tom cruise holding on to plane

AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE

Tom cruise hangs on to a flying airbus (really) in the next mission impossible.

He wore a safety harness, but that’s really him on a real aircraft, 5,000 feet off the real ground.

This is not what we usually mean by “flying standby.”

The recently-unveiled trailer for the summertime action extravaganza Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation builds to a shot of what is presumably the movie’s blue-chip stunt: Star (and producer) Tom Cruise hot-foots his way across the wing of a taxiing Airbus A400M, then grabs hold of the military airlifter and holds on for dear life as it takes off and climbs, the ground beneath him falling away like taillights in a rearview mirror.

As with the prior instances of gravity-defiance in the five-film-deep, 19-year-old franchise—most notably, a stroll up the side of the world’s tallest building in 2011’s Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol —the aircraft-hang is no greenscreen-enabled illusion. It’s a genuine feat of (meticulously planned and rehearsed) derring-do by Cruise, now 52 years old but determined to maintain his much-publicized habit of keeping stunt doubles in the unemployment line. 

In an interview with Yahoo! Movies last week, Cruise and Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie discussed the genesis and execution of the set piece, which was shot at RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire, England, last November. Preparation involved the creation of a special frame to mount a camera under the wing of the airlifter and withstand wind resistance, as well as a pair of full-eyeball contact lenses for Cruise so that he could open his eyes while the aircraft was in flight. As the actor told Yahoo! Movies :

The things we were all very concerned about were particles on the runway and bird strikes. We spent days clearing out the nearby grass of any birds, and they brushed the runway as best they could. My stunt coordinator would poke me if he got reports of bird strikes. The pilot had to be on the lookout for anything in the air that could impact me in any way. I also was testing how to keep my eyes open so you have a shot—I can’t have my eyes closed the entire time. The thing that no one else was thinking about, but I was, was the fuel. You have jet fuel coming right out of the back at me because I’m on the wing above the engine. Even when we were taxiing, I was also inhaling the fumes and they were going in my eyes.

Because the script called for Cruise’s character to wear a tailored gray suit, there was no protection from the cold at 5,000 feet. He performed the stunt eight times before he and McQuarrie were satisfied they had enough footage to create a thrilling action sequence.

The movie’s first poster features an image of the airplane-hang in progress. When it was unveiled, I wondered why a military cargo airplane would have a suspiciously-handhold-sized lattice on its side. The piece of equipment Cruise is holding onto, prominently visible in this Daily Mail photo gallery , is a “deployable baffle,” intended to give paratroops an instant to get clear of the massive aircraft when jumping before they’re caught in the Jetstream.  Airbus’ website notes the A400M—a four-engine turboprop design that had its first flight in 2009—can be configured to carry up to 116 paratroops. Dispersing that many soldiers quickly would likely necessitate the use of the cargo ramp as well as the spoiler-protected paratroop doors on either side of the fuselage.

While the stunt represents Cruise’s first flight, or eight flights, on the outside of an aircraft, he’s held a pilot’s license since 1994, according to Forbes contributor Matthew Stibbe. The star’s personal fleet includes a World War II-era P-51 Mustang. No pilot license is required for PC users to download Airbus ’ A400M — The Game .  I’m using a Mac, so I can’t tell you whether or not the game includes a level where you must try to shake off an unusually determined secret agent who’s fixed himself to the side of your airplane.

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

How Tom Cruise Did That Insane Plane Stunt For Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

The first full trailer for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation ends with quite a bang, and a stunt that easily rivals the Burj Khalifa sequence in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol . The sight of Ethan Hunt hanging on to the side of taking-off airplane is an unbelievable one to behold - and it's only made more impressive when you remember that Tom Cruise actually performed the real stunt himself. But how did this stunt actually get done? The star and director Christopher McQuarrie have revealed all in a recent interview.

Timed with the release of the new trailer, Yahoo! UK has posted an extended interview they did with both Cruise and McQuarrie, in which the two men discuss the details behind what looks to be Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation 's biggest spectacle sequence. Apparently the idea of riding on the side of a plane is something that the actor has been thinking about doing for a while, and he describes it as "undoubtedly the most dangerous thing [he's] ever done." He and his Mission: Impossible 5 director knew that they needed to top what Ghost Protocol brought to the table, and it was McQuarrie who ultimately brought the idea to the table for the blockbuster. The filmmaker explained,

While searching for different locations, the production designer James Bissell bought me a model of this Airbus airplane and presented it as something we could use in the movie. I suggested to Tom, ‘What if you were on the outside of this thing when it took off?' I meant it as sort of a half joke, but he said back to me, ‘Yeah I could do that!’

