The Mission: Impossible franchise has got quite a reputation for going above and beyond when it comes to its death-defying stunts. There was one such Mission: Impossible - Fallout sequence that was so dangerous (this coming from the movie where Tom Cruise literally broke his leg leaping from roof-to-roof) that Henry Cavill wasn’t allowed to take part because he would’ve killed everyone. Probably for the best.
Cavill tells Good Morning America (H/T Digital Spy) that the movie’s HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) jump out of a plane from 30,000 feet – which Tom Cruise, ironically, was allowed to do – was absolutely off-limits for the Superman actor.
“I said, 'Guys, anything that's legal and won't involve me killing people if I mess up, then I'm in', I got to do all my own stuff apart from one! I could not do, and this was the most heartbreaking thing for me, a HALO jump,” explains Cavill.
But there was a very good reason for that. Ever heard the one about Superman falling from the sky and outright squashing several film crew and Tom Cruise? No? Yeah, here’s why, as Cavill reveals: “Tom eventually said to me, 'I understand what you're saying. I'd love for you to do it, but if you do, the chances are you will kill me and everyone else in the process'."
So, that was the story of how Henry Cavill wasn’t allowed to jump from 30,000 feet and Tom Cruise was. The perks of being a leading man, eh?
There’s plenty more where that came from. Check out our list of the best movie stunts that you won’t believe aren’t CGI. Tom Cruise crops up more than once – because of course he does.
