, the choice to perform the stunt for real is certainly a risk. Of course, this stunt certainly paid off, and despite Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 's challenging shoot, they managed to capture Cruise scaling, running along the side of and smashing through a window of the Burj.

This stunt was particularly challenging, considering that Cruise had no physical assistance and merely had consultations with dozens of stuntmen and professionals before performing one of his greatest stunts of all time. He even sat at the top of the building without any harnesses or wire for a photo to commemorate the moment.

1 Hanging From a Plane — Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Topping the list is Cruise's stunt in Rogue Nation, where he hung from the outside of an airbus while it was in flight. While Cruise was strapped onto the plane, the plane was flown for a total of 48 hours and landed eight times before they managed to snag the perfect shot. According to Cruise, a pebble even hit him in the ribs, and at the speed, the plane was going, that tiny pebble could have shattered a rib. If something had gone wrong during this scene, Cruise would not have been able to get inside the plane until after it had landed. This shows Cruise's pure dedication to giving an authentic, entertaining experience for the audience, keeping them on the edge of their seats.

Watch CBS News

Tom Cruise just performed his most dangerous stunt yet – riding a motorcycle off a cliff and BASE jumping

By Caitlin O'Kane

December 21, 2022 / 10:00 AM EST / CBS News

Tom Cruise has performed another daring stunt for the "Mission: Impossible" film series. 

He called this one the most dangerous thing he's ever attempted. Shot in Norway, the stunt required Cruise to ride a motorcycle off a cliff and BASE jump — something he said he's wanted to do since he was a kid. 

Cruise, 60, is currently working on the two-part "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning" film. He's known for performing his own stunts, but this one took years to plan, he said in a video shared on Twitter. 

So excited to share what we’ve been working on. #MissionImpossible pic.twitter.com/rIyiLzQdMG — Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) December 19, 2022

In the video, writer and director Christopher McQuarrie said Cruise put together a "master plan" using experts to help execute the stunt.

He had a year of sky diving training, during which he was doing 30 jumps a day – more than 500 skydives, said Wade Eastwood, the film's stunt coordinator. He also had motocross training, doing over 13,000 motocross jumps. Once he got those skills down, the production team created 3D models to try and predict how Cruise would fly through the air during the stunt so they could film it.

Then, it came time for Cruise to execute the stunt — driving a motorcycle up a long ramp, which lead to a cliff, launching off of it and BASE jumping to the bottom. Cruise first jumped out of a helicopter over the cliff to practice, before attempting the full stunt for the cameras.

"The only things you have to avoid while doing a stunt like this are serious injury or death," BASE jumping coach Miles Daisher said. "You're riding a motorcycle, which is pretty dangerous, on top of a ramp that's elevated off the ground, so if you fall off the ramp, that's pretty bad. You're falling, so if you don't get a clean exit from the bike and you get tangled up with it, or if you don't open your parachute, you're not going to make it."

The behind-the-scenes video show Cruise not only execute the stunt once, but six times in one day. 

"Pretty much the biggest stunt in cinematic history," said BASE jumping coach John DeVore. Viewers can see the final product when part one of the film premieres July 2023. The "Mission: Impossible" series is from Paramount Pictures. (Paramount is also the parent company of CBS.)

Cruise has performed countless hair-raising stunts, including jumping off of scaffolding while filming "Mission: Impossible 6" in —  a stunt that left him injured and limping. 

Cruise has been in Europe filming the seventh and eight "Mission: Impossible" films for several years. The seventh movie was scheduled to premiere in November 2021, but the COVD-19 pandemic shut down production and was pushed to May 27, 2022,  according to Variety . The date was pushed several time after that, and the film will now premier next year. 

While shooting in the U.K. last year, Cruise, who was traveling by helicopter, needed a place to land,  BBC News reports.  He ended up landing in a family's backyard, and then let their kids go for a ride in the helicopter, making headlines.

Caitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," CBS News' streaming show that focuses on good news.

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Tom Cruise's amazing stunts from 'Mission: Impossible' to 'Top Gun: Maverick'

Following is a transcript of the video: 

Narrator: In this scene from "Mission: Impossible -- Fallout," Ethan Hunt jumps 25,000 feet out of a plane before landing in Paris. A risky move like this would normally require a stunt double, but that's actually Tom Cruise, and that background behind him is not a green screen.

The actor is famous for almost always doing his own stunts, no matter how dangerous. From climbing the world's tallest building to hanging off the side of a plane to pulling off perhaps one of the most dangerous helicopter chases ever captured on film, Cruise is always finding new ways to top himself. And he's not stopping anytime soon.

At more than 2,700 feet, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the world's tallest building. So it was only a matter of time before Cruise decided to climb it. For this stunt, the actor had to climb 1,700 feet in the air, so he had to wear a special harness attached to strategic points in the building. To do this, the crew needed to break 26 different windows -- with permission, of course. This harness was so tight, Cruise said it cut off his circulation. The 65-millimeter IMAX cameras and additional helicopter shooting the scene only had a limited amount of time to record, so they had to move fast. But Cruise wasn't just climbing the building. He also had to fall four stories and run down the surface of the building in a move known as an Australian rappel. All of this required a lot of preparation. Cruise practiced by climbing up a makeshift glass wall heated with artificial lights to replicate the hot temperature of the windows on the Burj Khalifa. Stunt coordinator Gregg Smrz estimated that Cruise and the crew put in at least 200 hours of rehearsal time. This isn't Cruise's first experience climbing, however. In 2000's "Mission: Impossible 2," he climbed a 2,000-foot cliff in Utah attached to nothing but a thin safety rope and had to jump 15 feet from one cliff to another.

