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. 

Related: Top Gun: Maverick Review: Tom Cruise Sets A New Standard For All Film Sequels

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 

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.

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.

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

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.

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. 

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

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. 

What’s your favorite Tom Cruise stunt? Let us know in the comment section below.

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