From there it was all about figuring out a way to attach a camera to the side of the airplane that would A) get an appropriate angle on the shot, and B) not detach during take-off and smash into Tom Cruise. The actor met with not just a test pilot, but the guys who created the A400m Airbus, and made sure that everything was doable and safe.

You can watch the incredible stunt performed at the end of the trailer embedded below:

So what was the biggest fear in this situation? While many of you might guess that it would be Cruise losing his grip and falling, apparently that wasn't the case. Instead, the larger concern during shooting was bird strikes and random debris flying through the air. As Cruise told the site,

I remember one time we were going down the runway and there was just a little particle that just hit me, it was smaller than a finger nail. I was thankful it didn’t hit my hands or face, if it did I’d have a problem because those parts were exposed, but it still could have broken my ribs!

Perhaps the most impressive part of all this is that the airplane ride won't be Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation 's only breathtaking sequence. In the interview, Christopher McQuarrie teases that this death-defying stunt is actually one of two "incredibly physically punishing things" that he had Tom Cruise do for the movie, and that the other one is merely teased in the above trailer. I'm sure when we see the finished film it will stand out from the pack and we'll recognize exactly which stunt the director is being alluded to (I'm personally hoping it's the dive into the sand vortex).

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation will be in theaters on July 31st.

CINEMABLEND NEWSLETTER

Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

Poor Henry Cavill’s Dealing With All The James Bond Questions Again After An AI Trailer Racked Up 3.5 Million Views

Nightbitch: Release Date, Cast, And Other Things We Know About Amy Adams' Upcoming Horror Movie

Shōgun Moved A Key Blackthorne Moment To The Season 1 Finale, And I Think It Was The Perfect Choice

Most Popular

• 2 Nightbitch: Release Date, Cast, And Other Things We Know About Amy Adams' Upcoming Horror Movie
• 3 'There Are A Lot Of Suspicions': Elsbeth's Carra Patterson Talks Kaya's Conflict And Being 'Very Worried' About The Partnership
• 4 Every Best Picture Winner From The First 40 Years Of The Oscars
• 5 After New Details About Game Of Thrones’ Scrapped 10,000 Ships Spinoff, Here’s How Faithful It Would Have Been To George R.R. Martin’s Source Material

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

Yes, That Really Was Tom Cruise Hanging From an Airplane

Paramount UK tweeted this is indeed one of the biggest movies stars in the world hanging off a plane

We weren’t positive yesterday, but Paramount UK has confirmed that the crazy guy hanging off an airplane was indeed Tom Cruise. Performing one of his signature stunts for the fifth Mission: Impossible film, Cruise was suspended 5,000 feet in the air from an Airbus A400M — while wearing a tailored suit and wingtips, naturally. Newly released photos from September show the actor hanging from a dual safety harness on the door of the military plane, which was flown over the British countryside with the movie star attached.

Cruise’s Ethan Hunt dangles from the tallest building in the world for Ghost Protocol

This was a risky stunt even for Cruise, who free-climbed the cliffs of Dead Horse Point, Utah for Mission: Impossible 2 and dangled from the world’s tallest building , the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, while shooting Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. Basically, Cruise has used his role as super-spy Ethan Hunt as an excuse to indulge his inner daredevil. “I’m always thinking of different stunts,” Cruise said in 2010 . “I look at buildings and think, how could I climb it? How could I jump out?… When I was a little kid, I used to go up on a roof and jump off the roof into the snow and do flips and stuff, and now I get to do it in movies.” Jumping into the snow, hanging from an airborne plane — it’s all the same when you’re Tom Cruise. We’ll get to see his outdoor airplane ride next December when Mission: Impossible 5 hits theaters.

Photo credit: @FAMEFLYNET PICTURES, Paramount Pictures

Recommended Stories

Nfl draft: packers fan upset with team's 1st pick, and lions fans hilariously rubbed it in.

Not everyone was thrilled with their team's draft on Thursday night.

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper stopped by Charlotte bar that criticized his draft strategy

“Please Let The Coach & GM Pick This Year" read a sign out front.

Jamie Dimon is worried the US economy is headed back to the 1970s

JPMorgan's CEO is concerned the US economy could be in for a repeat of the stagflation that hampered the country during the 1970s.

Korey Cunningham, former NFL lineman, found dead in New Jersey home at age 28

Cunningham played 31 games in the NFL with the Cardinals, Patriots and Giants.

Broncos, Jets, Lions and Texans have new uniforms. Let's rank them

Which new uniforms are winners this season?

Based on the odds, here's what the top 10 picks of the NFL Draft will be

What would a mock draft look like using just betting odds?

Luka makes Clippers look old, Suns are in big trouble & a funeral for Lakers | Good Word with Goodwill

Vincent Goodwill and Tom Haberstroh break down last night’s NBA Playoffs action and preview several games for tonight and tomorrow.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Widely available players ready to help your squad

Andy Behrens has a fresh batch of priority pickups for fantasy managers looking to close out the week in strong fashion.

