Cruise details jump stunts at 25,000 feet
UNITED STATES: Tom Cruise has put the dangerous falling out into Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
The action star, 55, wowed CinemaCon with details and stunning footage of his High Altitude, Low Open (HALO) parachute jump stunts for the action thriller, due out on July 27.
The numbers alone for the stunt, which took over a year to plan and execute, are daunting. Cruise did the jump requiring an extended freefall – used by military special operators – from 25,000 to 30,000 feet (7620 to 9140m), flying through the air at speeds up to 350kmh with the aid of an oxygen mask.
Between training for the stunt and shooting, Cruise jumped from a C-17 military plane a total of 106 times to get the three takes he and director Christopher McQuarrie wanted.
‘‘For these films, it’s about what we can do that’s physically possible, but without killing Tom,’’ McQuarrie said.
He joked that it didn’t make sense ‘‘falling out of perfectly functioning air- craft’’. But this is what Cruise does for his Mission: Impossible franchise, including strapping himself to an Airbus A400 turboprop in flight for 2015’s Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation.
For those who doubt that the star is in peril, Cruise broke his ankle shooting a building jump for Fallout, causing production to temporarily shut down.
McQuarrie’s team had to develop a special oxygen mask which would allow Cruise’s face to be lit and not obscured by the protruding hose – so audiences will see for themselves that it’s actually Cruise jumping.
A camera operator had to be trained to use a special helmet camera to follow Cruise in the scene in flight and then fall backwards from the plane just before Cruise, keeping the closeup footage intact.
After the dramatic footage was aired on Thursday, co-star Simon Pegg put it in perspective for the applauding audience.
‘‘The difference is, you know he lived,’’ Pegg said, insisting he once truly thought Cruise had perished in a stunt.
‘‘It’s a daily stress going to work with him. You don’t know if you’ll see him tomorrow.’’ – USA Today