As many of you have seen in the trailers for Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, star Tom Cruise truly upped his stunt game for the upcoming sequel. There is a sequence in the movie where the actor gets strapped to the side of an airplane while it's taking off, and while that kind of moment could easily be created with computers, green screens, and fans these days, Cruise decided to do it for real. What's more, he actually did it a total of eight times on set.
One might think that Tom Cruise was crazy to even try this plane stunt one time during the production of the film, but the reality that he had to do a number of takes before the crew got the footage needed for the movie makes him sound like he has a death wish. This detail and more were just revealed in a brand new Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation featurette that Paramount Pictures has launched - and you can watch it below:
"Scared shitless" most definitely seems to be an appropriate reaction to something like this.
There are two things that I am left wondering after watching this video, and hopefully they will be answered as the cast and crew begin during their press rounds for the film. First, I want to know how director Christopher McQuarrie went about telling Tom Cruise that the seventh take of the plane stunt wasn't good enough, and that the star needed him to do it "just one more time." I'm also left questioning what the insurance situation must have been on the movie, and what percentage of the final production budget it makes up.
Watching this video, it's hard not to be utterly impressed by Tom Cruise's dedication to his craft and his impressive work ethic. You wouldn't have thought that the guy could actually top the Burj Khalifa sequence from Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, but it really looks like he has. And let's not forget the fact that the new movie will also feature a scene where the actor performed for six straight minutes underwater without cuts.
Co-starring Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, and Sean Harris, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation finds Ethan Hunt (Cruise) continuing his work with the Impossible Missions Force and coming across his greatest threat yet - an organization called the Syndicate, which is committed to destroying the IMF. Christopher McQuarrie developed the screenplay with Iron Man 3 co-writer Drew Pearce, and Paramount Pictures will have the movie in theaters on July 31st.
