MAN ON A MISSION At a Beijing event for co-stars Henry Cavill and Simon Pegg reveal the death-defying lengths that Tom Cruise went to in a bid to thrill the film’s audiences, Cheng Yuezhu reports.

Accompanied by the pulsating theme tune of the film and the cheering of fervent fans, the stars of Mission: Impossible — Fallout — Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Henry Cavill and director Christopher McQuarrie — strode down the stairs of the Imperial Ancestral Temple of the Forbidden City in Beijing on Aug 29. As if blurring the boundary between the film and reality, the director and actors appeared on the red carpet in China and talked about the challenging yet stimulating filmmaking process.

This year sees the sixth installment of the action-packed franchise, which debuted in China on Aug 31. Since its world premiere on July 12, and as of Sept 4, the film had reaped a global box office of $649.10 million.

Within five days of its China release, the cumulative box office of the film had totaled 599.75 million yuan ($87.94 million), with the potential to become the highest-grossing movie in the series.

With a running time of 147 minutes, this installment is, so far, the longest of the series, providing a medley of spine-tingling stunts, including leaping between rooftops and a helicopter dogfight.

As usual, Cruise — reprising his role as errant IMF agent Ethan Hunt — performed all of his stunts himself and Fallout features the actor performing the first known on-camera HALO jump (high altitude, low opening), a skydiving technique used largely in military operations to avoid detection and covertly deploy personnel and supplies.

According to McQuarrie, not only did Cruise have to jump from 25,000 feet (7,625 meters), but due to the special requirements of the lighting, there were only three minutes in the day that were appropriate for shooting the scene. In the end, it took Cruise and the camera crew over 106 jumps to finish filming the sky diving sequence.

“It’s very complex,” says Cruise. “We had to teach the camera operator how to shoot the movie. The guy is an incredible camera operator and photographer who films sky diving, but not the kind of storytelling that we have in this movie — and it looks like it’s all one take. Originally, it was designed to be six different shots, but we managed to get it done in three.”

The same level of exertion went to the helicopter scene, for which Cruise had to acquire a helicopter pilot’s license, due to his insistence for performing the stunt without the help of computer-generated imagery or body doubles.

Cruise got his license within 12 days. However, to become an experienced pilot, he was required to train around the clock.

“I studied the book beforehand, and I went in for 12 days and got my license. Then I trained for a year and a half afterward to get my ratings and to fly aerobatics,” Cruise says.

The filming process was so risky that the film crew was constantly worried about the actor’s safety.

“We experienced a degree of tension that even the audience don’t get,” Pegg adds. “Because, when you watch the film, you know that Tom’s OK, because you saw him on the red carpet and doing interviews. When you’re making the film, however, you don’t know if he’s gonna make it.”

In fact, Cruise suffered a broken ankle while filming a scene by smashing into the side of a building when jumping between rooftops — adding to the long list of injuries he has sustained over the course of making the six-movie series.

Cavill, who was involved in several fight scenes with Cruise, remarks: “It always impresses me how professional Tom is, even when he had his broken ankle. He was constantly saying we go one hundred percent.”

Cruise’s professional dedication toward his craft remains a major factor in the support for the Mission: Impossible series from Chinese moviegoers. Numerous commentators on Sina Weibo have commended the actor’s effort, including a user named Xiayanshi who observes, “Tom is so strenuous and devoted”. Sophie Fadaizhong points out, “Tom is a true actor willing to risk his life and is worthy of our love.”

He Yan, a cultural critic with over 3 million Weibo followers, says: “Viewers like us are so lucky to have these kinds of actors at our age. Despite the increasing use of the visual effects technique green screen, there are still successful and famous actors who are willing to perform the stunts by themselves. It shows a kind of nostalgic respect for films.”

To express their love and support for the series and the actors, fans from around the country submitted videos to be shown at the Fallout’s promotional event. The compilation of short videos showcased fans participating in extreme sports, performing magic tricks and sending their best wishes for the success of the movie.