Tom Cruise Forces Director to Prove Stunt Feasibility on Plane Wing

Legendary actor Tom Cruise has truly redefined the term "impossible" with his daring stunts in the Mission: Impossible series. With the eighth installment, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, Cruise has taken things to a whole new level. In a surprising twist, director Christopher McQuarrie challenged Cruise with stunts that were, quite literally, impossible. To drive home the point, McQuarrie himself attempted one of these feats.

During a recent press conference in Tokyo, Cruise shared insights into the challenging discussions with McQuarrie. "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 recounted. "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 that proved too much even for Cruise. "It was the simplest thing," he said. "Anything you'd describe, [he'd] say, 'No, you actually can't do that.' And I don't hear 'can't' from him."

Cruise, a veteran of death-defying stunts in the M:I films, drew on his extensive experience to explain the physical limitations. "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 insisted. He described how a "20-minute tutorial" helped McQuarrie understand 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."

Surprisingly, McQuarrie 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 revealed that he had been training for this particular stunt for years, emphasizing that selecting the right aircraft was crucial to pulling it off successfully.

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 on May 23, 2025.