When Top Gun: Maverick co-star Jon Hamm said Tom Cruise is one of the last remaining movie stars with a capital ‘M’ and capital ‘S’… he certainly wasn’t joking. Having only recently sat in the cockpit of a real F/A-18 fighter jet to withstand the equally real G-forces purely for our entertainment, the veteran action hero has now dangled from another airborne plane during the production of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (because it just ain’t a Tom Cruise flick without some batshit authentic stunt).
The reveal was initially made by Mission: Impossible director and longtime Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, who posted a snapshot of TC doing his thing with a vintage biplane, virtually devoid of context, to wish his daredevil leading man a happy 60th birthday (yes, the bloke is 60 years old). Now, footage screened to attendees at Las Vegas’ CinemaCon back in April has surfaced online. And it’s exactly as insane as you’re imagining.
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“Hey everyone! Wish I could be there with you,” Tom Cruise begins, perched above a red biplane with that signature smile beaming towards the camera.
“I’m sorry about the extra noise. As you can see, we are filming the latest instalment of Mission: Impossible right now. And right now we’re over the gorgeous Blyde River Canyon in stunning South Africa. And we’re making this film for the big screen, for the audiences to see in your wonderful theatres.”
That’s when Christopher McQuarrie pulls into frame, riding shotgun in a yellow biplane. McQuarrie apologises for interrupting before telling Cruise they’re “losing the light,” “low on fuel,” and need to continue filming. McQuarrie calls action.
“See you at the movies,” says Tom Cruise as both planes bank left and nosedive.
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But would you believe this isn’t even the headlining death-defying spectacle at the centrepiece of MI7?
Last year, the thespian behind IMF agent Ethan Hunt confirmed one of the other stunts featured in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning is hands down the “single most dangerous thing” he’s ever survived. Topping when he scaled the Burj Khalifa, both times he’s clung to the side of a plane in motion, free soloing without a harness, and even that High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump that apparently would’ve “killed everyone” if Fallout co-star Henry Cavill were allowed to jump.
While riding a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff might sound milquetoast when compared to an airborne plane stunt, especially after decades of being exposed to re-creations of essentially the same thing in cinema, when Tom Cruise breaks down the logistics behind the act, you come to realise the real deal is a completely different ball game. This particular instance required months of training and weeks of planning.
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“If the wind was too strong, it would blow me off the ramp,” explained Tom Cruise.
“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.”
It’s a good thing TC’s finally retiring from the franchise after MI8.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (Part I) has a scheduled release date of July 14th, 2023; while the direct sequel Mission: ImpossibleDead Reckoning (Part II) is scheduled to release on June 28th, 2024 – check out the teaser trailer below.
