Leave it to Tom Cruise to commit to the bit.
The veteran movie star and action hero, famously known for his dedication to leading his own stunts, told Empire in a recent interview previewing the forthcoming Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning that one action sequence in particular led him to pass out on a number of occasions.
In one (ahem) breathless stunt, previewed in the teaser trailer released two months ago, Cruise’s spy Ethan Hunt can be seen dangling precariously off of the wing of a 1930s Boeing Stearman biplane, hurtling across the air space in South Africa, where the sequence was shot, at 10,000 feet.
“When you stick your face out, going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen,” Cruise explained. “So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit.”
Christopher McQuarrie, who directs from his script what is reportedly the epic finale to the near two-decade-long franchise, promised that there are stunts in the film that will “melt your brain” and that Cruise would “go out and do something that topped anything he had ever done before” each day on set. The helmer also previewed another stunt that surpassed those on the plane and the underwater sequences showcased in the teaser, saying he wanted to “puke” thinking of the “intense” unnamed scene.
Over the years, Cruise’s staunch devotion to his stunt work has led him to jaw-dropping moments — and several injuries. While he has scaled the world’s tallest building and held his breath underwater for six minutes, his love affair with death-defying work is most seen in stunts involving aircrafts and skydiving: In the name of Hollywood and entertaining audiences, Cruise has done hundreds of skydives for Mission: Impossible films (including with a broken ankle), as well as hung off the side of a plane as it was taking off. He has also jumped off of the Stade de France for the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony and braved g-forces in supersonic fighter jets for Top Gun: Maverick.
