When it comes to Mission: Impossible stunts, Tom Cruise won’t take no for an answer. The upcoming Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning may be Cruise’s last time playing Ethan Hunt, the protagonist of the iconic spy franchise. It’s not confirmed whether Mission: Impossible 8 is the last one, but if it is, Cruise is going to go out with a bang. While filming the upcoming action film, Cruise performed several awe-inspiring stunts, which is something he has done for nearly every Mission: Impossible movie.

In the lead up to Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, one specific stunt has been a focal point of the marketing. In the film, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt will hang on the side of a biplane before leaping onto another one. This sequence is teased in the trailers for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, as well as on posters for the film. However, this sequence wasn’t easy to pull off, and Cruise actually replaced the original stunt team after they claimed that this Mission: Impossible stunt wasn’t possible.

Tom Cruise Replaced The Original Wing Walking Stunt Team For Mission: Impossible 8

They Thought It Was Impossible

The practice of going out on the wing of an airplane while it is flying is called wing walking, and Cruise was determined to do this in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. This is definitely going to be one of the most exciting stunts in Mission: Impossible 8. However, in an interview with GQ, Christopher McQuarrie, the director of the film, admitted that a group of professional wing walkers told him and Cruise that this stunt would not be possible. Clearly, McQuarrie and Cruise pulled it off, largely because the latter wouldn’t take no for an answer. McQuarrie said:

“Tom said, ‘I want to be between the wings of the plane holding on to the tension wires, and I want to be in zero G between the wings.’ And wing walkers who do this for living said, ‘That will never happen. You can never do that.’ And Tom said, ‘All right, well, thank you very much for your time.'”

After being told that this stunt was not possible, Cruise and McQuarrie spoke with a different group of wing walkers and once again explained their vision. Cruise’s refusal to take no for an answer proves how dedicated he is to the art of practical filmmaking. Throughout the Mission: Impossible franchise and his other action movies, Cruise has continuously proved that he can pull off stunts that nobody else would ever even consider doing. Funny enough, McQuarrie’s reflection on Mission: Impossible 8’s wing walking stunt actually perfectly backs up a story that Matt Damon once told about Cruise.

Matt Damon Once Shared A Dinner Story With Tom Cruise After Talking About Stunts

That’s When Damon Knew Cruise Was Something Special

Like Cruise, Damon is also one of the most popular action stars in Hollywood. Damon has starred in action films like Elysium and several Jason Bourne movies. In an interview in 2023, Damon reflected on a dinner he had with Cruise not long after the release of 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. During the dinner, Cruise revealed how he pulls off the wild stunts that are seen in his movies, and specifically discussed Ghost Protocol’s Burj Khalifa sequence. Shockingly, Cruise firing someone who tells him a stunt isn’t possible is not uncommon. Read Damon’s full story below:

“There are the Tom Cruises of the world, who do their stunts, like literally hang off a plane and do that. I remember I had dinner with him once, and it was after he did the [Mission: Impossible movie] where he ran around the building. And I go, ‘Can you tell me how that happened?’ And he’s a really intense guy, and he was like, ‘I’ll tell you how it happened!’ I go, ‘Alright.’ And I’m in.

“He goes, ‘I’ve been thinking about this sH๏τ for 15 years!’ And I’m like, ‘Wow, really?’ He goes, ‘So I go to the safety guy, and I lay it all out.’ Safety guy goes, ‘We can’t do that. It’s too dangerous, you can’t do that. So I get a new safety guy.’ That’s the beginning of his story.

“And I just go, ‘Stop!’ That’s where we’re different. When the safety guy says no, I’m like, ‘Well, safety guy says it’s not a good idea.'”

It may not be the best idea to refuse to listen to someone whose job is to tell you whether a stunt is safe or not, but this practice has clearly worked out for Cruise. Since climbing the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world, Cruise’s stunts in the Mission: Impossible franchise have only become more ambitious. Therefore, after hearing Damon’s story, it’s not at all surprising that Cruise didn’t listen to the wing walkers who told him no while he was prepping his stunt for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

This New Mission: Impossible Story & Damon’s Dinner Prove Cruise Has Been Doing This For Years

He Never Took “No” For An Answer When It Came To Stunt Work

Based on these two stories, it is clear that Cruise is dedicated to pulling off the most ambitious stunts possible. Even if one expert tells him no, Cruise’s ambition and dedication to his craft leads him to consult another expert. It doesn’t matter if he’s warned that a specific stunt is very dangerous, he will do everything in his power to try to pull it off. Cruise literally puts his life on the line to make action movies, which is why his films, specifically the Mission: Impossible movies, are usually experiences unlike any other.

Source: GQ