This summer, Mission: Impossible – Fallout proved that Tom Cruise was not only still a box-office king but that age will not slow him down in his quest to perform increasingly demanding stunts. The sixth installment in the franchise showed Cruise undertaking what was arguably his riskiest business yet, which included dangling from a helicopter during the film’s action-packed climax. Well, the film’s (Nov. 20) DVD and Blu-Ray release will include some behind-the-scenes admissions from cast members who feared that their co-star had actually died during the course of filming this stunt.
As revealed by Esquire, Rebecca Ferguson admitted that she had no idea Cruise was wearing a safety harness. “I heard myself scream,” she said of the moment when the Ethan Hunt character loses his grip. “I actually thought he fell.” Henry Cavil added, “There was an audible gasp from the crowd. That’s a huge drop.” For his part, however, Cruise seemed pretty nonchalant while simply admitting that he prefers to limit takes on these scenes. “You know it’s going to be a big impact. It really knocks the wind out of me,” he stated. “Those takes you don’t do many of them. You do them until you get them, then it’s like please let’s move on.”
While Cruise did break an ankle during another scene (a rooftop chase with Cavill), he was perfectly fine after the helicopter stunt. And although he’s well aware that he freaks people out with his stunts, that won’t prevent him from undertaking more astounding feats in the future. The next M:I film might actually go to space, which won’t cause any anxiety at all for the cast, right? Gulp.
(Via Esquire)
