Tom Cruise is no stranger to dangerous stunts, but this one pushed his body too far.
The 62-year-old will reprise his role as super spy Ethan Hunt for what will reportedly be the last time in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
A trailer for the forthcoming instalment of the action franchise was one of several film trailers debuted during the Super Bowl on Sunday (9 February).
As expected, the clip promised action-packed sequences and death defying stunts from the actor.
In a recent interview with Empire, Cruise spoke about just how intense shooting was on his latest film, revealing that he even passed out during one stunt.
The scene in question sees Cruise holding onto a 1930s plane as it soars through the air.
“When you stick your face out [of an airplane], going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen,” Cruise told the publication.
“So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit.”
Cruise is well-versed in stunt work with the previous Mission: Impossible films having shown the actor climbing the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai, jumping off a cliff, and clinging to the roof of a speeding train.
The stunts are bound to get even more extreme in this next entry into the franchise, with one stunt making director Christopher McQuarrie “want to puke” from “the stress”.
“There are stunts in this movie that will melt your brain,” McQuarrie said. “There would be a day in Africa – any day in Africa – where Tom would go out and do something that topped anything he had ever done before.”
It’s likely the stunts will be bigger and bolder than ever before in The Final Reckoning as the film is reportedly Cruise’s swan song as Ethan Hunt.
The Final Reckoning will be the eighth Mission Impossible film, a series that began in 1996 and has helped establish Cruise as one of the leading action stars in Hollywood.
The actor, however, remained vague on whether it would really be the final instalment when he was asked about it in the same interview.
Quizzed on the future of the franchise, Cruise reportedly laughed and said: “You gotta see the movie.”
He added: “It’s a hard thing for me to discuss at the moment because it really is something that you have to experience.” He also described the movie as “an epic, emotional journey of the entire franchise”.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is scheduled to hit theatres on 23 May 2025.
The film was originally slated for a 2022 release but was delayed by the pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA strike.
