Tom Cruise has proven time and time again that he will go to extreme lengths for our entertainment – whether that means climbing the side of the world's tallest building or flying in jets at extreme speeds. Knowing this history, it really shouldn't be all that surprising how the beloved actor has gone about thanking fans for the success of Top Gun: Maverick and spreading holiday cheer: by doing it while jumping out of an airplane.
You can watch the extraordinary video – which was recorded during production of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two – below, courtesy of Tom Cruise's personal Twitter account:
A special message from the set of #MissionImpossible @MissionFilm pic.twitter.com/sfnWWluLylDecember 18, 2022
It was a few hours ago that writer/director Christopher McQuarrie posted a special message on social media announcing that Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two was going into a holiday break, but before production wrapped the crew and the film's main star found some time to have a bit of fun... and by "fun" I mean that they found time for one of the world's very few multi-decade A-list celebrities to perform a death-defying stunt.
Not only is it amazing that Tom Cruise is doing this stunt at all, but it's stunning that he's able to do it so breezily. The man jumps out of an airplane with the same casual care that I have when I step foot out of my front door. I think it's fair to say that most of the 8 billion people on this planet wouldn't even remotely consider taking part in such an activity at all, and he's doing it with a resting heart rate.
Of course, one of the things that surely contributes to his zen-like state is the fact that he's done much scarier stuff over the course of his career. Earlier I alluded to climbing the Burj Khalifa for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and taking to the sky in Top Gun: Maverick, but Cruise has also clung to the side of a plane while it was taking off, and more recently rode a motocross bike off of a cliff (a.k.a. the hallmark stunt featured in the trailer for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1).
Speaking of the next chapter of the Mission: Impossible franchise, the Christopher McQuarrie film is on track to arrive in less than seven months. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 features an outstanding ensemble cast including Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Frederick Schmidt, Henry Czerny, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigam, and Haley Atwell. It's unquestionably one of the most anticipated movies coming in 2023.
If you need a dose of Cruise action before then, you can get a Paramount+ subscription now and await the arrival of Top Gun: Maverick on the streaming service starting December 22.
