Tom Cruise Made the Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning Director Go Out on the Wing of a Plane to Prove a Point About an Impossible Stunt

Legendary actor Tom Cruise has truly embodied the spirit of "impossible" in the Mission: Impossible series, pushing boundaries with each installment. In the upcoming eighth film, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, Cruise faced challenges that even he deemed impossible. During a recent press conference in Tokyo, Cruise shared how director Christopher McQuarrie proposed stunts that were beyond the realm of feasibility.

"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 in question, noting its deceptive simplicity. "Anything you'd describe, [he'd] say, 'No, you actually can't do that.' And I don't hear 'can't' from him," McQuarrie said, highlighting Cruise's usual determination.

Cruise, with his extensive experience in performing death-defying stunts for the M:I films, explained the physical limitations he encountered. "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. 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.'"

McQuarrie, after experiencing the stunt firsthand, found it exhilarating. "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 the importance of selecting the right aircraft to execute it 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 starting May 23, 2025.