Tom Cruise has spent the last few decades trying to convince us he’s genuinely superhuman. Throughout the Mission: Impossible franchise and other action movies, he’s thrown himself into stuntwork like few other actors before him; piloting a helicopter during a high-speed chase in Fallout, holding his breath for six minutes for an underwater scene in Rogue Nation, and – of course – Ghost Protocol‘s truly jaw-dropping Burj Khalifa set piece.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters very soon, and will continue this hot streak. Trailers have already shown the prep for a terrifying stunt in which Cruise rides a motorcycle over a cliff into a BASE jump. So, how does the 60-year-old star find the courage to stare death in the face? Is he truly a real-life man without fear?
Cruise was asked just that by CNN, with his reply sounding as if it could have come right out of Agent Ethan Hunt’s mouth:
“It’s not that I don’t get scared. It’s that I don’t mind being scared.”
It’s not as if Cruise has always walked away from these stunts unscathed. One of his most dramatic injuries came when making Fallout, where he broke his ankle when leaping between two buildings. That fracture saw him in intensive rehabilitative physiotherapy, but he was back in action just months later for more punishment.
The Mission: Impossible franchise is among the greatest action cinema of all time so we’re grateful Cruise is willing to put everything on the line to make these stunts as memorable as possible. Long may he continue to dice with death!
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One releases on July 10, with Part Two following next year on June 28, 2024.