While I understand that extreme safety precautions are taken on sets when it comes to shooting stars doing their own stunts, it’s still pretty incredible that Tom Cruise has survived all of the Mission: Impossible movies. Be it climbing the side of the world’s tallest building or hanging on to the side of a plane as it takes off, a single mistake could mean experiencing a painful death. It’s hard not to think about when learning the details of how the various sequences were made – like the revelation that the actor found himself breathing carbon dioxide while making Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Tom Cruise is not a stranger to sequences in this franchise where he has to hold his breath for extended periods (see: Rogue Nation), but that got taken to new levels making the latest sequel. While recently speaking with Empire, Cruise talked about shooting a scene where heroic IMF Agent Ethan Hunt dives down to the wreckage of a Russian submarine, and the experience pushed his body in extreme ways:
I’m breathing in my own carbon dioxide. It builds up in the body and affects the muscles… You have to overcome all of that while you’re doing it, and be present.
It’s noted in the piece that the Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning action sequence was shot in an 8.5 million litre water tank (about 2.2 million gallons) that was on a gimbal so that the production could simulate Ethan Hunt getting caught up in an undertow. Cruise wears a special illuminated mask specifically used so that audiences can recognize that it is the actor doing his own stunt work.
While shooting the scene, he had to both focus on not dying and actually perform – which was made even more complicated by the fact that it’s not just water rushing around. For director Christopher McQuarrie, there was a special challenge in making the events both legible on screen and totally chaotic (while also making sure that Tom Cruise was always safe). Said the filmmaker,
He’s in a rotating structure filled with debris, and you had to find a way to make that environment look as chaotic and unhinged as humanly possible – but in a way that you could repeat, and that Tom could navigate, and survive.
How does Tom Cruise do it? I don’t know. Clearly the guy is built differently than most of us – both mentally and physically.
Also featuring the wonderful talents of Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, and Henry Czerny (all reprising their respective roles from from Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), the upcoming Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will see Ethan Hunt and his fellow agents once again try to defy extreme odds and try to stop an artificial intelligence from dominating the world. After years of waiting, the blockbuster is now only months away from arriving in theaters, as it will be debuting on May 23.
It’s easily one of our most anticipated titles on the 2025 movie release calendar, so be sure to keep heading back here to CinemaBlend in the coming months as we learn about more updates and behind the scenes stories.