The stunts in "Edge of Tomorrow" were tough, but it was actually the costume that made it even more so. Throughout the film, Cruise's character wears metal exoskeleton armor, something that typically might be added on through CGI. But Cruise wore a real suit, sometimes for up to six hours a day straight. One version weighed 85 pounds, and another version weighed around 130 pounds, thanks to a sniper rifle and missile launcher on the back. Here's what Cruise normally looks like running in a scene. Compare that to this shot of him and his costar Emily Blunt running while both wore the suits. In another stunt for the film, the actor was attached to a wire and thrown across the room while wearing it. To take some of the weight off and help them run more easily, Cruise and Blunt were often attached to cables. It took Cruise 30 minutes to get into the suit and 30 to get out. The team eventually got that down to around 30 seconds.

While Cruise had plenty of experience flying planes in "Top Gun," in "Rogue Nation," he decided to go into the air in a rather unconventional and more terrifying way. For the film's opening scene, he had to cling onto the side of an Airbus A400M that took him up 1,000 feet at a speed of 100 knots for six to eight minutes. The plane took off, did a complete circuit, and landed -- all with Tom Cruise secured to the side with this wire that would later be erased in postproduction. Because the plane went so high into the air, Cruise had to wear special contacts to protect his eyes from flying debris and strong gusts of wind. Plus, the crew had to make sure takeoff conditions were absolutely clear. If they ran into even a single bird or some rocks on the runway, it could severely injure the actor. The stunt had to be performed over and over again until the actor, director, and crew felt they got it right. For Cruise, he didn't feel confident in the take until he had gone up eight times.

The fifth "Mission" entry contained not one but two death-defying stunts, this one involving military-style preparation. In the film, Ethan Hunt needs to open an underwater vault. The vault itself was created using CGI, but Cruise still needed to work underwater for the sequence, which clocks in at just about six minutes long. He started by jumping off a 120-foot ledge into a tank filled 20 feet high with water. Then Cruise needed to film takes while holding his breath for four to six minutes. According to Cruise, most underwater sequences might have an actor hold their breath for up to 10 seconds, so this was definitely a challenge. He trained with free-diving expert Kirk Krack on a breath-hold special operations program designed for military personnel. Part of his training involved breathing exercises that would lower his standard heart rate, essentially training his body to use less oxygen. And he wouldn't just be sitting in the water during the shoot -- he would be swimming around. Why so long? Well, they had just 10 days to film the sequence, so director Christopher McQuarrie shot in a series of continuous takes, meaning the actor couldn't easily pop up for air.

While Cruise hasn't gone to space -- yet -- he has performed a zero-gravity stunt. In "The Mummy," he had to hold his breath underwater yet again, dodge explosions, and even fight Russell Crowe. The biggest standout stunt was this sequence, in which a cargo plane plummets to the ground. Cruise was offered the chance to shoot it on a soundstage, but he declined and opted for the real thing. To imitate the experience of the crash where the characters float up into the air, they shot on a plane that NASA typically uses to train astronauts. They decked out the inside of the plane with padding to make it look like a real cargo plane. The plane couldn't go into zero-gravity mode until it was at about 25,000 feet. Once at that position, it would free-fall for 22 seconds. During that time, Cruise endured four high-altitude flights. The sequence was eventually wrapped after a whopping 64 takes. And while Cruise's stunts usually require a lot of rehearsal, the actor actually said that that was quite tough here, as floating in the air makes things unpredictable.

Cruise has flown a plane and hung onto the side of one, but for "Fallout," he also learned to fly a helicopter as part of an aerial chase sequence. The 2018 film contains an array of the actor's most daring stunts, like this motorcycle chase, in which the actor rode through the streets of Paris, sometimes at 100 miles per hour. For the helicopter chase, Ethan Hunt flies through dangerous mountain terrain to stop a nuclear bomb. Before shooting, Cruise worked 16 hours a day to hit the required 2,000 hours of helicopter training. There would be up to 13 helicopters close to each other in the sky at once, so Cruise and the stunt team carefully planned out every little move in advance using these toy helicopters. And the actor needed all the preparation he could get, as he would be acting, piloting, and operating the cameras mounted to the front of his chopper all at the same time. All that planning was crucial, particularly for this 360-degree corkscrew dive, a move that's challenging even for professional pilots. According to Matt Evans, an instructor at the school where Cruise trained, the stunt involves starting with a descent, rolling into a turn, and then holding the turn as you go down. While that's happening, the actor can never take his hands off the controls.

In "Mission: Impossible 2," Cruise's character jumps out of a helicopter, but that scene was shot using a green screen. In "Fallout," Cruise decided to actually jump out of a plane and became the first actor to do a HALO jump on camera. HALO stands for high altitude, low opening. He jumped from a height of over 25,000 feet but didn't open his parachute until he was below 2,000 feet. This military move allows a soldier to jump into battle undetected. The actor practiced in a giant wind tunnel constructed on the set, and then, according to stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood, jumped out of a plane around 100 times. And a trained stunt-camera operator also had to jump out of the plane with Cruise to get the shot. To make sure every facial expression was still visible on camera, the crew developed a special helmet for Cruise with a light in it, allowing him to breathe properly while falling.

