Tom Cruise Proves Stunt Feasibility by Making Director Hang Out on Plane Wing

Legendary actor Tom Cruise has consistently pushed the boundaries of what's possible in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and for the eighth installment, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, he's taken things to a whole new level. During a recent press conference in Tokyo, Cruise revealed that director Christopher McQuarrie challenged him with stunts that were truly impossible. To illustrate the difficulty, McQuarrie himself tried the stunt.

"And then we talked about the story and [McQuarrie] was like, 'Okay, I want you to go from here to here in a couple of seconds,'" Cruise recounted. "I was like, 'I can't do that.' He's like, 'Okay, well, I want you to do this and this.' I was like, 'I really can't do that.'"

McQuarrie chimed in, describing the stunt that stumped Cruise as deceptively simple. "Anything you'd describe, [he'd] say, 'No, you actually can't do that.' And I don't hear 'can't' from him," he added.

Cruise, known for his daring stunts in the M:I series, used his extensive experience to explain the challenges. "I said, 'Just in terms of the speed, because the force of the air, for me to move quickly on the wing was… You just can't do it,'" he explained. A 20-minute tutorial helped McQuarrie understand the physical limitations. "You're limited by the physics of how fast the aircraft is traveling and the force of the wind, that was utterly brutal. So I just said, 'Listen, I think the best thing is if you just do it. Go out, sit in the airplane, go out on the wing, and feel it. Feel the pressure. So, here I am, training him.'"

McQuarrie, who tried the stunt, found it exhilarating. "It was great, actually," he said. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again." Cruise also noted that his preparation for the stunt spanned years, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right aircraft.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival from May 13 to May 24, 2025, and will be released in theaters worldwide on May 23, 2025.