Tom Cruise‘s death-defying stunts in the trailer for the next Mission: Impossible movie weren’t the only thing that stunned fans — his ripped physique made more than a few headlines, too.
Cruise, 62, opened up about his efforts to get in shape for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning in an interview with People, and it turns out protein played a “massive role” — particularly when it came to prepping for the dangerous task of “wing-walking” on a biplane from the 1940s over South Africa’s Drakensberg mountain range.
“I actually eat a massive breakfast,” the star said.
“The amount of energy it takes — I train so hard for that wing-walking,” he continued. “I’ll eat, like, sausage and almost a dozen eggs and bacon and toast and coffee and fluids. Oh, I’m eating! Picture: It’s cold up there. We’re at high altitude. My body is burning a lot.”
As Cruise explained, he’d been dreaming about wing-walking ever since he was a kid.
“I remember seeing old footage of wing-walking,” he recalled. “Those aircraft were only traveling at, I don’t know, 40, 50 miles an hour. This aircraft is up to over 120 miles an hour. Going out there, I was realizing that it takes your breath away.”
Wing-walking wasn’t the only demanding feat Cruise was required to perform in the upcoming action film. For an elaborate underwater sequence, the actor chose to breathe his own carbon dioxide so his face wouldn’t be obstructed by a mask.
“You’re not going to feel as connected with the character if I went with a regular mask and a thing in my mouth to breathe,” he said. “Luckily when you’re flying jets you train for hypoxia and for carbon dioxide buildup. You start to be able to perceive your body and how it’s reacting so that I knew when to stop.”
As challenging as his role might have been, however, Cruise wouldn’t have it any other way.
“On Mission, if it was easy, I guess we wouldn’t want to do it,” he said.