Dave McCarty, player on 2004 Red Sox championship team, dies 1 week after team's reunion

The Red Sox were already mourning the loss of Tim Wakefield from that 2004 team.

Ryan Garcia drops Devin Haney 3 times en route to stunning upset

The 25-year-old labeled "mentally fragile" by many delivered the upset for the ages.

Here's how Tom Cruise filmed the crazy plane-hanging stunt in the new 'Mission: Impossible'

Tom Cruise has always boasted that he does his own stunts.

Whether it’s driving a race car in “ Days of Thunder ,” battling enemies with a samurai sword in “The Last Samurai”... 

... Or  climbing the tallest building in the world , the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, in “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol,” the megastar has prided himself on giving audiences an authentic experience.

But with the release of the trailer for the new “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation,” Cruise proved himself as one of the toughest guys in Hollywood.

In the much-hyped trailer, Cruise, reprising his role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, ends up on a giant Airbus A400M plane and is hanging from the door as it takes off.

In today’s era of Hollywood plugging in CGI for almost anything, when watching the scene teased one would likely assume it was done in a sound studio covered in green screen with a giant fan to project the star of the movie.

But that's not Tom Cruise's style.

“I knew I wanted to have an airplane sequence. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time," Cruise  told  Yahoo Movies UK  during an interview with director  Christopher McQuarrie.  "As a kid I remember flying on an airplane and thinking: ‘what would it be like out on the wing or on the side of the airplane?!’”

Related stories

So after eight takes  on a runway in England, Cruise's childhood dream finally came true.

Cruise and McQuarrie were both aware that they had to top the stunt of Cruise climbing Dubai's Burj Khalifa in “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” (which he also did without a stunt double ).

When the production designer brought McQuarrie a model of an Airbus plane, the director joked to Cruise, “What if you were on the outside of this thing when it took off?’ Cruise replied, “Yeah, I could do that.”

Discussions began and the major concern was debris on the runway or bird strikes. According to Cruise the production spent days clearing the grass near the runway of any birds. But Cruise was also concerned about something no one else was bringing up: fuel.

“You have jet fuel coming right out of the back at me because I’m on the wing of the engine,” he said. “Even when we were taxying I was also inhaling the fumes and [it] was going in my eyes.”

To help the fumes and any particles getting in his eyes, Cruise was given custom contact lenses that covered his entire eyeballs, but the threat of being struck by something on the runway was real.

“I remember one time we were going down the runway and there was just a little particle that just hit me, it was smaller than a finger nail,” Cruise recalls. “I was thankful it didn’t hit my hands or face, if it did I’d have a problem because those parts were exposed, but it still could have broken my ribs!”

“When that thing was going down the runway it was everything to keep my feet down, then it went up and my body was slamming on the side. I was like whoa, this is intense," the actor tells Yahoo.

Cruise notes that he was strapped to the side of the plane from the moment the engine started to the moment it landed and the engine shut down —  " The climb, the taxi, down the runway, getting the shot, leveling off, turning around and landing. And I did it EIGHT TIMES to get the shot.”

“It’s the most dangerous thing I’ve even done, to be honest,” said Cruise. He notes that climbing a mountain in Moab for “ Mission: Impossible 2 ” and the Burj Khalifa in “Ghost Protocol” were dangerous...

But when they got this shot, he said, “We’re not doing it anymore!”

Watch: Watch 52-year-old Tom Cruise beat up bad guys in the new 'Mission: Impossible' trailer

• Main content

Screen Rant

Mission impossible: how tom cruise pulled off rogue nation's plane stunt.

Tom Cruise is as reckless as Ethan Hunt, but it takes more than a strong gut to dangle from a flying plane for Mission Impossible's craziest stunt.

Against all odds, Tom Cruise outdid himself with his dangerous airplane stunt in  Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation , but how did he achieve it? Tom Cruise has a long list of highly successful movies , yet his acting skills aren't his only tool to maintain his Hollywood superstar status. Throughout the years, he has performed plenty of crazy stunts that have repeatedly put his life at risk, but every time the actor seems to have reached his limit, he comes up with an even crazier display of courage and physical prowess. Tom Cruise has now become the face of elaborate action sequences, drawing massive crowds who are always eager to watch him hanging from a cliff or break his ankle while jumping between rooftops.

