Tom Cruise has done countless hair-raising stunts for the sake of his movies. Case in point, there was a time when he jumped off of scaffolding in Mission: Impossible 6 that left him injured and limping. Meanwhile, just a few days ago, jumped out of a plane as he thanked Top Gun fans as part of a stunt for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. But, as it turns out, Cruise has a lot more tricks up his sleeve.
Paramount Pictures released a new featurette for the upcoming Mission: Impossible film to give audiences a glimpse into the first day of filming the new movie. Specifically, it involved Cruise riding a motorcycle off a cliff in Norway and then transitioning into a base jump.
The featurette detailed the preparations that were made for what the production team calls the "biggest stunt in cinema history." In the video, the team narrates that Cruise gathered experts in every field that was needed to make the jump possible.
Mission: Impossible writer and director Christopher McQuarrie describes it as "far and away the most dangerous thing we've ever attempted."
“We’ve been working on this for years," Cruise said. "We’re gonna shoot it in Norway, and it’s gonna be a motorcycle jump off a clip into a base jump. I’ve wanted to do it since I was a little kid. It all comes down to one thing: The audience."
Cruise had a year’s worth of advanced skydiving and base-jumping training. The regiment included advanced canopy training and aerial maneuvers with his cameraman. In total, the actor did over 500 jumps to prepare for the stunt.
We know that Cruise loves motorcycles but the actor had to undergo serious motocross training to be ready for his big stunt. The actor mastered jumping ramps and clearing 80-foot tabletops. He made over 13,000 bike jumps before even attempting the massive stunt.
"Don't be careful, be competent," Cruise states as he trained for the stunt. Then, as Cruise developed his proficiency in base jumping and motocross jumps, the production moved to the next phase which was simulating the jump in a controlled environment. The team built a ramp over a rock quarry filled with boxes to rehearse the big stunt. Everything from camera positioning, to drone flyovers and numerous jumps, were rehearsed.
The team then built the actual ramp in Norway atop a cliff. Everything was flown in with helicopters and the drop was massive. Cruise did several jumps from a helicopter just to warm up for the actual stunt.
In typical Mission: Impossible fashion, the big stunt was the first to be filmed. There were some tense moments during the first jump but it went flawlessly. The actor did the jump a total of six times during the first day.
The raw footage from the stunt was already impressive and might be worth the expensive production budget. We can't wait to see how everything looks on the big screen when the penultimate Mission Impossible film opens in theaters on July 14.
