For the new Mission Impossible film, Tom Cruise drove a bike off a cliff and landed with a parachute.
Is it his wildest stunt? Here are 6 contenders:
1/ MI: Dead Reckoning (2023): To prep for the cliff jump, Cruise did 13,000 motorcross jumps and landed the actual stunt 6x.
VIDEO
2/ MI: GHOST PROTOCOL (2011)
Cruise famously climbed the outside of the world’s largest building: the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (2,722 feet high)
The stunt takes place around 80% of that height. Cruise fired one insurance firm because they wouldn’t insure him if he did the scene.
Cruise famously climbed the outside of the world’s largest building: the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (2,722 feet high)
The stunt takes place around 80% of that height. Cruise fired one insurance firm because they wouldn’t insure him if he did the scene.
VIDEO
3/ MI:ROGUE NATION (2015)
Cruise clung to the door of a military plane that hit 260mph and flew >1000 feet in the air.
He wore a body harness that was roped to an aluminum plate in the plane. You see the rope in the raw footage (bottom). Cruise says he “was scared shitless.”
Cruise clung to the door of a military plane that hit 260mph and flew >1000 feet in the air.
He wore a body harness that was roped to an aluminum plate in the plane. You see the rope in the raw footage (bottom). Cruise says he “was scared shitless.”
VIDEO
4/ MI:FALLOUT (2018)
Cruise did a HALO (high-altitude, low open) parachute jump out of a C-17 military transport plane. It’s a 25,000 foot jump.
Absurdly, Cruise did >100 jumps on a semi-broken ankle and had to get within exactly 3ft of a parachuting camera man to get the shot.
Cruise did a HALO (high-altitude, low open) parachute jump out of a C-17 military transport plane. It’s a 25,000 foot jump.
Absurdly, Cruise did >100 jumps on a semi-broken ankle and had to get within exactly 3ft of a parachuting camera man to get the shot.
VIDEO
5/ MI:2 (2000)
In the first MI sequel, Cruise climbed a 2,000 foot Utah cliff with only a safety rope (dude really likes extreme climbs).
Director John Woo brought on an expert climber to do the stunts, but Cruise did it all (incl. an insane 15-foot gap jump between 2 cliffs).
In the first MI sequel, Cruise climbed a 2,000 foot Utah cliff with only a safety rope (dude really likes extreme climbs).
Director John Woo brought on an expert climber to do the stunts, but Cruise did it all (incl. an insane 15-foot gap jump between 2 cliffs).
VIDEO
6/ A FEW GOOD MEN (1992)
Cruise went up against one of the greatest actors ever, Jack Nicholson.
After an intense courtroom scene, he worked up the balls to ask Nicholson if he ordered “the Code Red”. Might be the craziest stunt ever.
Cruise went up against one of the greatest actors ever, Jack Nicholson.
After an intense courtroom scene, he worked up the balls to ask Nicholson if he ordered “the Code Red”. Might be the craziest stunt ever.
VIDEO
7/ MI:FALLOUT (2018)
Cruise piloted a helicopter solo at low altitudes while doing insane stunts (a “360 downward spiral”).
All while controlling the camera.
To prep, he put in ~500 hours of helicopter training to prep.
Cruise piloted a helicopter solo at low altitudes while doing insane stunts (a “360 downward spiral”).
All while controlling the camera.
To prep, he put in ~500 hours of helicopter training to prep.
VIDEO
If you enjoyed that, check out my Saturday email on tech and media.
The craziest stunt I’ve done is write a clickbaity subject line that doesn’t perfectly capture the content but lead to higher open rates: workweek.com/brand/trung-ph…
The craziest stunt I’ve done is write a clickbaity subject line that doesn’t perfectly capture the content but lead to higher open rates: workweek.com/brand/trung-ph…
EDGE OF TOMORROW (2015)
Remember the exoskeleton armour in Cruise’s time travel war movie? They were made to be as real as possible and weighed 85lbs to 120lbs (depending on the scene).
For shooting, Cruise wore the suit 6 hours a day while performing various stunts.
Remember the exoskeleton armour in Cruise’s time travel war movie? They were made to be as real as possible and weighed 85lbs to 120lbs (depending on the scene).
For shooting, Cruise wore the suit 6 hours a day while performing various stunts.
VIDEO
Just asked ChatGPT — via my Bearly.AI research app — how many calories Cruise would burn while wearing the 120lb exoskeleton for the day while taking out aliens: 2,500 calories ish.
Matt Damon on meeting Cruise for the first time and asking about the Burj Khalifa scene.
🔗 youtu.be/ERzbkt5r5Gg
🔗 youtu.be/ERzbkt5r5Gg
VIDEO
This one not really a “stunt” but Cruise shut down Times Square for $1m (feels like shoulda been more)
View Tweet
Here’s a parlour game: which of the impossible Fast & Furious stunts should Cruise try?
I nominate this one:
I nominate this one:
View Tweet
PS. If you made it this far…check out my breakdown of Blumhouse Productions, which does the opposite of $100m+ summer blockbuster budgets.
Rather, it makes horror hits by taking lots of shots on <$5m films while giving directors big upside.
Read here: bit.ly/3VWVPqt
Rather, it makes horror hits by taking lots of shots on <$5m films while giving directors big upside.
Read here: bit.ly/3VWVPqt
Fascinating read about Tom Cruise stunts and the insurance industry.
Insurance typically 1% of budget and underwriters are called risk engineers.
More from The Hustle: thehustle.co/how-hollywood-…
Insurance typically 1% of budget and underwriters are called risk engineers.
More from The Hustle: thehustle.co/how-hollywood-…
Generated by Thread Navigator
Press ⌘ + S to quick-export