After climbing the Burj Khalifa in  Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol , both Tom Cruise and his iconic character Ethan Hunt decided they needed to raise the stakes. In typical  Mission Impossible   fashion,  Rogue Nation  opens with  Agent William Brandt (Jeremy Renner)  leading a mission to intercept a cargo plane in Minsk, Belarus. When computer specialist Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and intelligence operative Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) fail to hack into its system, Ethan Hunt comes to the rescue and jumps onto the plane, grasping one of its side doors as it takes off. As one would expect from him, it really was Tom Cruise hanging from the plane, with almost no aid from CGI and minimal safety measures. The stunt was so intense that it was heavily featured in all promotional content for the movie, including the main poster.

Related:  Every Mission: Impossible Movie In Chronological Order

Curiously, the whole sequence had to be incorporated into the script after director Christopher McQuarrie conjured up the mental image of Mission Impossible 's main star dangling from a cargo plane. Tom Cruise, being the athletic daredevil that he's always been, proposed to do the stunt without any green screens or stunt doubles. So, McQuarrie, Cruise, and stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood shot eight different takes, elevating the aircraft to an altitude of around 5,000 feet and slanting it at a more pronounced angle than what a regular cargo aircraft normally would when it takes off. Of course, nobody is strong enough to cling to a plane door at 260 mph. Despite being Tom Cruise's most extreme  Mission Impossible stunt , he was actually strapped to a full-body harness which in turn was wired and bolted to the interior of the aircraft.

Still, a stunt at such a high speed could have gone very wrong. It had to be rehearsed a few times beforehand without the star in order to find the right conditions to shoot. The crew made sure that the plane would take off with the ideal weather and with the clearest environment so that the actor could enjoy the smoothest possible flight. Additionally, he had to wear special contact lenses to protect his eyes from wind and debris. After Tom Cruise landed safe and sound for the eighth time, the only remaining thing director Christopher McQuarrie had to do was to edit out the wires and the additional cameras that were attached to the plane.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation  kept the franchise's tradition of upping the ante from the get-go. However, few other franchises keep the audience on the edge of their seat with real-life hazards. All of it is thanks to Tom Cruise, who keeps cheating death onscreen and offscreen with a level of audacity that no other major actor has ever matched.

Next:  Top Gun 3 Would Be Better For Tom Cruise Than Mission: Impossible 9

Key Release Dates

Mission: impossible - dead reckoning part one, mission: impossible - dead reckoning - part two.

Tom Cruise Casually Stands On A Flying Plane In Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Stunt Sneak Peek

It is no secret that Tom Cruise is more than just a movie star who regularly delivers very entertaining action movies. The man likes to get his hands dirty and straight-up risk his life for the sake of cinema. The "Mission: Impossible" movies have been the greatest showcase of his talents in this department over the years and the upcoming seventh installment, "Dead Reckoning Part One," is going to be no exception to the rule. To that end, Paramount Pictures has released footage of Cruise casually delivering a speech whilst riding on a plane thousands of feet in the air.

This footage was originally filmed for Cinemacon earlier this year and was presented to those in attendance. It preceded the trailer reveal for the film , which is directed by Christopher McQuarrie. But now, we all get to see it for ourselves, and man, it is something. Let's see what craziness Cruise is getting up to in order to help sell some popcorn, shall we?

Tom Cruise on a plane, ladies and gentlemen

So yeah, a lot to process there. It goes without saying that the stunt in question is absolutely insane. No person in their right mind would do such a thing, but this may not even be the craziest thing that Cruise has ever done for the sake of entertainment. Heck, it's not even the first time that the actor has hung onto a plane (see the opening of "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation"). But what really stands out here is the casual nature with which Cruise delivers his speech atop that plane, as if this is just a regular day in his life. Remarkable on several levels.

What this assures us is that "MI7" will be just as action-packed as we've come to expect. Now, is that going to be enough to justify the reported $300 million budget ? That's tough to say but these are the types of stunts that put meat in seats and have helped to keep this franchise going for nearly three decades. The knowledge that the crazy stuff in an over-the-top action movie is razor close to being real adds something to the equation — no doubt about it.

Joining Cruise this time around will be familiar faces in the form of Simon Pegg (Benji), Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa), Ving Rhames (Luther), Vanessa Kirby, and Henry Czerny (Kitridge). Newcomers for this installment include Hayley Atwell ("Captain America: The First Avenger"), Pom Klementieff ("Avengers: Infinity War"), Cary Elwes ("Saw"), Indira Varma ("Obi-Wan Kenobi"), Shea Whigham ("Boardwalk Empire"), Esai Morales ("Arrow"), and Rob Delaney ("Deadpool 2").

"Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" is set to hit theaters on July 14, 2023.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation: Tom Cruise plane scene behind-the-scenes video

Tom Cruise had to find a way to outdo his stuntwork in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol , so when holding onto the world’s tallest tower just isn’t enough, he decides to hold onto a moving plane.

