GET TO THE CHOPPER

STUNT CO-ORDINATOR WADE EASTWOOD ON FALLOUT’S GROUNDBREAKING HELICOPTER PURSUIT SEQUENCE

IT STARTED ON JACK REACHER

“On Jack Reacher Tom said, ‘I’m going to start flying [a helicopter]”. He got with Airbus and did some lessons. Then we put him in touch with a worldrenowned stunt pilot.”

IT GOT SERIOUS ON MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5

“On Mission 5 Tom and I would helicopter to a lot of places together. He said, ‘One day I’m going to do the ultimate helicopter sequence.’”

CRUISE HAD TO GET GOOD FAST

“To do what we wanted to do in high altitude, in the mountains of New Zealand… you should be looking at 7,000 hours seat time. The big guys are 10,000-hours-plus. Tom had to learn all this in a couple of hundred hours.”

THE SEQUENCE WOULD KILL MOST PEOPLE

“Tom’s doing some serious torque turns [the helicopter body spinning in the opposite direction to the blades]… He was flying through canyons, close to the sides. The whole thing was dangerous!”

IT’S ALL CRUISE

“We let the shots last longer so people can see we didn’t cheat it. Even little things like an insert of a hand pushing a button, Tom did it. It was 100 per cent Tom.”

IT’S NOT JUST FLYING

“There’s a scene where Tom has to drop onto a ball hanging from a helicopter. We had to abort one take because we got into the rotor wash. If you have an engine failure at that height you’re pretty much guaranteed a crash landing.”

IT’S ACTING, DARLING

“I can’t stress how hard it is that Tom is flying this helicopter and acting, making sure he’s looking in the right places for the cameras. It’s Ethan Hunt flying, not Tom Cruise.”

IT’S THE HARDEST THING CRUISE HAS EVER DONE

“I’ve worked with Tom for many years and this and the sky-diving sequence [in this film] are the most physically and mentally exhausted I’ve seen him. He was pushed to his limit. He loved every minute.”