In the long-awaited sequel to Tom Cruise's 1986 breakout film, Cruise is back in the cockpit of a fighter plane. The film was shot on real military aircraft carriers, and Cruise flew in real planes. A new camera system allowed the crew to put six IMAX-quality cameras inside the cockpit. In the original "Top Gun," one of the F-14s had three cameras total mounted onto it. But it wasn't just Cruise going solo -- the rest of the cast trained alongside him. Cruise and the rest of the cast needed to actually fly for an even better viewing experience. Despite the potential risks, there are aspects of flying one simply couldn't see if they used green screen, like these distortions in the face.

What's your favorite Tom Cruise stunt? Let us know in the comments.

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Screen Rant

Tom cruise's 14 mission: impossible stunts ranked by most dangerous.

Tom Cruise continues to perform his own dangerous stunts for the Mission: Impossible movies, each death-defying sequence upstaging the last.

Both the Mission: Impossible franchise and its lead actor and producer Tom Cruise have become synonymous with blood-curdling, dangerous stunts. With each new film, Cruise insists on doing his own stunts , taking it upon himself to risk his life in increasingly, treacherous sequences for the quality of the finished product. At this point, Cruise is a bona fide stunt performer whose bravery in dangerous stunts allows the capture of unique moments not seen in other movies.

Luckily, Cruise's training, dedication, and ambition, coupled with experts' guidance, film direction, and stunt coordination make these sequences as safe as possible so that Cruise's stunts can get even bigger. Nonetheless, unpredictable elements and variables and there being nothing Cruise won't do for a Mission: Impossible stunt make them life-threatening. Here are 14 of the most dangerous times Tom Cruise has risked everything to make Mission: Impossible's audience's pulse race.

14 Helicopter-Train Jump in Mission: Impossible

Seemingly shot before Cruise had a death wish, the stunts in Mission: Impossible seem tame compared to that of the franchise's later entries. However, that's not to say there weren't a few perilous moments, and one that stands out is during the film's climax. After tussling with Jon Voight's villain Jim Phelps on top of a TGV bullet train and jumping onto a helicopter that soon explodes, Cruise's Ethan Hunt then jumps back onto the train.

This stunt was filmed on a sound stage in Pinewood Studios using a wind generator firing dangerous winds of 140 mph to emulate the blast. Considering his stunt career trajectory, Cruise was initially reluctant to include the stunt. Therefore, this stunt could be the origin story of his passion for doing his own Mission: Impossible stunts. After completing the jump four times, Cruise was bleeding, bruised, and cut; however, it was a sign of even more danger to come.

13 Cable Drop in Mission: Impossible

One of the most iconic scenes, not only in the Mission: Impossible franchise, but in spy movies, sees Hunt rappel down from the ceiling into a locked-down room. Breaking into Langley, the CIA's headquarters, Hunt is lowered into the room to avoid triggering alarms. As if this weren't dangerous enough, Hunt's wire lifeline is also let go by Franz Kreiger, causing him to plummet to the ground and stop just inches from the floor.

The stunt was all about balance, as Cruise discovered quickly, repeatedly overbalancing and thwacking his head on the floor. Brian De Palma was about to shoot the scene differently when Cruise filled his shoes with pound coins for counterbalance and got the shot. Though this sequence is not one of Cruise's most dangerous stunts, hanging and falling 40 feet from the ceiling for days and repeatedly enduring blows to the head isn't exactly health and safety conscious.

12 Aquarium Explosion in Mission: Impossible

Another entry from the movie that started it all, this stunt involves Cruise outrunning 16 tons of water bursting out of an exploding aquarium. After learning that he's been double-crossed, Hunt makes his escape from his untenable position by throwing a piece of exploding gum at a fish tank in a Prague restaurant. After stunt specialists delivered underwhelming attempts, de Palma grudgingly let Cruise undertake the sequence.

It says something about Cruise's body of stunt work that this one is low down the list. The aquarium sequence was incredibly dangerous when taking into account the water, shattering glass, and miscommunication regarding the exact timing of the stunt. Although Cruise limped away with a hurt ankle (not for the last time), the stunt made for a spectacular scene.

Related: Mission: Impossible Movies Ranked - From The 1996 Original to Fallout

11 Casablanca Bike Chase in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

In a movie with such iconic stunts, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation's bike chase is somewhat eclipsed. The thrilling sequence sees Hunt racing after Rebecca Ferguson's Isla Faust, first by car and then on a BMW S1000RR motorcycle. Although Hunt's chase is unsuccessful and Faust escapes, this sizzling pursuit around the extreme turns of the Casablanca highway put Cruise's life firmly in danger.

Having started riding motorcycles at the age of 10, it is no surprise that Cruise is keen to use them in his stunts. Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie even wrote the script around this motorcycle chase, and it pays off as it injects a high-octane punch brimming with raw danger. Cruise rides up to 130 mph and leans over sometimes just inches from the ground, and all without a helmet.