The sequence, which has been featured in most of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation ‘s trailers, involves practical stuntwork, like Cruise’s previous stunts. In the the behind-the-scenes video above, Cruise is harnessed up and actually clings to the side of a plane launching off the ground. No greenscreened plane door lifted a foot off the ground here — Cruise is, with the right safety precautions of course, hoping to bring as much authenticity to the scene as possible.

Watch — maybe in fear, maybe in excitement — as Cruise executes the stunt above, and check out his work for Ghost Protocol below as a reminder that an Ethan Hunt mission is no time for half measures. Rogue Nation opens in theaters on July 31.

• New Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation trailer: More Tom Cruise, more crazy stunts

• Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation : EW preview

Related Articles

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

How “crazy” was that tom cruise ‘mission: impossible’ plane stunt the movie’s cinematographer tells all.

"They can slow down pretty quickly, but it still does a complete circuit," says Robert Elswit.

By Carolyn Giardina

Carolyn Giardina

Tech Editor

• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Email
• Show additional share options
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Pinit
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Tumblr
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Print
• Share this article on Comment

In the run-up to  Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation , Paramount’s marketers and Tom Cruise himself have turned the movie’s opening sequence in one of the film’s main selling points.

The scene features Cruise’s Ethan Hunt hanging onto an Airbus 400 as it taxies down a runway and takes off. And the media has taken the bait, describing it under headlines that have called the stunt “dangerous,” “crazy,” “insane” and even “death-defying.”

In fact, the stunt, which was filmed at RAF  Wittering  air base in the U.K., did actually take place — the sequence wasn’t created digitally. Testifies  Robert Elswit , the film’s director of photography, “There’s no digital Tom, and there’s no fake plane. He’s really strapped to an Airbus.”

Related Stories

'severance' actor tramell tillman joins next 'mission: impossible' (exclusive), dakota fanning says tom cruise has given her a birthday gift every year since 'war of the worlds'.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter , Elswit said, “It’s pretty damn crazy; it’s over a hundred knots when it takes off. They can slow down pretty quickly, but it still does on a complete circuit. They go up, get altitude, make a complete circuit and land. I think it’s up in the air for about 6-8 minutes before it lands again. It had to be at least 1,000 ft. up. And he’s attached to the thing the whole time. The visual effects that were involved were erasing the wires (which held Cruise to the plane).”

But, at the same time, there was plenty of planning and practice involved in order to minimize the risks.

“Tom was in a full body harness and he’s cabled and wired to the plane through [its] door. Inside the aircraft was an aluminum truss that was carefully bolted to the plane, which held the wires that went through the door, which held Tom,” the cinematographer said of safety measures. “He was also wearing special contact lenses to protect his eyes. If anything hit him at those speeds it could be really bad. They were very careful about cleaning the runway so there were no rocks. And we took off in certain weather conditions; there were no birds. And he’s sort of protected by the way the air moves over the wing.”

Elswit , an Oscar winner for There Will Be Blood, explained that to get the shot of Cruise, a truss device was built to attach to the plane an ARRI 35mm  film camera with a Panavision anamorphic zoom, housed in an aerodynamic  Nettmann System’s stabilized head.  Elswit  and members of the camera crew were inside the Airbus, watching the [Airbus-mounted] camera on a video tap. “I could remotely pan and tilt the camera, ” he added.

A helicopter flying alongside the plane, was also used. According to  Elswit , “There was a helicopter flying next to us. From the helicopter, we were shooting [the additional aerial perspective] of Tom attached to the door. In the VFX , they erased the [Airbus-mounted] camera that we were shooting with [as it was in the helicopter shot].”

The cinematographer added that the sequence came together with careful planning by the camera and effects teams, working with the Airbus Defense and Space flight test team (Airbus announced its involvement here ). “The first time they did a test with a dummy,” he said. “They then flew with the camera rig, and the day before we went up with a stunt double just to make sure everything was okay.

“When he wants to do something, he’ll figure out a way to do it,” Elswit said of working with Cruise. “He’s the most obsessive artist. … If it couldn’t actually be Tom on the plane, I think he wouldn’t want the sequence in the movie. That’s what happened on the Burj  [ Khalifa skyscrapter in Dubai, for an action sequence in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol] . I’m always stunned. What inside of him makes it possible for anybody to do that kind of shit — and not be scared shitless ? He loves it.”

Rogue Nation hits theaters on Friday. 

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Awards season calendar: key dates for oscars, emmys, tonys and other major events, ‘humane’ director caitlin cronenberg on why she changed her mind about becoming a director, box office: zendaya’s ‘challengers’ starts off with $1.9m in previews, nicole kidman: “i’ve definitely had an extreme life”, aaron sorkin writing a potential ‘social network’ sequel: “i blame facebook for jan. 6”, cécile gaget leaves wild bunch, joins omar sy’s carrousel studios as ceo.

