Tom Cruise's Plane Stunt In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Took Some Convincing
Tom Cruise is one of the last true movie stars. His commitment to authenticity through death-defying stunts is crazy but also refreshing in a CGI-heavy cinematic landscape where individual actors don't shine quite as brightly. Cruise continues to top himself with each jaw-dropping stunt in the "Mission Impossible" series. Frequently without the use of a stunt double, he has done everything from scaling the Burj Khalifa, climbing on rocks one-handed, and holding his breath underwater for six minutes. One of the most spectacular action sequences is from "Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation" where Cruise actually hangs onto the side of an ascending airplane.
As Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise grips a giant cargo plane while zooming down the runway. The camera never wavers from the airplane's edge as it gets higher and higher until the ground below resembles tiny puzzle pieces. None of the shots are digital, except for the removal of wires that held Cruise onto the plane. These images of an actor genuinely risking his life for the sake of entertainment are both terrifying and thrilling. This entire opening scene is an ambitious piece of filmmaking that immediately surges the audience's adrenaline.
But it wasn't easy for Tom Cruise to perform such an intense practical effect. Since there were a lot of risks involved, the French aeronautics company in charge of the Airbus 400 had to be convinced. It was not exactly an easy decision to allow one of the biggest action heroes in the world to dangle from their massive machine thousands of feet in the air.
Flying high
According to the New York Post, Wade Eastwood, the stunt coordinator for "Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation," met with Airbus to persuade them to let Tom Cruise use one of their planes. However, the company was hesitant to allow the filmmakers to use their aircraft in such a dangerous stunt. "If one of their planes has a little hard landing, that's bad publicity for them. If they hurt Tom Cruise, it would just be bad publicity forever," Eastwood explains.
There were a lot of potential hazards with this kind of elaborate action set piece. Since the plane would rise to 5,000 feet at 184 mph, there were fears that something — "a pebble, a piece of the camera rig or, worst of all, a bird" could hit Cruise. Even while flying in ideal weather, Cruise would get extremely cold. He also had to wear special contact lenses to protect his eyes and keep them open while going at such a fast speed.
The New York Post reports that Cruise, a pilot himself, was able to win over Airbus because he just wouldn't take no for an answer. After all, the "Mission Impossible" team would take the necessary precautions to ensure that Cruise was safe the entire time: "Tom was in a full body harness and he's cabled and wired to the plane through [its] door. Inside the aircraft was an aluminum truss that was carefully bolted to the plane, which held the wires that went through the door, which held Tom."
The result is a simple yet high-octane stunt that leaves viewers stunned. It's one of the most unforgettable moments in "Mission Impossible" history. Can it be topped in the upcoming "Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning"? We'll see.