Bike jump off the cliff – 10 blatant “Mission: Impossible” stunts

Tom Cruise is known for doing his own stunts. In December, the 61-year-old actor shared a behind-the-scenes video of him riding a moped up a ramp and jumping off a cliff for the new ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie. (That little braggart.)

Cruise did this stunt six times in one day to complete the scene. He doesn’t even think about stopping. He recently announced his intention to play Ethan Hunt as long as Harrison Ford played Indy. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters July 13.

Cruise risked his life more than once for the following nine additional stunts:

In “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”, a chase takes place in the narrow streets of Paris. Cruise whizzes through the lanes at high speeds, causes countless near misses with other vehicles and other obstacles, and performs plenty of high-risk drifts – all without a helmet or other safety precautions.

The actor did all the rides himself – as seen in a behind-the-scenes video. Including the biggest car stunt in the movie: a 180-degree drift and then down a flight of stairs. When the stunt coordinator is asked who will be doing this stunt, he says, “Tom is the best driver I’ve got.”

To shoot underwater in “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” Cruise increased his lung capacity, slowed his heart rate, and learned to hold his breath for six and a half minutes. The scene was supposed to be only four minutes long – Cruise insisted on taking two and a half minutes.

In any other movie, this scene would have been reworked with CGI – not in “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”. Tom Cruise clung to a plane taking off and held on until it touched down again. He did this stunt a total of eight times.

In the fourth part of «Mission: Impossible», Ethan Hunt climbs the tallest building in the world: the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. None other than Tom Cruise hangs from the facade.

Another skill Cruise learned for Mission: Impossible is flying a helicopter. In just three months, he got his pilot’s license and navigated aerial stunts all by himself.

During a performance of this stunt, Cruise accidentally fell early and was unable to grab hold of the cargo net. Instead, it bounced off the load and was flung through the air before being caught by its safety line and dangling in the air. Cruise specifically asked not to use a delay mechanism so that the impact felt more realistic. Conditions were also difficult as the scene was filmed in the cold New Zealand winter.

For this stunt in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”, a special helmet for Cruise had to be developed, which is not only a movie prop, but can also perform life-saving measures. During this 25,000-foot jump, Cruise was threatened with oxygen deprivation and rapid decompression injuries.

Cruise was the first actor to make such a leap in front of the camera.

During the climbing scene in “MI-2”, Cruise was tied to a rope in case he fell. That was the only safety precaution, as it dangled 2,000 feet above the Colorado River.

Compared to the other stunts, this London rooftop chase almost sounds boring. But it was during this scene that Cruise suffered one of the biggest injuries on the set of “Mission: Impossible”: He broke his foot.

That injury made it into the movie and the moment he hobbles afterwards is 100 percent real. Filming was interrupted only briefly due to the injury, and Cruise was back in front of the camera shortly after.