Tom Cruise is Hollywood’s resident daredevil. The 62-year-old has become famous for completing death-defying stunts in his movies, notably the Mission: Impossible franchise. While playing Ethan Hunt, Cruise hung off the side of an airplane, performed a HALO jump at 25,000 feet, and drove a motorcycle off a cliff before skydiving to safety.
Cruise even scaled the Burj Khalifa, a feat initially deemed too dangerous by the “safety guy” on set. As Matt Damon famously recalled to Conan O’Brien, Cruise hired another safety guy to clear the stunt.
Knowing Cruise will do anything to achieve a stunt makes it even more surprising to hear that he turned down a physical feat in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. While promoting the film in Japan, Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie explained the film’s upcoming action sequence featuring Ethan on the wing of a plane. When planning the stunt, McQuarrie wanted Cruise to complete a walk within a few seconds. For possibly the first time in his life, Cruise said no.
“And then we talked about story, and he was like, ‘Okay, I want you to go from here to here in a couple of seconds,’” Cruise said (via @thingstocarefor). “I was like, ‘I can’t do that.’ He’s like, ‘Okay, well, I want you to do this and this.’ I was like, ‘I really can’t do that.’”
Even McQuarrie was shocked to hear the word “can’t” come out of Cruise’s mouth. Due to the force of the air pushing up against his body, Cruise could not complete the walk in a matter of seconds. Instead of continuing to explain it, Cruise decided the best thing to do was have his director complete the stunt.
Cruise said, “So I just said, ‘Listen, I think the best thing is if you just do it. Go out, sit in the airplane, go out on the wing, and feel it. Feel the pressure.’ So, here I am, training him.”
After a 20-minute tutorial, McQuarrie walked on the wing of the plane and loved it. “It was great, actually,” McQuarrie said. “Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again.”
See the entire plane sequence with Cruise in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, in theaters on May 23.