There’s nothing in the world that Tom Cruise enjoys more than participating in a crazy stunt. Part of this drive stems from Tom’s pseudo-indestructible Scientology vibes, but he also loves to entertain his audience. He knows how to put popcorn-munching butts in seats. In Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Tom will gleefully hang off the side of an airplane at 5,000 feet. This was perhaps the only thing Tom could do to top his infamous leap from Dubai’s Burj Khalifa in MI:4.
David Ellison (CEO of Skydance Production) spoke at a recent premiere of Terminator Genisys, and he revealed that the MI:4 insurance company told Tom not to leap from the Burj. Since nobody tells Tom Cruise what to do, the actor fired the insurance company:
On Ghost Protocol, we wanted to hang Tom off the side of a building and we actually couldn’t get insurance, and Tom wanted to fire the insurance company [laughs]. And we did and we got somebody to insure the movie. A hilarious but true story is it was the day we were actually rehearsing the Burj Khalifa, Tom was padded up, had the helmet on, and we had rehearsed for months inside these hangars and sound stages and Tom kicked off the building and, as he would describe it, spectacularly crashed into it head first, and me and Burk and Brad were like ‘this is a really bad idea.’ In true Tom fashion, while we were all arguing amongst ourselves about how we were the largest idiots known to mankind for putting ourselves in this situation, Tom reset back to one with the stunt guys and nailed it perfectly on the second rehearsal. And we all kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Well, that’s why he’s Tom Cruise.’ We shot it twice and it was spectacular.
That’s one way to get things done. The production is lucky to have found a new insurance company, although Tom probably would have found a way to leap off the building no matter what. He can’t be bargained with. He certainly can’t be reasoned with. And god only knows what madness he will attempt in Mission: Impossible 6.
Here’s a replay of the crazy Burj stunt because there can never be enough jumping Tom.
(Via Collider)
