“Maybe I should have kept this one to myself”: Mission: Impossible Director Felt 1 Tom Cruise Stunt Was Too Risky Even for Him Only to Call it ‘Tame’ Afterwards

SUMMARY

• Tom Cruise is known for performing his own stunts, pushing the limits of what’s physically possible in the Mission: Impossible franchise.
• Director Christopher McQuarrie once regretted suggesting a stunt involving Cruise hanging off a flying Airbus A400M in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, fearing it was too dangerous.
• McQuarrie later admitted the stunt seems tame compared to the increasingly daring stunts Cruise has performed in subsequent films.

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Anti-fans have found much to hate about Tom Cruise, but even the flag-bearers of the anti-Cruise club would have to acknowledge that there is no one who does death-defying stunts like the actor. The world of Mission: Impossible has consistently pushed boundaries of what is physically possible and proven that even a human can have 9 lives, or more since it is Cruise we are talking about!

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise | Credit: Paramount Pictures

Having shown some of the most jaw-dropping stunts in the film industry, there was once a time that Mission: Impossible director, Christopher McQuarrie doubted himself only to realize that one stunt from the franchise was too tame compared to all the other stuff they have done.

Christopher McQuarrie Doubted One Tom Cruise’s ‘Stunt’ Only to Find it Tame Later

The Rogue Nation stunt Christopher McQuarrie thought was too dangerous | Credit: Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible film series, apart from being an exhilarating and entertaining action franchise, really is a course book on ‘101 Deadly Ways to Die’. Having escaped death countless times, Cruise has never held back when it comes to stunts, so much so that with each new film, fans expect the bar to be raised even higher.

Since each successive Mission: Impossible film has a legacy to live up to and the need to surpass its predecessors in terms of the deadliest stunts of all time, director Christopher McQuarrie knew they had to come up with something that could live up to the legacy of the franchise. And so the idea of Cruise hanging off a flying Airbus A400M was born in Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation (via YouTube).

While Cruise took up his friend and director’s suggestion, McQuarrie later doubted the stunt, regretting he had even thought of it. In an interview with Deadline, the filmmaker revealed,

Is there anything I wish I hadn’t suggested? Absolutely. When I’m sitting in an A400M with the engines running and my friend is strapped to the fuselage, I’m thinking, Maybe I should have kept this one to myself. 

Tom Cruise hanging off the Airbus in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation | Credit: Paramount Pictures

Doubting himself when during the stunt, McQuarrie later remarked that even the truly deadly stunt now seems tame compared to the other stuff they have done.

The truth is, that stunt seems tame now. What we’ve done since, I still can’t believe.

So while McQuarrie might have felt the need to hold back, even the filmmaker knows that nothing is truly impossible for Tom Cruise when it comes to action and stunts. And so while the Airbus scene might seem dangerous, it is indeed ‘tame’ seeing the many risky stunts the actor has done since the 2015 film.

Christopher McQuarrie Reckons There is No Finish Line for Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise is one the best stunt-performing actors in the industry | Credit: Paramount Pictures

For the last few years, director Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise have defied expectations and set a precedent of what action movies can be. Partners since 2015’s Rogue Nation, Cruise has performed some of the best and deadliest of stunts under McQuarrie’s watch.

Having witnessed Cruise jump off a cliff countless times to see him break his ankle during a ‘fairly simple’ chase sequence, the director reckons there is no ‘finish line’ for the Hollywood legend. While talking to Deadline, he remarked,

I was asked once by a film student: ‘How do you know when you’ve made it?’ I said, ‘You don’t make it. You’re making it. Actively. All the time. May you never make it. May you always be making it. May you look back one day on all you’ve made and go right on making more.’ Tom embodies that. There is no finish line, no pinnacle, no summit.

In McQuarrie’s view, after having observed the actor in all these tears, Cruise embodies the relentless pursuit of perfection. With each new project, Cruise meticulously evaluates what worked, what didn’t, and how to push it even further to cover the widest possible audience.

Stating that Cruise is not here by any accident but through intense dedication, constant effort, and desire for excellence, even we agree with the filmmaker that nobody does it like Tom Cruise and that his place at the top of Hollywood’s elite is anything but accidental.

All Mission: Impossible movies are available to be streamed on Paramount+.

Written by Maria Sultan

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