10 Paris Bike Chase in Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Mission: Impossible - Fallout somehow managed to outdo its predecessor's motorcycle chase, but this time Hunt becomes the hunted. For this sequence, Cruise and his fellow biker stunt performers abandoned their safety rigs, meaning that did the whole chase by free riding. All the turns weaving in and out of oncoming traffic and going well above the Parisian speed limits executed by Cruise, were all as dangerous as they look.

Hurtling through the streets at over 100 mph with cars and bikes pursuing and coming at him head-on sounds like enough to deal with, but McQuarrie revealed Mission: Impossible - Fallout's motorcycle chase was more perilous than it seemed. Between numerous automotive variables, slippery wet cobblestones, and cameras seeking close-ups at stomach-turning speeds just inches away from his head, it's amazing Cruise escaped from shooting this sequence without a scratch. Further, a miscommunication problem with the local stunt drivers meant they sometimes failed to hit their mark.

9 Free Climbing Cliffhanger in Mission: Impossible 2

The opening of the franchise's second film establishes that even in Hunt's time off between missions he enjoys getting his heart pumping. It is during some R&R mountain free climbing at Dead Horse Point in Utah that Hunt gets his mission that sets up M ission: Impossible 2 . Despite safety precautions taken by the film's production, it shows what Cruise is made of.

Unlike his adrenaline junkie character, Cruise wore a safety rope throughout the sequence, however, the margin of error was so chillingly slim that even director John Woo had to look away. The only scene where the free climber in the shot isn't Cruise is when Hunt almost slips and tumbles between two cliffs. Other than that, it's really him hanging off the red rocks, 600 feet above a talus slope and a further 2000 feet from the ground. It's a precarious, impressive feat and a great opening sequence.

Related: Every Time Tom Cruise's Hunt "Died" In The Mission: Impossible Series

8 Roof Jump in Mission: Impossible - Fallout

One of the most famous stunt accidents in recent years, Cruise's ankle break occurred while filming a relatively straightforward stunt in London for Mission: Impossible - Fallout . As he leaps from one building to another, misjudging it horribly, Cruise clatters into the building's side and bends his foot nine ways to Sunday.

Though it might not seem as dangerous as the other stunts on this list, as anyone who has seen the nauseating footage of the injury can attest, this jump looked very painful. It was also an expensive injury, as Cruise was unable to continue filming it halted production for seven weeks and cost the studio $80 million. This was of the few times a Mission: Impossible stunt has gone wrong, and it shows how real the stakes are and that Cruise is, in fact, human.

7 Eye-Watering Knife Fight in Mission: Impossible 2

A similarly disturbing stunt that features in Mission: Impossible 2, and the risk was even higher. During the third-act battle, Dougray Scott's villain Sean Ambrose tries to sink his very sharp knife into Hunt's eye. To ensure maximum realism, Woo wanted Scott to genuinely push down with all of his force onto Cruise's eye. During the stunt, the blade gets as close as a quarter-inch away, Cruise being protected only by a steel cable attached to an overhead rig. Needless to say, if these cables malfunctioned, the consequences could be at the very least life-changing and at the very most life-ending.

6 HALO Jump in Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The mission in Paris in Mission: Impossible - Fallout begins with a high-altitude low-open jump that goes awry when Henry Cavill's character August Walker's oxygen supply malfunctions. The sequence is breathtaking and its realism is palpable with Cruise's face alight as he exhibits both expert skydiving and high-caliber acting. It's the fruit borne by hard work and sheer nerve in the face of danger, and not just from Cruise.

Falling from 25,000 feet, Cruise, Cavill's stunt double, and a videographer jumped 106 times (including rehearsals) and shot the sequence in three-minute takes, once per day, to ensure the dusk lighting was perfect. The scene is three takes stitched together, each more dangerous than the last. Jumping out of the plane is hazardous enough, and there was a serious risk of colliding with Cavill's double when filming Hunt plummeting to Walker's aid. Finally, during the take in which Hunt saves Walker, Cruise had to judge the height at which to stop providing him oxygen and deploy his parachute.

5 The Airbus Scene In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

During the comic opening scene and plane stunt of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation , Benji Dunn fails to remotely open the door to let Hunt onto a plane in Minsk, Belarus. This gave Cruise the opportunity to perform a stunt in which he clings to the side of an Airbus A400M plane as it takes off. The scene follows Hunt ascending thousands of feet into the air; as the seconds elapse the danger proliferates.

Considering Cruise was bolted to the plane via a harness, at speeds of 260 mph, birds and debris became the biggest dangers. Indeed, the actor was actually injured by a pebble at high speed. The stunt is even more terrifying considering that, according to McQuarrie, Cruise was wearing earplugs and contact lenses, meaning he couldn't see or hear. Further, the toxic fumes from the engine added potential long-term effects to the mix.

Related: Tom Cruise’s New Cliff Stunt Creates A Big Mission: Impossible 8 Challenge

4 Helicopter Chase in Mission: Impossible - Fallout

During the Mission: Impossible - Fallout helicopter chase stunt , Hunt finds himself on a rope hanging from a moving helicopter, eventually crawling up the rope to fly it and chase Cavill's character. Again, all that stands between Cruise and certain death, as he hangs out of the side of the helicopter, is a harness. That said, what makes this sequence especially dangerous is the proximity to which the two helicopters come to each other.

