Tom Cruise shared a featurette for his 2023 film Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (aka M:I 7), which gave a behind-the-scenes look at “the greatest stunt in movie history.”
The stunt was a motorcycle jump off a cliff into a base jump, which was performed by Cruise instead of a stuntman.
The 60-year-old actor — who just jumped out of a plane to thank fans for the success of his movie Top Gun: Maverick — said at the start of the video: ‘I’ve wanted to do this since I was a little kid.’
Daredevil: Tom Cruise performed the “greatest stunt in movie history” by riding a motorcycle off a cliff and then base jumping for his 2023 film Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (aka M:I 7 )
There he is: The action star wore all black with a backpack on his back as he rode at top speed
They had planned to do the stunt on a cliff in Norway and built a giant ramp for Cruise to get the motorbike out of.
In the video, Cruise said, “This is by far the most dangerous thing we’ve ever attempted.”
To prepare for the stunt, the Top Gun actor assembled a group of experts from all disciplines involved in the stunt to make sure everything went smoothly.
Base jump coach Miles Daisher remarked on Cruise’s ability: “You tell him something, and he locks it down.
We took off: Cruise was seen on a harness as he cruised through the air; the motorcycle was attached to a separate cable
In the Air: This is what it looks like on film. Cruise practiced by performing more than 500 parachute jumps and more than 13,000 motocross jumps
Before the jump: in the teaser of the film, he approaches the cliff before starting
Lots of nerves: The team had to figure out the best places to position the cameras so that the stunt could be captured in the most efficient and exciting way.
“His sense of spatial awareness. He’s the most conscious person I’ve ever met.
In order to perform the stunt on camera, several experts had to figure out the best equipment and positioning to use while filming so that the stunt was captured in the best way possible.
Christopher McQuarrie, the film’s writer and director, said: “Even two years ago the cameras didn’t exist to allow us to do what we’re trying to do today.”
Cruise also mentioned that he really wanted to engage the audience and give them that thrill.
No need for a stuntman: The Mummy actor performed the stunt himself six times from a cliff in Norway
At the top of the ramp: Here he stood up as a drone filmed the waterfall from above
Months of Preparation: The Top Gun: Maverick actor and crew prepared for the stunt for several years and set up motion-capture equipment to track where he would end up in the air during the stunt.
At work: Tom and the manager didn’t seem afraid of heights as they stood at the end of the ramp
He performed over 500 skydives and over 13,000 motocross jumps to be as prepared as possible for the actual stunt.
They replicated the ramp they would use for the real stunt at a quarry in England and filled it with cardboard boxes to catch the motorcycle after Cruise left the ramp.
McQuarrie explained how they built models of the ramp to calculate where Cruise would be in the air and what trajectory he would be on.
He said: “We need to be able to consistently predict where Tom will be in three-dimensional space.”
Expert-in-the-making: The group of experts Cruise has assembled has helped him practice enough times that he can comfortably do it all on his own
When Cruise performed the stunt for real in Norway, he rode the motorcycle off the cliff and then successfully jumped six times in one day.
After the suspense-filled jumps, McQuarrie said: “The only thing that scares me more is what we have planned for Mission. [Impossible] 8.’
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is set to hit theaters on July 14, 2023.
No fear: The film’s writer and director, Christopher McQuarrie says what scares him more than this stunt is what they have planned for the next installment of the Mission Impossible franchise
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