Times Tom Cruise faced death while filming 'Mission: Impossible'

At nearly 63 years old, it's amazing to see what Tom Cruise can do while filming the 'Mission: Impossible' series.

Tom Cruise is the soul of the Mission: Impossible series , making the brand one of the greatest action film series. With each film, the level of danger and daring of the action scenes increases, creating a series of memorable moments for the screen.

Mission: Impossible - Final Retribution Movie Trailer

Only Tom Cruise can do the "impossible" for nearly 3 decades with perseverance, with his extraordinary talent, determination and true love of cinema.

As Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning prepares to hit theaters in May, let's take a look back at this star's incredibly daring and spectacular action scenes.

Bare-handed rock climbing on Utah cliff

Tom Cruise climbing a mountain about 600 m high

PHOTO: CJ CGV

The second part of the film, released in 2000, opens with the scene of spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) freely climbing on a vertical cliff at Dead Horse Point Park, Utah (USA) without any safety ropes shown on screen. This scene was actually filmed on a cliff about 600 m high, Cruise was only protected by a thin cable attached to his body (this cable was later removed by digital effects) and there was no safety net below.

Director John Woo recounted how terrified he was to see the actor dangling at such a dizzying height. The filmmaker also confirmed that Cruise tore his shoulder and broke his leg while jumping between two cliffs, but still said: "Okay, John, I can do it again." The result was a breathtaking rock climbing scene that became the highlight of the second part, opening the film spectacularly and also starting the tradition of not using stuntmen for the entire franchise.

Zipline between Shanghai skyscrapers

In part 3, Ethan Hunt must swing from the top of a skyscraper to the top of the next building in Shanghai to infiltrate and steal "Rabbit's Foot".

In the film, the spy is seen jumping off a roof and swinging across a gap between two skyscrapers at night, smashing into the glass on the other side before climbing onto the opposite roof. The jump was actually filmed on a set with a replica of a part of the building about 80 feet high.

Tom Cruise performed the jump multiple times, leaving director JJ Abrams sweating profusely before a jump too dangerous for any actor.

Swinging outside the Burj Khalifa

Tom Cruise climbs outside Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building in Dubai (828 m)

PHOTO: CJ CGV

In Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), the level of adventure was pushed to new heights, literally: Tom Cruise climbed outside the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world in Dubai (828 m). In the film, Ethan Hunt hangs himself with special gloves on the outside of the giant glass tower while a sandstorm is raging. This entire scene was filmed on the Burj Khalifa instead of using a green screen. Cruise actually floated at a height of more than 500 m. The actor rejected the crew's idea of shooting on green screen and insisted on doing it himself.

Hanging outside the plane taking off

Tom Cruise clings to the door of an Airbus military transport plane

PHOTO: CJ CGV

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) opens with a heart-stopping action scene: Ethan Hunt clings to the door of an Airbus military transport plane as it soars into the sky. The scene on screen happened completely in real life. Tom Cruise actually clung to the side of the plane as it took off at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. Director Christopher McQuarrie said he was extremely afraid that a piece of debris or a small rock could be sucked into the engine and hit Cruise "at the speed of a bullet", or "if a bird hit Tom at that speed, it would all be over".

The risk of death was real, but Cruise still did this scene 8 times in 2 days of filming due to his perfectionism. Colleague Simon Pegg - who was on the ground watching this scene - recalled that the entire crew "held their breath in fear" every time the plane took off with Cruise hanging outside.

He described it as "saying goodbye" to Cruise before each dangerous scene, as no one was sure he would survive the scene.

However, Pegg asserted that Cruise was not as "crazy and reckless" as many people thought: "He trained very seriously, prepared carefully. He was not crazy - on the contrary, extremely careful, always ensuring maximum safety, not only for his safety but also for the whole crew."

HALO jump from 7.6 km

Tom Cruise jumped out of a cargo plane at an altitude of about 7.6 km

PHOTO: CJ CGV

HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) is a dangerous form of skydiving that requires advanced skills and is usually only trained for military special forces. In the movie Mission: Impossible: Fallout (2018), Ethan Hunt and his teammates jump out of a transport plane at an altitude of about 7.6 km, free-falling through storm clouds before parachuting to land in Paris. To film this spectacular scene, Tom Cruise actually jumped out of the plane at such a height, and had to jump more than 100 times to have enough footage for a complete scene.

The HALO jump in the movie was so dangerous that the insurance company refused to let Henry Cavill jump with Cruise. Actor Cavill revealed that he really wanted to jump HALO himself, but Cruise had to explain: "Listen Henry, I really want you to jump with me, but if you do that, there's a high chance that you'll kill me and everyone else in the process." Indeed, having two actors jump and coordinate in the air together is extremely risky. Cruise trained for hundreds of hours and performed 106 test jumps just to prepare for this scene, so he understood how complicated and dangerous it was. Someone who wasn't experienced enough certainly couldn't risk it.

Motorcycle Jumping Off a Cliff

Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt crashes his motorbike off a cliff and then switches to BASE jumping.

PHOTO: CJ CGV

Tom Cruise continues to escalate the level of risk in Mission: Impossible - Karma Part 1 (2023), delivering a performance described as "the biggest in cinema history". Ethan Hunt drives a motorbike off a cliff and then switches to BASE jumping to escape. The complexity and risk of this action scene is unprecedented. Director Christopher McQuarrie called it "the most dangerous thing we've ever done" in his career.

The Hollywood star spent months training: more than 13,000 off-road motorcycle jumps to perfect his driving skills, and more than 500 parachute jumps to refine his fall control technique. Every possible situation was calculated in advance, from wind direction, speed, to parachute opening position, because even the smallest mistake could cost a life.

Tom Cruise's "fighting spirit" was clearly shown when he scheduled this dangerous motorcycle jumping scene on the first day of the movie. Cruise humorously explained that he did this so that the whole crew would know in advance: "We will continue filming, or have to rewrite the script, depending on the results of the first day."

Luckily, Cruise succeeded spectacularly, and not just once. The actor drove his motorcycle off a cliff a total of six times that day to make sure he got the shot from every angle he wanted.

Anchor yourself outside the double decker plane

The actor swings from the wing of a World War I biplane.

PHOTO: CJ CGV

In the upcoming film (and the final part of the series), Tom Cruise promises to take the audience's mind to a whole new level with action scenes. The trailer for Mission: Impossible - Final Karma finally reveals Ethan Hunt hanging from the wing of a World War I biplane - a classic Boeing Stearman - while the plane flips and flips in the air.

It's no surprise that Cruise performed this stunt himself. The actor said that in order to stay on the wing of the plane as it flew at speeds of over 200 km/h, he had to practice a special breathing method to resist the strong air currents hitting his face. There were even times when practicing, the actor fainted due to lack of oxygen and couldn't climb back into the cockpit. Not to mention the enormous G-forces that were put on his body when the plane flipped.

Cruise has pushed himself to the limit of his physical abilities with this aerial stunt - an incredible effort at the age of nearly 63. Director Christopher McQuarrie revealed that during the filming of the final part, Tom Cruise performed a stunt almost every day that far exceeded anything the star had ever done before. Cruise himself shared that he considered Mission: Impossible - Final Karma as the culmination of 30 years of dedication to cinema and hoped that the film would be a perfect ending for the audience. The film is scheduled to be released in Vietnam from May 30.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhung-lan-tom-cruise-doi-dien-tu-than-khi-dong-nhiem-vu-bat-kha-thi-185250510112058303.htm