Watch: Tom Cruise Cheats Death in His CRAZIEST ‘Mission: Impossible’ Stunt Yet
om Cruise doesn’t slow down when it comes to Mission: Impossible stunts. For his latest movie, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1, he jumped off a mountain while riding a motorcycle. Cruise himself called it “my craziest stunt yet.” He’s always done his own dangerous stunts, but this time, it was more extreme than ever.
Filming this movie wasn’t easy. According to Variety, the team planned to start shooting in Venice in early 2020. But when COVID-19 spread across Italy, everything stopped. After a short break, the crew returned to England to practice stunts and get ready.
Later in 2020, the team moved to Norway. That’s where Cruise performed the famous motorcycle jump off a cliff. Director Christopher McQuarrie shared photos from the set on Instagram when filming really kicked off. Cruise also filmed a risky fight scene on top of a moving train in Norway. He did that with actor Esai Morales.
In England, there was a major accident on set. The Daily Mail reported that a fire broke out during a motorcycle stunt. It took the team six weeks to prepare that scene, and it was one of the most expensive action scenes ever filmed in the UK. Luckily, no one was hurt.
Things didn’t always go smoothly. Production had to stop again in Italy when several crew members caught COVID-19. In London, Cruise was heard yelling at workers who broke COVID safety rules. The Sun leaked audio of him saying he didn’t want filming to stop again. Many fans and actors said Cruise was right to be strict. Some said he sounded like Les Grossman, his loud and angry character from Tropic Thunder.
Another huge scene in the film was a massive train crash. At first, the crew wanted to film this in the Swiss Alps. But the Swiss government said no when the filmmakers asked to blow up a bridge there. After that, they looked for other places and found an old railway bridge in Poland.
According to Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, the bridge was built in 1912 and had survived both world wars. Locals weren’t happy when they learned the filmmakers wanted to damage the bridge for a movie. People protested, signed petitions, and fought to protect the bridge. In the end, Poland’s officials stepped in and saved the bridge by adding it to the national heritage list.
Director McQuarrie explained on Instagram that they “never planned to blow up the whole bridge,” only a small part that was not safe. He also said “there was no disrespect intended.” Still, the situation caused a lot of anger. Andrew Eksner, a film producer, even sued McQuarrie, Cruise, and others for breach of contract.
Since blowing up the real bridge was not allowed, the crew built their own fake bridge and railway line in a quarry in England’s Peak District. In August 2021, they filmed the big train crash by sending a full-size fake train off a cliff.
Cruise also filmed parachute and speed-flying scenes in England’s Lake District. He ran off steep hillsides, jumped into the air, and landed near a lake. These scenes were very risky too. Officials from Norway helped plan the cliff motorcycle jump to make sure it was safe.
Throughout the whole process, Cruise kept pushing himself to do more. Director McQuarrie said simply, “That’s just what Tom does.” Now fans know how much danger, hard work, and even controversy went into filming these wild stunts. And Cruise seems ready to keep risking his life for every Mission: Impossible movie he makes.
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