Cruise piloted the helicopter himself after becoming certified in an unusually accelerated timeframe and training hard for 16 hours per day. Moreover, flying in dim seasonal light Cruise got as close as a few feet from the other helicopter's rotor blades. It was so dangerous that director McQuarrie has said that he wouldn't have begun filming the sequence had he known beforehand what it took to capture.

3 Underwater Heist in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation , Hunt and his team are tasked with swapping a file in an underwater database. When he fails to open the escape hatch, Faust must come and save him to prevent him from drowning. This extremely dangerous stunt had real stakes; both Cruise and Ferguson risked their lives holding their breaths while exerting themselves, burning through oxygen at a rapid rate.

Cruise's underwater Rogue Nation heist stunt was filmed in a succession of continuous shots, meaning the actors had to train to hold their breath for over six minutes. According to McQuarrie, by the end of the stunt's 10-day shooting schedule, Cruise was spent, with nitrogen in his blood and brain fog so bad that he couldn't memorize his lines. As if this life-threatening sequence weren't enough, Cruise also had to perform a jump off of a 120-foot ledge to get Hunt into the subaqueous security system.

2 Climbing the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The franchise's most memorable stunt saw Cruise climbing the side of the Burj Khalifa , the tallest building in the world. In Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Hunt had to 11 floors of the 2,722-foot skyscraper to get to the 130th floor with only adhesive gloves, one of which fails. Though secured with a harness, Cruise actually performed this climb almost half a mile in the air, including the part where he plummeted when the glove failed.

Both the scene and the shoot itself were a race against the clock. It was time sensitive to film, as Cruise's harness was at risk of cutting off the actor's circulation, and it doesn't tend to be easy to breathe at that height. This stunt is the epitome of danger, a truly petrifying feat; nevertheless, the sensational scene speaks for itself.

1 ​​ Motorcycle Jump in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Cruise himself has labeled the marquee motorcycle cliff stunt Mission: Impossible 7 as the greatest in cinema history. It's a stunt he's wanted to perform since he was a child, and is the most dangerous yet. It certainly delivers the wow factor in the film's trailers.

Shot in Norway, the stunt involves Cruise riding his motorcycle off of a cliff, propelling into a nosedive, and deploying a parachute. Cruise performed 13,000 training jumps for the sequence to ensure he could execute it with the precision required. This Evel Knievel-like jump that's been all over the marketing campaign has unquestionably piqued fans' interest in the eagerly anticipated next Mission: Impossible installment.

Sources: The New York Times , The Independent

Key Release Dates

Mission: impossible - dead reckoning part one, mission: impossible - dead reckoning part two.

Tom Cruise shows off latest daredevil 'Mission: Impossible' stunt

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Mission Impossible 8 spoiler photos leaked as Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt captured in huge twist

Spoiler photos for the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two have been leaked and it looks like Tom Cruise's iconic character Ethan Hawk could find himself in trouble

• 12:00, 15 Apr 2024 Updated 12:33, 15 Apr 2024

Tom Cruise has been spotted filming Mission Impossible scenes in London.

The iconic actor, famous for pulling off his own stunts while filming the Mission Impossible franchise, has been seen filming scenes as Ethan Hawk in England's capital. Tom has been spotted filming a scene near Downing Street where it appears his character Ethan has been captured.

In a series of behind-the-scenes photos, Tom is seen on his knees with his hands in the air, but could this mean the of Ethan in the upcoming eighth instalment of the franchise? Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two will see Ethan's battle with the Entity continue.

As well as being spotted in London, the actor has been seen filming an action scene for an upcoming movie in Derbyshire, in a dirt-covered Jeep, as well as aerial footage showing evidence of a film set, according to the BBC . Social media posts from his former co-stars also heavily suggest that filming of the eighth instalment is well under way.

Simon Pegg posted a selfie on Instagram with co-stars Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Tarzan Davis and wrote the cryptic caption: “Saving the world has never been so much fun.” In the new addition to the franchise, IMF agent Ethan and his allies will go up against a number of antagonists as they aim to get control of the AI weapon known as the entity.

Mission Impossible fans can expect plenty of death-defying stunts. The new movie is scheduled to be released on May, 23, 2025. Filming initially began in May 2022 but was paused due to writers' and actors' strikes.

Esai Morales as villain Gabriel, Shea Wigham and Greg Tarzan Davis as CIA agents Jasper and Degas, and Pom Klementieff as assassin Paris are in line for a return. Henry Czerny will also reprise his role as IMF director Eugene Kittridge, while Rolf Saxon will return as another character who first appeared in the very first Mission: Impossible film – CIA analyst William Donloe.

It's yet to be confirmed whether Angela Bassett will return after starring as CIA director Erika Sloane in Fallout after Covid travel restrictions ruled her out of an appearance in Part 1. "It's interesting, she was going to be the head of the CIA, she was going to be in that room with all the other heads of the intelligence community that you meet," director Christopher McQuarrie told Variety in a recent interview.

"And we're not done with Angela Bassett. Angela is too fabulous. You can never, ever let Angela get away," he added. "There's always a plan in the future."

Meanwhile, Dakota Fanning recently revealed that Tom Cruise still sends her a birthday gift every year after she was gifted her first mobile phone from the actor. Dakota starred in Uptown Girls with the actor. She made the revelation during a joint interview with her Ripley co-star Andrew Scott for Harper's Bazaar earlier this week.

