Tom Cruise Skydived with a Parachute on Fire Over 16 Times, Breaking The World Record – Behind the Scenes Footage Released

Tom Cruise never fails to amaze, and his latest stunt in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is no exception. Most people already knew that he actually hung off a biplane for real during filming, which is impressive on its own. But what happens next in the movie might surprise you; it wasn’t just special effects.

In the film, Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, jumps from a damaged biplane with a parachute, but then the parachute catches fire. He cuts it away and pulls his backup chute just in time. Many might have assumed this scene was done with CGI, but Cruise did the dangerous stunt himself, for real.

Cruise performed the jump from a helicopter at 7,500 feet above the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa.

The main parachute was soaked in fuel and set on fire during the jump. He had to carefully manage the burning parachute to avoid spinning out of control, then deploy his backup chute safely. Remarkably, he did this stunt 16 times to get the perfect shots.

In a behind-the-scenes video, Cruise explained, “What I’m going to do is I’m going to be deploying. [And] if this is twisted while it’s burning, I’m going to be spinning and burning. I have to kick out of the twist and then ignite. I got 10 seconds.”

His dedication to real stunts earned him a Guinness World Record for “the most burning parachute jumps by an individual.” Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, praised Cruise’s career and work ethic, saying, “Tom is no stranger to record breaking. Over his impressively long and consistent career, he’s proved himself to be the most powerful actor in Hollywood and the most bankable star, and he’s still the actor with the most consecutive $100 million movies on their resume and the most successful leading action hero at the worldwide box office.”

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has been getting mostly positive reviews and is expected to pass $400 million at the box office soon, likely doing better than the previous film in the series.

For fans curious about how the daring parachute scene was pulled off, behind-the-scenes footage shows Cruise’s commitment and skill in making the dangerous stunt look so real. This is just another example of how far he goes to bring excitement and authenticity to the Mission: Impossible movies.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!