Tom Cruise Forces Director onto Plane Wing to Prove Stunt Feasibility

Tom Cruise, the legendary actor known for pushing the boundaries of action cinema, has truly embodied the spirit of "impossible" in the Mission: Impossible series. With the eighth installment, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, Cruise has taken on challenges that even he found daunting. In a fascinating twist, director Christopher McQuarrie proposed stunts that were so difficult, Cruise insisted McQuarrie try them himself to understand the impossibility of the task.

During a recent press conference in Tokyo, Cruise recounted his conversation with McQuarrie. "And then we talked about the story and [McQuarrie] was like, 'Okay, I want you to go from here to here in a couple of seconds,'" Cruise explained. "I was like, 'I can't do that.' He's like, 'Okay, well, I want you to do this and this.' I was like, 'I really can't do that.'"

McQuarrie, reflecting on the stunt that stumped Cruise, noted, "It was the simplest thing. Anything you'd describe, [he'd] say, 'No, you actually can't do that.' And I don't hear 'can't' from him."

For Cruise, who has performed numerous death-defying stunts throughout the franchise, experience played a critical role in understanding the physical limitations. "I said, 'Just in terms of the speed, because the force of the air, for me to move quickly on the wing was… You just can't do it,'" he insisted. He explained that a "20-minute tutorial" helped McQuarrie grasp the challenge. "You're limited by the physics of how fast the aircraft is traveling and the force of the wind, that was utterly brutal. So I just said, 'Listen, I think the best thing is if you just do it. Go out, sit in the airplane, go out on the wing, and feel it. Feel the pressure. So, here I am, training him."

McQuarrie found the experience exhilarating. "It was great, actually," he said. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again." Cruise also shared during the conference that he had been preparing for this particular stunt for years, emphasizing that much of its success depended on selecting the right aircraft.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is set to make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, running from May 13 to May 24, 2025. Following the festival, the film will thrill audiences worldwide when it hits theaters on May 23, 2025.