Tom Cruise, the legendary actor synonymous with the Mission: Impossible franchise, has truly redefined the limits of what's possible with each new installment. For the eighth film, aptly titled Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, Cruise has revealed that director Christopher McQuarrie pushed the boundaries even further by challenging him with seemingly impossible stunts. To drive home the difficulty of these feats, McQuarrie himself took on the challenge to better understand the complexities involved.
During a recent press conference in Tokyo, Cruise shared insights into the process. "And then we talked about 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 chimed in, highlighting the simplicity yet impossibility of the stunt in question. "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, who has become renowned for his death-defying stunts in the M:I series, explained the physical constraints that made the stunt particularly challenging. "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 elaborated, describing how a “20-minute tutorial” helped McQuarrie grasp the situation. "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."
To his surprise, McQuarrie enjoyed the experience immensely. "It was great, actually," he remarked. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again." Cruise also mentioned during the conference that his preparation for this particular stunt spanned years, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right aircraft to execute it successfully.
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is set to make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, running from May 13 to May 24, 2025. Following its debut, the film will thrill audiences in theaters worldwide starting May 23, 2025.
