At this point in his life, Tom Cruise has essentially forged a new career as a death-defying stunt performer in addition to his status as a world-renowned Hollywood actor.
Continuously finding new ways to push the boundaries for practical stunt performances forward, the 62-year-old Cruise has regularly insisted on portraying his own stunts — no matter how dangerous they might be on the surface.
Case in point with Cruise’s work within the Mission: Impossible franchise, which sees the Top Gun actor doing everything from scaling the tallest building in the world to hanging off the side of an airplane during takeoff (amidst speeds of 140 m.p.h., no less).
In a new interview with People magazine, Cruise shed light on these various risky performances within the Mission: Impossible series, as well as the unique challenges that come with performing such stunts in person.
To better prepare for these feats, Cruise told People that he’s “constantly training,” increasing his knowledge of such activities as “the piano or having more time to dance. Or parachuting or flying airplanes or helicopters. The wonderful thing is you’re never there. It can always be better.”
In the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible series (The Final Reckoning), Cruise’s character specifically forms a high-risk wing-walking feat across a mid 20th century biplane. For the longest time, Cruise admitted to wanting to walk across an airplane’s wing after watching footage of the feat as a young boy.
“Those aircraft were only traveling at, I don’t know, 40, 50 miles an hour,” Cruise said of the scenes he saw as a child. “This aircraft [in The Final Reckoning] is up to over 120 miles an hour. Going out there, I was realizing that it takes your breath away.”
The array of stunts viewers will witness in The Final Reckoning promise to be no less intimidating or logistically difficult. However, Cruise has proudly said that he’s up for the challenge, clarifying to People, “On Mission, if it was easy, I guess we wouldn’t want to do it.”
