Tom Cruise reveals the one Mission: Impossible stunt that couldn't be done – and he made the Final Reckoning director try it himself to prove it

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning trailer

(Image credit: Paramount)

Tom Cruise has revealed that one of the stunts that Mission: Impossible 8 director Christopher McQuarrie wanted him to do was… well, impossible – and he made McQuarrie try it himself to prove his point.

In a clip shared on Twitter from a Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning press conference in Tokyo, Cruise said he spent years preparing for the stunt, which involves an airplane and has been teased in the movie's promotional material, including picking out the right plane.

"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,'" Cruise continued. "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."

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning flies onto the big screen on May 23. In the meantime, get up to speed with the rest of this year's biggest movie release dates with our guide to 2025's best upcoming movies.

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.

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