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy . We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Watch Tom Cruise Break Down His ‘Most Dangerous’ Stunt Ever for New ‘Mission: Impossible’

Samantha bergeson.

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Share on LinkedIn
• Show more sharing options
• Submit to Reddit
• Post to Tumblr
• Print This Page
• Share on WhatsApp

Tom Cruise is proving that no mission is too impossible.

The “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part I” star shared a behind-the-scenes video of his stuntwork on the first installment of his farewell to character Ethan Hunt.

“So excited to share what we’ve been working on,” Cruise tweeted.

“Dead Reckoning” is the first half of the conclusion to the 1996 film franchise. Cruise has played undercover CIA agent Ethan Hunt for close to 30 years, with “Mission: Impossible 7” arriving in theaters July 14, 2023, soon followed by “Mission: Impossible 8” out June 28, 2024.

The stunt video shows Cruise training to achieve the  most dangerous stunt of his career, with him riding a motorcycle off a cliff. “This is far and away the most dangerous thing we’ve ever attempted,” Cruise says in the video filmed while in Norway for production in 2020.

Related Stories Lewis Hamilton Regretted Turning Down a Role in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’: ‘It Could’ve Been Me!’ Jerry Bruckheimer Offers ‘Top Gun 3’ Update: Joseph Kosinski Is Developing a ‘Wonderful’ Story Idea for Tom Cruise

“It all comes down to one thing: the audience,” Cruise adds.

The “Eyes Wide Shut” alum trained in motocross and base jumping for months leading up to the filmed stunt.

“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,” Cruise previously told Empire magazine about the jaw-dropping feat. “If I do, that’s not going to end well.”

Of course, that’s not the only cutting-edge stunt Cruise masters for “Mission: Impossible.” A first look at the film during Paramount Pictures’ showcase at CinemaCon earlier this year captured Cruise holding onto a plane while flying over South Africa. Cruise also recently thanked fans for their support in a video of himself jumping out of a plane .

“The ‘MI’ series really does represent the pinnacle of filmmaking excellence,” Paramount president Brian Robbins said earlier this year at CinemaCon. “And we have no doubt that this new picture will set the bar even higher.”

Robbins continued, “After five release dates and a whole bunch of rumors where this movie would end up, we are finally ready to bring this phenomenal movie to where it always belonged, and that is your theaters.”

Director Christopher McQuarrie helms the upcoming film, which will exclusively have a theatrical release due in part to Cruise’s urging. Production for “Dead Reckoning Part I” was repeatedly halted by the COVID-19 pandemic but eventually wrapped in September 2021. The budget reportedly ballooned upwards of $290 million during production, with additional funds allocated to finish post-production on the action epic.

So excited to share what we’ve been working on. #MissionImpossible pic.twitter.com/rIyiLzQdMG — Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) December 19, 2022

Most Popular

You may also like.

Watch Tom Cruise Hang Outside a Plane in Insane MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5 Video

Raw video proves that this is one of Cruise's craziest stunts ever.

By now we’re all familiar with the fact that, whenever possible, Tom Cruise does his own stunts. Your script calls for the character to run around outside the tallest building in the world? Tom Cruise will do it (though that one  almost didn’t happen ). For Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation , Cruise takes on one of his biggest stunt challenges yet: standing out on the outside of a plane while it takes off. The plane doesn’t just go fast down the runway and then stop—it literally takes off into the air, with Tom Cruise, Hollywood actor Tom Cruise , hanging outside on the wing.

We’ve been inundated with so many CG-enhanced stunt and set pieces recently that it’s become hard to be really “wowed” by something, but with Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation , Paramount Pictures wants everyone to know that this is the real deal. As such, they’ve released a brief featurette that includes raw video of Cruise performing the stunt, and it’s insane. When someone like Tom Cruise admits that this stunt had him “scared shitless,” you know it’s a little intense.

And this is only one piece of the film! For another stunt, Cruise learned how to hold his breath for six minutes so director Christopher McQuarrie could shoot an underwater sequence in one take. I can’t wait to see this movie.

Watch the stunt video below. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation opens in theaters on July 31st and also stars Rebecca Ferguson , Simon Pegg , Ving Rhames , Jeremy Renner , Alec Baldwin , and Sean Harris .

Watch Tom Cruise Hang Off Side of a Plane for 'Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation'

"Why do the stunts look real? Because they are real," Cruise said.

— -- So, Tom Cruise did something kind of crazy for "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation."

The film, due out at the end of the month, released a 1-minute video showing Cruise hanging off the side of a plane as it takes off.

