Tom Cruise has become just as famous for his acting as for performing his own stunts in the Mission Impossible franchise. And with each new installment of the action spy series, the Oscar-nominated star has to outdo himself! Such is the case for the seventh film called Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, which hits theaters on July 12. In it, Tom tackles a “speedflying” stunt, where the actor glides down mountainsides on a small, wing-like canopy, a sport Popular Mechanics dubbed as a “bit like paragliding” but often so dangerous that “very few people in the world even attempt” it.
“With Tom, there are no limits,” the movie’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, said in a video of the stunt released by Paramount Pictures on Thursday, June 29. “So we’ve become a little more adventurous every time.” He continued, “One of the things that is particularly dangerous about speedflying is the close proximity to the ground that you’re flying and the other is the risk that the canopy can collapse.” As if we weren’t scared enough for Tom, Christopher added, “It’s very unpredictable.”
In the video, fans get an intimate look at Tom studying the speedflying stunt, practicing it, talking it over with production and ultimately making some tough decisions about it. At one point in the jaw-dropping mini doc, the Risky Business vet calls off a practice run because of the weather. “It’s too dangerous,” Tom gravely said to his fellow moviemakers.
As HollywoodLife previously reported, Tom has spent quite some time over the last few years training for this particular stunt. The training included “mastering different techniques, terrains, and weather conditions that could potentially stymie the stunt,” according to Popular Mechanics. And besides the speedflying, Tom also invested in flying lessons to deftly handle a Boeing Stearman plane for some action scenes.
Perhaps Tom felt the “need for speed” after the smashing success of Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to 1986’s smash hit Top Gun. The movie, which premiered in May 2022, had Tom reprising his iconic role of Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, with Val Kilmer returning as Commander Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. The movie, which had a box office revenue of around $1.5 billion worldwide, also starred Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, and Jennifer Connelly.