Tom Cruise Showed Off His Insane ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Motorcycle Cliff Jump That Required A Year Of Training

After months of teasing it as Tom Cruise’s most dangerous stunt yet, Paramount gave CinemaCon a glimpse at the actor’s latest death-defying action scene in Mission: Impossible 7 that involves literally launching him off of a cliff in Norway. In a behind-the-scenes clip shown to CinemaCon attendees on Thursday, an absolutely giddy Cruise talks about the motorcycle stunt that he’s wanted to do since he was a “little kid.” Via Deadline:

Cruise trained for the feat by skydiving in the air. A cycle jumping course was built, which Cruise trained on, jumping hills. “I have to be so good that I don’t miss my mark,” says Cruise.

Cruise barrels down a ramp off a cliff and in mid-air lets the bike go before his parachute is released. McQuarrie mouth drops as he watches the first take of Cruise. “Tom Cruise just rode a bike off a cliff six times today,” says one of crewmembers in the BTS shot.

As the clip comes to an end, director Christopher McQuarrie says, “The only thing that scares me more is what we’ve got planned for Mission 8.”

The motorcycle stunt is yet another in a long line of stunts that could’ve easily ended very badly for Cruise. But according to The Hollywood Reporter‘s Aaron Couch, Cruise didn’t approach the motorcycle jump lightly and he spent a year preparing for it.

“Cruise trained for a year doing 500 skydives and 13,000 motorbike jumps,” Couch reported from CinemaCon. “They captured this on day one of principal photography. Genuinely scary watching him do this.”

Mission: Impossible 7 jumps into theaters on May 27, 2022.

(Via Deadline, Aaron Couch on Twitter)