The Mission: Impossible 8 Stunt That Left Tom Cruise With A Gruesome Injury

By now, we all know that Tom Cruise repeatedly pulls off ridiculous stunts for his "Mission: Impossible" franchise (and at times for other action flicks, too) that make him look like an exuberant child with a desire for danger and death. We can call that dedication or insanity — the line between the two seems to be extremely thin for the actor — but at this point, nobody would be that surprised if Cruise left this earth after one of his stunts went horribly wrong. Still, what Cruise is doing in his early 60s in the name of cinema is pretty admirable and badass. Especially when we learn from interviews and behind-the-scenes footage about the physical rigmarole he often goes through for such shenanigans that occasionally leave him badly injured.

So here's another one for those who can't get enough: in the potentially last instalment of his action franchise, "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," Cruise was dangling off the side of a plane (again) while holding the strap of a seat belt. Although that might not faze us fans anymore while watching the 8th (!) movie, it turns out that this scene was destroying the joints in the actor's fingers and putting him in some pretty serious pain. Revealed in the bonus feature of the film's digital release (via Variety), Cruise and his director, Christopher McQuarrie, gave us some insider knowledge in the commentary about what was really going on during that sequence:

McQuarrie: "The thing we haven't talked about, holding on to this belt... This separated the joints in Tom's fingers from the force, so by the time we finished this sequence, your [Tom's] hands were absolutely swollen — oh my God, it was so painful to watch.

Cruise: "Oh, this almost broke my back. Oh, God, that was brutal."

Just another regular work day in the life of Tom Cruise, I guess.

The "M:I" franchise that's been running since the mid-'90s has supposedly finished with "The Final Reckoning," but you never know if this really is the end. Asked numerous times in various interviews, Cruise simply couldn't and wouldn't confirm whether his days as field agent Ethan Hunt are officially over. Whether that's because he was waiting on a box office analysis (the film made nearly $600 million on a $400 million budget) or because he has secret plans for the future is unclear.

According to IMDb, he has five upcoming projects currently in pre-production, in development, and in production. Two of those are attached to McQuarrie as a director, one to Alejandro González Iñárritu, and two to Doug Liman. It's almost needless to say that the majority of them will include action scenes because Cruise can no longer live a happy life without spiking his adrenaline level through danger and gruelling physical stunts. That's just part of who he is. Oh, and by the way, one of those movies above will supposedly be shot in outer space with the support of NASA and SpaceX. Apparently, there's nothing left on Earth for Cruise to conquer, so he's seeking new challenges elsewhere. I believe it's fair to say that Crazy Stunt Tom has no intention to slow down. He'll even defy time and aging if he has to, just so he can continue his adventurous and physically demanding acting career that soon is going to be literally out of this planet. Alongside millions, I'm eager to see how that will turn out.