Legendary actor Tom Cruise has truly redefined the "impossible" in the Mission: Impossible series, especially with the upcoming eighth installment, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. In a bold move, director Christopher McQuarrie challenged Cruise with stunts that were genuinely impossible, pushing the boundaries of what's feasible even for an action star like Cruise. To underscore the difficulty, McQuarrie himself tried the stunt, which Cruise humorously recounted during a recent press conference in Tokyo.
"And then we talked about the story, and [McQuarrie] was like, 'Okay, I want you to go from here to here in a couple of seconds,'" Cruise shared. "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.'" McQuarrie elaborated on the stunt, noting its deceptive simplicity. "Anything you'd describe, [he'd] say, 'No, you actually can't do that.' And I don't hear 'can't' from him."
For Cruise, who has performed numerous death-defying stunts throughout the Mission: Impossible films, the challenge was clear. "I said, 'Just in terms of the speed, because the force of the air, for me to move quickly on the wing was… You just can't do it,'" he explained, highlighting the physics involved. A "20-minute tutorial" helped McQuarrie grasp the challenge. "You're limited by the physics of how fast the aircraft is traveling and the force of the wind, that was utterly brutal. 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.'"
McQuarrie, to his surprise, enjoyed the experience immensely. "It was great, actually," he said. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again." Cruise also mentioned that he had been preparing for this stunt for years, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right aircraft to execute it safely.
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival from May 13 to May 24, 2025, before thrilling audiences worldwide in theaters starting May 23, 2025.
