Seven Of Tom Cruise's Craziest Stunts

In Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise and the cast trained to fly in fighter jets and experience the actual g-forces and twists and turns of being a Top Gun pilot. With some of the most unique and realistic aerial stunts ever captured on film, it pays off.

Not only are the planes doing what you’re seeing, but you experience the actors living through the dangers of intense aerial combat. It got me thinking about all the other crazy Tom Cruise stunts, and boy are there are a lot of them.

How dedicated is Tom Cruise to doing dangerous stunts? Let’s let Matt Damon explain.

Does Tom Cruise Do His Own Stunts?

Yes, the actor is known for doing his own stunts. But it doesn’t come without a cost – financial and physical costs!

“I am a very physical actor and I love doing them,” he continued. “I study and train and take a lot of time figuring it all out. I have broken a lot of bones!”

According to the Far Out interview, when the actor was filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout, he broke his ankle jumping from one building to another. The injury ended up costing the studio tens of millions of dollars because they couldn’t shoot for over two months.

“[T]he first time of any stunt is nerve-wracking but it is also exhilarating. I have been told a few times during shooting a stunt to stop smiling!”

Why Does Tom Cruise Do His Own Stunts?

“It has to do with storytelling,” Cruise told Far Out Magazine in 2021. “It allows us to put cameras in places that you’re not normally able to do.”

Now, it seems like Cruise is getting tired of answering the question. In 2022, when a writer for The Hollywood Reporter asked why Cruise puts his body and life at risk by doing his own stunts, Cruise replied, “No one asked Gene Kelly, ‘Why do you dance? Why do you do your own dancing?'”

Tom Cruise’s Craziest Stunts

So what are Cruise’s craziest stunts? Here are seven few of my favorites.

Hanging Off The Side Of An Airplane

No, really, that’s ACTUALLY Tom Cruise hanging off the side of an airplane http://t.co/KBvlylLkcl pic.twitter.com/Y62EfjAqDx

— UPROXX Movies (@UPROXXMovies) July 13, 2015

In ‘Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,’ Ethan Hunt needs to get on an escaping airplane carrying weapons of mass destruction. So he does what any super spy would do, he grabs onto one of the plane’s doors and hangs on…even as the plane takes off.

This is Cruise’s most amazing but unnecessary stunt. But damn, does it look cool.

For ‘Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation’ (2015) Tom Cruise performed the sequence where he’s hanging onto a flying airplane without digital effects or a stunt double. At times, the aircraft reached 5,000 ft in the air

? via marvinmovie | IG pic.twitter.com/04wAJNfb8V

— Film Facts ? (@Factsonfilm) July 7, 2020

Holding His Breath Underwater For Six Minutes

Staying with Rogue Nation, Cruise commits another completely idiotic but equally cool as sh*t stunt, holding his breath underwater for six minutes. For this stunt, the actor trained with elite divers to adapt his body not to need as much oxygen. To make the action even more outrageous, Cruise wasn’t just floating in the water but swimming frantically within a giant water tank.

Hanging From A Rope On A Moving Helicopter

Mission Impossible: Fallout had one of the most death-defying stunt sequences of any movie ever. And it started when with Cruise hanging onto a moving helicopter by a rope. Similar to when he hung off a moving airplane.

But it was what Cruise did when he got on the helicopter that wowed me.

That scene of the HALO jump in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT going around is funny to me since they did all that for real just to ruin it with CGI. It’s a waste!

Especially since the real showstopper is Tom Cruise going from a high-alt rope stunt right into a helicopter dogfight pic.twitter.com/by0dRaNftZ

— VyceVictus (@VyceVictus) April 5, 2022

Honorable mention is Cruise’s HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jump, that Cruise practiced for six weeks.

To create the HALO jump in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT, there were no digital effects. Tom Cruise did it for real… pic.twitter.com/AZjwNzKN14

— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) March 5, 2022

Flying A Helicopter (While Controlling The Cameras) Through A Ravine

Tom Cruise worked up to 16 hours a day to get his 2000 hours of fly-time to be certified to fly this helicopter. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, there were no cameramen on the helicopter, so Cruise also controlled the cameras while passing through the ravine.

The most dangerous stunt was a 360 corkscrew dive that Cruise had to practice several times to get right. Experts said it is one of the most challenging things you can do in a helicopter.

I’ve always wanted to do a sequence like this. Here’s a look at the helicopter stunt from #MissionImpossible. pic.twitter.com/C1cXFPiBZV

— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) February 7, 2018

Climbing The World’s Tallest Building

In Ghost Protocol, Cruise decided to scale the world’s tallest building. It was a feat so dangerous that he had to fire the safety coordinator, who said he couldn’t do it.

For a briefest moment I thought it was Tom Cruise in M:I – Ghost Protocol during tge Burj Khalifa climbing sequence. ? pic.twitter.com/FwcEHKaAFH

— Darth Talon headpiece (@Pawel_Luki) October 10, 2019

Another climbing feat of Cruise’s was his solo climb in Mission Impossible 2.

‘Mission: Impossible II’ was released into theatres on this day 20 years ago. Who could forget Tom Cruise climbing the red rocks of Dead Horse Point State Park?! #FilmUtah #TheStoryIsUtah https://t.co/G8hxknS7aW pic.twitter.com/k4I1QlEeLx

— Utah Film Commission (@Film_Utah) May 24, 2020

Driving A Motorcycle Off A Cliff

In his next Mission: Impossible installment, Cruise attempts what he said was his most deadly stunt yet, jumping a motorcycle off a cliff before parachuting down. The trick is previewed in the first trailer for the new film, which is due out next year.