Legendary actor Tom Cruise has consistently pushed the boundaries of what's possible in the Mission: Impossible franchise, but for the eighth installment, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, he faced challenges that were truly unprecedented. During a recent press conference in Tokyo, Cruise revealed that director Christopher McQuarrie had him attempt some seemingly impossible stunts. To emphasize the difficulty, Cruise even had McQuarrie try the stunt himself.
"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 recounted. "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 described the stunt that challenged Cruise, saying, "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."
Cruise, renowned for his daring stunts in the M:I series, explained the physical limitations he faced. "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 noted. He further elaborated on how a "20-minute tutorial" helped McQuarrie understand 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 enjoyed the experience immensely, stating, "It was great, actually. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again." Cruise also shared that he had been training for this particular stunt for years, emphasizing that selecting the right aircraft was crucial for pulling it off successfully.
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival from May 13 to May 24, 2025, and will hit theaters worldwide on May 23, 2025.