Andrew was asked: "Who gave Dakota her first cell phone?" To which he guessed: "Okay, well it's gotta be some Hollywood icon... Tom Cruise?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "It was a Motorola Razr," before her co-star asked: "Wow! Were you so excited?"

"Oh my God, I was so excited," Dakota replied. "I didn't have anyone to call or text at the time. You know, I was 11...But I loved having it!" The actress revealed she "still keeps in touch" with the actor, adding: "Tom still sends me a birthday gift every year and has since that birthday."

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Severance Star Joins Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 8

Tramell Tillman , known for his breakout role in the popular Apple series Severance , has secured a role in the eighth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise. The film was previously titled Dead Reckoning Part Two and is no longer using that title.

Per THR , Tillman received SAG and Spirit Award nominations for his performance in Severance , where he starred alongside Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette and John Turturro. Tillman is set to return for the second season of the series. His other screen credits include Dietland , Godfather of Harlem , and Hunters.

Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible 8 Faces a Disruptive On-Set Villain - Sheep

Tillman will be joining a cast of Mission: Impossible franchise newcomers including Katy O’Brian , Nick Offerman, and Hannah Waddingham, as well as returning Mission veterans Henry Czerny, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, and Vanessa Kirby. Plot details including Tillman’s character are being kept under wraps . Tom Cruise is producing the film for Paramount and Skydance, with Christopher McQuarrie directing. Executive producers include David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, and Chris Brock.

The Eighth Movie Is in the Works

In January 2019, Cruise announced that the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible films would be shot back-to-back, with McQuarrie writing and directing both. Plans for the film later changed in February 2021. Filming began in March 2022 in the United Kingdom and included other locations such as Malta, South Africa, and Norway. The release date for the sequel was moved from June 28, 2024, to May 23, 2025. Production faced delays due to Cruise and his team promoting the release of Dead Reckoning Part One during the summer and the SAG-AFTRA strike that started in July 2023, resuming in March 2024.

Mission Impossible 8 Director Shares a Look at a Jaw-Dropping Stunt

The eighth installment of the franchise will have a three-week run in IMAX and will be filmed using IMAX digital cameras for the digital format. In contrast, Dead Reckoning Part One only had a one-week run in IMAX due to Oppenheimer opening the following week with a guaranteed three-week run in the format.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One concluded with a major cliffhanger, suggesting that Ethan Hunt and his team are embarking on one of their most dangerous missions yet in their pursuit to find and destroy The Entity. Behind-the-scenes shots from the set indicate that the upcoming installment will feature high-stakes action scenes, consistent with previous films in the franchise. Mission: Impossible 8 is unlikely to be the final film in the series, as McQuarrie has hinted at a ninth entry in the future.

The untitled eighth Mission: Impossible film is scheduled for release in the United States on May 23, 2025.

Source: THR

Mission: Impossible 8

The Tom Cruise Role That Was Written With Tom Hanks in Mind

A tale of two Toms.

The Big Picture

• Tom Cruise showed a surprisingly seasoned and thoughtful approach to his film choices in the 1990s, working with prestigious directors on risky projects.
• Cameron Crowe originally wrote the role of Jerry Maguire with Tom Hanks in mind, but Hanks declined, giving Cruise the opportunity to showcase vulnerability in his performance.
• Cruise's comedic vulnerability in films like Risky Business and All the Right Moves proved that he could handle romantic roles, and Jerry Maguire showcased his ability to deliver surprising and powerful moments in a rom-com setting.

Tom Cruise is most closely associated with the action genre these days due to the success of Top Gun and Mission: Impossible , but in the 1990s, it seemed like he made it a goal to work with nearly every great filmmaker on a prestige project. Between Sydney Pollack ’s The Firm , Rob Reiner ’s A Few Good Men , Neil Jordan ’s Interview with the Vampire , and Stanley Kubrick ’s Eyes Wide Shut , Cruise showed a surprising amount of discretion in the risky projects that he joined. Ironically, the role that earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor was Cameron Crowe ’s Jerry Maguire , which was a mainstream success and audience favorite. The film gave Cruise some of the most endearing, iconic, and hilarious moments of his entire filmography, but it wasn’t a role that was originally written with him in mind.

Jerry Maguire

Cameron crowe wrote ‘jerry maguire’ for tom hanks.

Crowe is among the foremost directors of romantic comedies, as his films tend to go beyond simply being crowd-pleasers to say something powerful about the nature of love, and what it means to be in a relationship. While he had proven his competence within the genre with the 1989 coming-of-age dramedy Say Anything and the ensemble project Singles , Jerry Maguire was arguably his most ambitious project to date. It was the type of film that relied upon an established movie star to show vulnerability, and Crowe had his sights set on which A-Lister he wanted in the role of the titular sports agent.

In 2017, Crowe told NBC Sports that the role “was originally written with Tom Hanks in mind,” and that he “had this wonderful conversation with Tom Hanks, and people were waiting in the next room for the answer.” Crowe found that he was “high on the Tom Hanks personality charisma.” However, Hanks was busy working on his directorial effort That Thing You Do! , and could not commit to Crowe’s project. Hanks would later joke that he “would like to think, however, that Tom Cruise owes me one dollar, and I’m still waiting for the check.”