Read: Tom Cruise Films Death-Defying Stunt for 'Mission: Impossible 5'

"I couldn't sleep the night before, then came the day. I thought, 'Oh, this is really going to happen?'" he says in the clip.

Furthermore, Cruise, 53, did the take eight times.

Watch it and try not to feel queasy.

Tom Cruise's Plane Stunt In Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Took Some Convincing

Tom Cruise is one of the last true movie stars. His commitment to authenticity through death-defying stunts is crazy but also refreshing in a CGI-heavy cinematic landscape where individual actors don't shine quite as brightly. Cruise continues to top himself with each jaw-dropping stunt in the "Mission Impossible" series. Frequently without the use of a stunt double, he has done everything from scaling the Burj Khalifa, climbing on rocks one-handed, and holding his breath underwater for six minutes. One of the most spectacular action sequences is from " Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation " where Cruise actually hangs onto the side of an ascending airplane. 

As Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise grips a giant cargo plane while zooming down the runway. The camera never wavers from the airplane's edge as it gets higher and higher until the ground below resembles tiny puzzle pieces. None of the shots are digital, except for the removal of wires that held Cruise onto the plane. These images of an actor genuinely risking his life for the sake of entertainment are both terrifying and thrilling. This entire opening scene is an ambitious piece of filmmaking that immediately surges the audience's adrenaline. 

But it wasn't easy for Tom Cruise to perform such an intense practical effect. Since there were a lot of risks involved, the French aeronautics company in charge of the Airbus 400 had to be convinced. It was not exactly an easy decision to allow one of the biggest action heroes in the world to dangle from their massive machine thousands of feet in the air.

Flying High

According to the New York Post , Wade Eastwood, the stunt coordinator for "Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation," met with Airbus to persuade them to let Tom Cruise use one of their planes. However, the company was hesitant to allow the filmmakers to use their aircraft in such a dangerous stunt. "If one of their planes has a little hard landing, that's bad publicity for them. If they hurt Tom Cruise, it would just be bad publicity forever," Eastwood explains. 

There were a lot of potential hazards with this kind of elaborate action set piece. Since the plane would rise to 5,000 feet at 184 mph, there were fears that something — "a pebble, a piece of the camera rig or, worst of all, a bird" could hit Cruise. Even while flying in ideal weather, Cruise would get extremely cold. He also had to wear special contact lenses to protect his eyes and keep them open while going at such a fast speed. 

The New York Post reports that Cruise, a pilot himself, was able to win over Airbus because he just wouldn't take no for an answer. After all, the "Mission Impossible" team would take the necessary precautions to ensure that Cruise was safe the entire time: "Tom was in a full body harness and he's cabled and wired to the plane through [its] door. Inside the aircraft was an aluminum truss that was carefully bolted to the plane, which held the wires that went through the door, which held Tom." 

The result is a simple yet high-octane stunt that leaves viewers stunned. It's one of the most unforgettable moments in "Mission Impossible" history. Can it be topped in the upcoming " Mission Impossible  - Dead Reckoning "? We'll see.   

Read this next: The 18 Best Action Movie Actors Ranked

MORE SECTIONS

• Social Casino

MORE FROM THE SUN

• Newsletters

• Entertainment

Tom Cruise seen hanging UPSIDE DOWN on wing of a WWII Biplane in Cambridge for Mission: Impossible 8 stunt

• Shannon Power
• Published : 5:22 ET, Nov 28 2021
• Updated : 10:42 ET, Nov 28 2021

ACTION star Tom Cruise has been seen rehearsing one of his most dangerous stunts ever that involved him hanging UPSIDE DOWN on the wing of a war plane.

The 59-year-old star was spotted high above the skies of Cambridge as he practised climbing onto the plane wing as it did a loop-the-loop 2,000ft in the air.

Tom climbed out of the 1941 Boeing B75N1 Stearman biplane and clung on to the wing as the aircraft nosedived and performed acrobatics.

The jaw-dropping stunts were one of many incredible feats the actor is doing for the upcoming Mission: Impossible 8 film.

The iconic biplane took off from Duxford Aerodrome in Cambridgeshire and once it hit 2,000ft, Tom climbed out of the cockpit and crawled onto the left wing.

Attached to the plane by a harness, Tom then dangled himself upside down from the wing.

The plane was then flipped by the pilot, leaving Tom sitting upright on the wing and from there the plane nosedived and did the incredible spin.

Tom then climbed back into the plane before it landed back on the tarmac.

Another biplane flew beside Tom's yellow plane to practice the camera shots for when they start filming.

He wore a khaki jumpsuit and black helmet for the daring stunt after spending months learning how to fly the plane.

At the beginning of October, The Sun revealed that the Minority Report actor was learning to  fly a World War Two military plane.

