BTS footage shows Tom Cruise preparing for what he calls his ‘most dangerous stunt ever’ — jumping off of a cliff with a motorcycle without any harness for Mission Impossible 7. Tom Cruise shared a lengthy video showcasing some unseen behind-the-scenes footage from his most ambitious and most daring stunt yet. The actor, known for performing some death-defying action sequences in his movies, will be seen jumping off a steep cliff with a motorcycle in the upcoming seventh installment of the Mission Impossible series.
A glimpse of the scene has been shown in the film’s first teaser. The new video shows extensive BTS footage of how the actors prepared for the scenes. Also read: Tom Cruise records message for fans as he jumps off plane in ‘insane’ new video
The video opens with a shot of a ramp at the side of a cliff with Tom’s voice saying, “This is far and away the most dangerous thing we’ve ever attempted. This will be a bike jump off a cliff into a base jump. I’ve wanted to do this since I was a kid.” A montage then shows all of Tom’s prep into this death-defying stunt, before director Christopher McQuarrie comes onto screen. He says, “Tom put together this master plan to coordinate all of these experts in each of the particular disciplines involved to make this thing happen.”
The coaches and experts then explain that Tom underwent one year of base jumping training and canopy training to prepare for the stunt. Shots show the actor BASE jumping off an airplane with the experts in tow. The action then moves to the ground where Tom practices on a motocross bike. The crew explains that they built a motocross track for the actor to practice on and that he is comfortable jumping over 70-80-feet table tops with ease.
Director Christopher says, “Coming up with the stunt was just one of the challenges. The other is to put a camera to film it from the right angle.” The stunt crew then details that Tom did 500 skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps to prepare for the stunt. They then built a replica ramp in England for Tom to simulate the motorcycle jump and get it right before moving to Norway to film the actual stunt.
Officially titled Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1, the seventh MI film will be released next year, followed by Dead Reckoning Part 2 in 2024, which is expected to wrap up the series with Tom. The successful franchise has been on since 1996 when the first film was released in theatres. Tom has starred in all of the films in the series.