Cruise was very complimentary of Hanks , stating that “as a fan of his, I would have been very interested to see what he would have done with that character.” However, Cruise was keen to note that he put significant effort into ensuring that the role could become his own. Cruise said that he “spent nine months with Cameron going back and forth developing” the characterization of Jerry. While the work that Cruise puts into the physical stunts within his action films is evident to anyone that watches them, the efforts he took to develop such a complex character were more subtle.

'Jerry Maguire' Lets Tom Cruise Get Vulnerable

On paper, Hanks seemed like a more obvious choice for the role. While he had a newfound prestige thanks to his back-to-back Academy Award wins for Best Actor in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump , he was still at his core a comedic actor that had shown his aptitude within the rom-com genre. Romantic comedies were huge in the ‘90s, but his collaborations with Meg Ryan in the films Joe Versus the Volcano , You’ve Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle were among the best. However, Hanks’ refusal gave Cruise the chance to give an uncharacteristically vulnerable performance that pushed him as an actor.

Tom Cruise Inspired Christian Bale's Performance in 'American Psycho'

Tom Cruise tends to take on drama roles and isn't generally associated with comedy, but he’s proven on more than one occasion that he’s much funnier than some of his fans might expect. Outside his iconic cameos in Tropic Thunder and Austin Powers in Goldmember , Cruise showed a comedic vulnerability in his early films Risky Business and All the Right Moves . In both films, he plays a teenager who bites off more than they can chew, and they end up making a lot of ill-advised decisions for the sake of what they perceive to be true love. These films showed that Cruise was willing to make himself the butt of a joke, and didn’t have the ego that he’s sometimes associated with. However, these skills were set aside in the immediate aftermath as Cruise focused on films with a more serious edge to them .

'Jerry Maguire' Is Proof That Tom Cruise Should Do More Romantic Movies

That level of vulnerability is something Hanks has utilized throughout his career, and a reason why his romantic comedies with Ryan are so endearing to this day. It makes perfect sense why he would have been someone that Crowe had in mind, but casting Cruise forced the Mission: Impossible star to show that same romantic vulnerability that had been absent in his filmography since the late 1980s. It was a choice that ended up making Jerry Maguire more surprising. Audiences would expect to see Hanks pouring out his heart to Renée Zellweger about how he feels, but seeing Cruise do it came as a shock, making the “you complete me” moment even more powerful.

When Jerry sets forth with his ambitious mission statement regarding his intentions for his company, it feels like his breakthrough will be accepted automatically, so it’s hilarious when his speech is met with a collective shrug from his co-workers. However, seeing Cruise descend into madness as Jerry digs himself deeper by ranting (and even stealing a fish) results in one of the funniest moments in the entire film. These sorts of physical gags are something that Hanks has done all the time, but Cruise had to show a wacky side of his personality that he hadn’t accessed since his adolescent roles.

Cruise continues to push the boundaries of his physicality as recently as 2023's Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One , and he’ll be doing the same thing for the next installment. However, Cruise is also 61 years old, and can’t be doing action films forever. Perhaps choosing to go back to the romantic comedy genre for the first time since Jerry Maguire would be the best choice for Cruise to prove that, even after all these years, he’s still one of the greatest movie stars in the world.

Jerry Maguire is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

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Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' takes in $235 million in first 5 days

About $80 million of 'dead reckoning' box office sales were domestic: data.

Movie theaters are important part of film entertainment ecosystem: Marcus

The Marcus Corp. CEO Greg Marcus previews the summer movie season after theater stocks experienced a recent boost on "The Claman Countdown."

Box office data has come in for the first five days since "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" debuted to moviegoers.

The Christopher McQuarrie-directed film bringing actor Tom Cruise back as spy Ethan Hunt for the seventh time saw a global box office gross of $235 million in the five-day time span from July 12 to Sunday, according to data from IMDb site Box Office Mojo . That figure includes roughly $80 million that reportedly came from domestic ticket sales and $155 million from international. 

Paramount Pictures had forecast ahead of its release that "Dead Reckoning Part One" would bring in at least $250 million in five days.

Tom Cruise attends the U.K. premiere of "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on June 22, 2023, in London. (Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images for Paramount Pictures / Getty Images)

Domestically, the total amount that "Dead Reckoning Part One" made during its opening July 14-16 weekend was an estimated $56.2 million, Box Office Mojo found. Data from the site indicated the spy movie did the best out of those three days on Saturday, generating an estimated $21.4 million in the U.S. and Canada.

HARRISON FORD'S FINAL ‘INDIANA JONES’ MOVIE ONLY PULLED IN $60 MILLION OPENING WEEKEND

Comscore reported that three-day domestic gross landed it first place for the weekend.

Other movies in the top five for the domestic weekend included "Sound of Freedom" at $27 million, "Insidious: The Red Door" at $13 million, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" at $12 million and "Elemental" at $8.7 million, according to Comscore. "Elemental" from Disney has been out the longest of the five, garnering a total of nearly $311.7 million worldwide since mid-June, the media analytics company found.

ANGEL STUDIOS' ‘SOUND OF FREEDOM’ PASSES $50 MILLION AT US BOX OFFICE

That data comes as the box office during this summer has been slower compared to the prior year’s, according to reports.

"We have worked on this film for years and it’s finally in theaters," Cruise tweeted about "Dead Reckoning Part One" the day after its release. "We hope you love it as much as we loved making it for you. Thank you for continuing to support the Mission: Impossible films."

