As Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning heads to cinemas next week, Tom Cruise recently talked about his most impressive stunts in the action franchise. That includes one early particularly risky stunt in Mission: Impossible II where he decided to go ahead despite having a broken foot, and he never mentioned it to anyone.
"Some of these injuries, what’s the point?", he said during a recent chat with Empire, where he took a trip down memory lane to talk about his best action moments in every Mission: Impossible movie. From the iconic heist scene in the original movie to the intense car chase in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, the list makes it clear why Cruise is the king of Hollywood stunts.
One particular memory has stuck with us, however, as Cruise recalls his experience free climbing a mountain in Moab, Utah, for the opening scene of the second instalment of the saga. "I wanted to do a climbing sequence," he said, explaining how he ended up pushing the studio to film this scene after heavy rainfalls made it impossible to follow their initial shooting plans in Australia.
"Now we're into the winter months in Moab, I've flown all the way from Australia, and there are gale force winds. So we can't even have my crew up on the mountain. I have pushed the studio for the opening of this movie, and you can't even get there to set up the camera. I am so exhausted from jet lag, and I don't know how to call the studio, and I'm not shooting, and you feel the pressure of shooting something, and for six months they've been wanting me to change the opening sequence.
"And what happened is, I remember waking up the next day, and I was just like, 'You have to confront this.' And the sun was coming up, and the wind was gone, and the temperatures had come up. So I was like, 'Let's get to the top of the mountain and just start shooting it now.'"
The pressure to film the sequence only got worse as Cruise started free climbing the mountain, naturally, all by himself.
"This is back in the days where you didn't have radios, and I'm free climbing as I'm going up to where I need to be for that opening shot. I had to pace myself, because I had to climb down afterwards, and if I fall, there's a cable that's going to get me, but I'm going to be slamming up against the mountain. And the rock is very soft rock. At certain times you're going, 'Jesus, I’m sliding, it's breaking away.' As I'm doing the Iron Cross (a move where he is suspended between two pieces of rock), I'm actually hanging there, but it isn't quite right, and you can see it. I was like, 'Just tell me this is the shot, because I can't do it again.'
"What people don't know is that there's a section where I'm jumping high to low, but my foot was broken. And I never mentioned it to anyone. Some of these injuries, what's the point? You just keep going. So I'm jumping, and my foot wasn't right. John Woo [director] was like, 'We've got the shot.' I was like, 'No, we want it in one shot, I gotta keep doing it.' And that's the shot that's in the movie. But it was so much fun working with John, doing that sequence, because I knew it was our [marketing] campaign."
There is little Tom Cruise wouldn't dare to do for a movie, and that's also true of the upcoming new Mission: Impossible film. The Final Reckoning features an underwater scene that pushes the limits even for Cruise's standards, as the actor risked suffocation in the most "challenging" and "terrifying" stunt of the action franchise.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits cinemas on May 23, 2025. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming movies and 2025 movie release dates you need to know about, and see our rankings of the best Mission: Impossible movies.
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