In case anyone doubted that actor Tom Cruise was a man committed to doing his own stunts, he reportedly has once again gone through highly questionable lengths for a role. He recently said in an interview that he actually fainted several times while trying to film an extreme action sequence for Mission Impossible-The Final Reckoning.
Cruise, renowned for attempting just about any outrageous stunt in real life, divulged the occurrence during an advanced screening of this summer’s anticipated blockbuster. During one of its most talked-about stunts, his character Ethan Hunt hangs from the side of a 1930s Boeing Stearman biplane above South Africa 10,000 feet off the ground.
This high-speed stunt, exposing Cruise to winds over 120 miles an hour, proved to be a big challenge. “When you stick your face out, going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen,” he explained, detailing the rigorous training he went through to learn how to breathe during the stunt. “There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit.”
The intense sequence is expected to be one of the most nail-biting scenes in the film-a claim to Cruise’s history of doing daring feats in the Mission: Impossible films. Christopher McQuarrie, the director, who has worked alongside Cruise on several projects, stated this final chapter would introduce even more breathtaking stunts. “There are stunts in the film that will melt your brain,” he teased.
McQuarrie, however, added that Cruise “did something insane” on the set literally every day, adding, “We have stunts in the film that will make your jaw drop.” Saying this, McQuarrie has highlighted that Cruise never seems to stop in the way to trying something different. The director also mentioned a stunt which he termed as “so intense” that merely thinking about it makes him “ill.”.
Cruise’s commitment to doing dangerous stunts has cemented his legend status in Hollywood, even though it has come with a great deal of personal physical pain and hardship over the years. From climbing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai to holding his breath for more than six minutes underwater, his love for breathtaking action sequences keeps fans on the edge. His penchant for extreme feats, especially with aircraft and skydiving, has become synonymous with his Mission: Impossible characters.
Cruise has, of course, famously clung to the side of a plane during takeoff, completed hundreds of skydives – including while nursing a broken ankle – and even dogfought supersonic fighter jets in Top Gun: Maverick.
