Tom Cruise has proven time and time again that he’s one of, if not the greatest action star to ever grace the silver screen. He’s given audiences plenty of thrills through films like Mission: Impossible, Edge of Tomorrow and Top Gun: Maverick. Now, he’s aiming to continue that trend through the latest M:I installment, Dead Reckoning Part One. The teasers teased plenty of impressive stunts, but the one that seems to have everyone in awe is a sequence involving Cruise’s Ethan Hunt jumping off a cliff with a motorcycle. The actor revealed why he kicked off production with that feat – which can be glimpsed in the trailer above – and it further exemplifies just why he has nerves of steel.
The 60-year-old star and director Christopher McQuarrie previously revealed that the motorcycle sequence was how the cast and crew kicked off production on the film in early 2020. When initially explaining the reason for that, the leading man explained that he has “a responsibility to audiences” and “can’t compromise the storytelling.” He dug a little bit deeper, though, during a more recent chat. But before getting into the specifics, he couldn’t help but kick off with a funny (and somewhat morbid) thought when asked about starting with the bike stunt:
Well, we know either we’re going to continue with the film, or we’re not. [Laughs] Let’s know day one, what’s going to happen? Is it going to continue or is it a major rewrite.
In all seriousness though, this is something that one has to consider whenever Tom Cruise performs a stunt, one has to consider the possibility that he could get hurt or worse. He’s been injured on sets before as well, with one notable instance being when he hurt his leg while filming M:I – Fallout. Recently, co-star Simon Pegg even opened up about how the cast and crew feel knowing Cruise could wipe out, though he always seems to pull through. The star’s comments above indicate that he doesn’t mind joking about the dangerous nature of his job, and that surely gives me the impression that he’s built differently from many of us.
The actor further explained to ET that he’s been riding motorcycles since he was a “kid” and is more than familiar with aerobatics, parachutes and the like. When it came to Dead Reckoning Part One’s big moment, he did plenty of training beforehand. And apparently, his laser-focused demeanor in that regard is what prompted the scheduling decision:
I was training, I was ready. You have to be razor sharp when you do something like that. So it was very important as we were prepping the film that that was actually the first thing [we shot]. Because I don’t want to drop that and go shoot other things and then have my mind somewhere else. Everyone was prepped, let’s just get it done. … You don’t want to be waking up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘I still [have to do it]. It still [has to happen].’
Man, if this isn’t commitment then I don’t know what is. I could imagine some actors dreading such a stunt and opting to push it off for a little while. But not Tom Cruise, apparently. His logic makes perfect sense as well. Why delay the inevitable by pushing off the sequence but simply torture yourself with the notion that it has to happen eventually? This certainly shows that Cruise is willing to run (figuratively and literally) towards the work that needs to get done. There’s truly no other action star like him right now, and we’re better as moviegoers for having someone with his level of discipline.
You can see the culmination of his work when Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opens in theaters on July 12 as part of the schedule of 2023 new movie releases. You can also stream past installments of the franchise using a Paramount+ subscription.