Most read in Entertainment

Ye ‘berated black workers,’ ex guard claims & was ‘fired for refusing to cut hair’

Kanye West puts prized assets including Yeezy on line in mystery financial deals

Kanye West fans say he 'couldn't get any lower' after adult entertainment plans

Bianca wears tiny hotpants and tight top during date night with husband Kanye

A source from the set told the Sun: “Tom had started to learn to fly a Boeing Stearman biplane earlier this year for a major stunt scene in Mission: Impossible 8.

“It’s obviously a highly skilled task but as usual he has no plans to cut any corners or bring in a stuntman."

The insider continued: “Filming has only just wrapped on Mission: Impossible 7 but Tom has not given himself a break.

“And trying to film jaw-dropping scenes with an 80-year-old plane is particularly dangerous.”

Back in September, Tom and his film crew celebrated after they had wrapped up shooting M:I's seventh movie.

Due to the pandemic, filming was fraught with setbacks including multiple Covid outbreaks on set, causing the production to be shut down for weeks at a time.

Tom left fans shocked last month when he was spotted looking totally different as he attended an LA Dodgers baseball game in San Francisco.

Photographed watching the game alongside his son, he looked noticeably different as he appeared more "puffy" than his Top Gun days.

Read More on The US Sun

Harvey Weinstein accuser's lawyer says she'd consider testifying at 2nd trial

Fans speculated that the actor had either "gained weight or has a face full of fillers" after the "bloated" photographs spread via social media.

But he was spotted looking more like himself again in mid-November as he piloted a helicopter as he arrived at Battersea heliport in London.

We pay for your stories!

Do you have a story for The Sun Showbiz team?

Email [email protected] or call us direct on 02077824220 .

We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.

Simple Flying

What planes does tom cruise own.

Let’s take a look at Tom Cruise’s aircraft collection.

• Tom Cruise is a licensed pilot with qualifications as a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot and helicopter flying skills.
• Cruise owns a collection of airplanes, including a vintage P-51 Mustang fighter from World War II and a Gulfstream IV G4 jet.
• There may be additional aircraft in Cruise's fleet, such as a HondaJet and a Bombardier Challenger 300 jet, according to a travel expert.

It wasn't just a show for 'Top Gun.' Tom Cruise is one of the few actors who genuinely love aviation. He has been a licensed pilot since 1994 and is able to fly several types of aircraft. However, it doesn't stop with a license. The famous Hollywood actor also has a collection of airplanes varying from vintage fighters to business jets.

What kind of license does Cruise have?

In various discussions, Tom Cruise has revealed that his affinity for aviation was crucial to his initial attraction to the original 'Top Gun.' He shared that he holds qualifications as a multi-engine instrument-rated pilot and has continued to enhance his skill set throughout his life. Notably, he acquired helicopter flying skills for the remarkable stunts seen in the 2018 film 'Mission Impossible: Fallout.'

Plane collection

North American P-51 Mustang fighter

During a segment on The Late Late Show, Cruise took host James Corden for a ride in his own vintage P-51 Mustang fighter plane. Tom Cruise acquired this World War II fighter in 2001, which was initially built in 1946.

The P-51 Mustang was an American long-range fighter bomber that served alongside other conflicts during World War II and the Korean War. It was developed by North American Aviation and was retired in 1984. Nevertheless, even today, the fighter is utilized for air racing by civilian pilots. After being donated to an Illinois museum, the plane underwent restoration in 1997.

Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today.

Making his recent performance in ' Top Gun: Maverick ,' Tom Cruise takes to the skies in the P-51 Mustang fighter. What adds intrigue to this is the revelation that he wasn't just portraying the pilot on screen – he was actually at the controls of his very own P-51 Mustang fighter.

Gulfstream IV G4 jet

With an estimated price tag of $20 million, this jet boasts the capability to accommodate as many as 19 passengers. Notably, it reportedly comes furnished with luxuries, including a jacuzzi and a dedicated movie-screening room, according to Business Insider.

The Gulfstream IV G4 is a long-range executive jet designed and built by Gulfstream , a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United States, from 1985 until 2018. Its production spanned from 1985 to 2018, resulting in over 900 G4 units taking to the skies. This jet can cover distances of up to 7,100 kilometers and achieve a top speed of 850 kilometers per hour.

Is there more?

Whether the actor has more aircraft in its fleet has been under speculation as it was never officially confirmed. But according to a Business Insider report, in addition to the vintage fighter jet and the Gulfstream IV G4, Jack Sweeney, who is famous for reporting the travel habits of numerous celebrities, including Elon Musk, said he has been able to identify Cruise's HondaJet and a Bombardier Challenger 300 jet.

Want answers to more key questions in aviation? Check out the rest of our guides here .

Sources: Business Insider , South China Morning Post