As of late last month, the prior six movies in the "Mission: Impossible" series have churned out $3.57 billion in lifetime box office grosses, IMDb previously told FOX Business. For only domestic box offices, the company said it was $1.55 billion.

Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell are shown during the filming of "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" on Oct. 6, 2020, in Rome. (Alberto Pizzoli / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

"Mission: Impossible - Fallout" did the largest worldwide gross of the six preceding films in the franchise, totaling about $791.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Its domestic box office for its opening weekend came in at $61.2 million.

‘MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE’: WHAT HAS TOM CRUISE-LED FRANCHISE BROUGHT IN AT BOX OFFICE?

The follow-up to the latest "Mission: Impossible" movie – "Dead Reckoning Part Two" – is still in the works, with its anticipated release date falling next year, according to reports. That film will likely feature numerous stunts like "Dead Reckoning Part One," which videos posted by Paramount Pictures showed a fight on the top of a train as it was moving and a jump off a cliff on a motorcycle.

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They Get Hit by Cars for Your Amusement. Will ‘The Fall Guy’ Get Them a Little Love?

David Leitch’s latest action movie stars Ryan Gosling as the stuntman hero, but the director is also fighting to get Hollywood’s anonymous daredevils some long overdue real-life respect.

By Rebecca Keegan

Rebecca Keegan

Senior Editor, Film

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“I’m like, ‘Whoa, man, am I upside down?’ ” Holladay says, explaining the sensation of performing the record stunt, in which, according to a G-force meter that was placed under his butt, he felt up to 16 Gs of force on his body. (For comparison, elite jet fighter pilots manage 9 Gs for a second or two.) “If I relax, my arms fly up. So, I know, OK, yeah, I am upside down.” Holladay, like many stunt performers, is much better at making movie magic than at talking about his role in it. Stoicism and avoiding attention are part of the traditional stunt performers’ code. But for this interview, he’s being thrust into the spotlight by his Fall Guy director, David Leitch , a former stuntman who is part of an industry effort to get stunt performers more recognition for their work, and perhaps one day even an Oscar.

In order for stunt performers to earn a competitive Oscar, their community will have to complete a veritable parkour course of Academy bureaucracy. For the first time in decades, that maneuver is starting to seem possible thanks to a new openness at the Academy and a growing awareness that stunts are about more than collecting some impressive scars.

Among the ways that Leitch and Kelly McCormick, his wife and partner at their production company, 87North, are trying to push the conversation forward is their new docuseries Action about the personal lives of stunt performers (including those in The Fall Guy ) that will stream on Peacock starting April 26. Leitch and McCormick are also behind the creation of a new film credit, “stunt designer,” which is being awarded for the first time to Chris O’Hara on The Fall Guy , for the job that is traditionally called stunt coordinator. From both a safety and a creative perspective, it is the stunt coordinator who designs, casts and manages the stunt work on a film. “People inside the Academy don’t understand the word ‘coordinator’ to mean artist,” says McCormick, who worked with the Screen Actors and Directors guilds to get the new credit approved. “It helps with that nomenclature. Production designer, hair designer. We’re making clear that there is artistry in this.”

Stunt work has been central to film since cinema’s earliest days, from Harold Lloyd dangling off the minute hand of a clock on a downtown L.A. office building in 1923’s Safety Last! to Yakima Canutt being dragged by a team of horses in 1939’s Stagecoach . There is no competitive Oscar for stunts, but in 1967 Canutt was awarded an honorary Oscar for his achievements, including the safety devices he developed, and in 2012 Hal Needham, best known for his stunt work with Burt Reynolds, also received one. In 2007, SAG introduced a best stunt ensemble award, won this year by Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One , but in a sign that stunt performers are still the Rodney Dangerfield members of their union, SAG announced that award during its red carpet preshow rather than the main telecast.

The Academy, which declined to comment for this story, has a pragmatic reason to offer stunt performers that kind of welcome. As the ratings for awards shows of all types have lagged over the past decade, stunt-heavy popcorn films provide potential tune-in appeal for audiences who avoid the art house movies often nominated in other categories. A sign of the Academy’s embrace came at this year’s Oscars, when Gosling and his Fall Guy co-star Emily Blunt, nominated for their roles in Barbie and Oppenheimer , respectively, introduced a tribute to stunt performers, with Gosling calling them “fearless artisans” and teeing up a video reel featuring action scenes from films like Ben-Hur , Titanic and RRR .

Leitch believes audiences are more sophisticated than they used to be about the tools of filmmaking, and one particularly meta set piece in the third act of The Fall Guy takes viewers behind the scenes of the fictional Metal Storm movie. In the scene, which ended up on the poster, Blunt drives a camera car — the vehicle usually used to shoot another vehicle — while Gosling dangles from the camera crane mounted on its roof. “If we would’ve made this 10 years ago, the studio would’ve been like, ‘It’s too inside baseball,’ ” Leitch says. ” ‘Nobody cares about that world. They won’t understand it.’ But audiences are getting savvy. There’s all this behind-the-scenes footage. People really are interested in how movies are made and it becomes pretty clear that there’s a lot of people behind the scenes. It’s like, these people are here, they exist and they are doing amazing things.”

This story first appeared in the April 24 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe .

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