Broken bones and zero gravity: 15 movie stunts that almost killed Tom Cruise

Actor Tom Cruise performs a stunt on set for 'Mission:Impossible 6 Gemini' filming on April 10, 2017 in Paris. Photo / Getty

Tom Cruise likes to think of himself as an action hero both on-screen and off. In real life he's saved a family from a burning boat, pulled a small child to safety from a movie premiere crush and used his private jet to send a badly injured crew member to hospital.
Cruise is also one of the rare A-list actors to insist on doing almost all of his own stunts. Here's a run-down of every time Cruise has danced with death in the name of art.

Mission: Impossible 6 (2018)

Well, something had to go awry eventually. While shooting a sequence for the forthcoming Mission: Impossible 6 in London, Cruise was captured by TMZ cameras attempting to leap between two buildings, but smashing into the edge of a roof instead.

While he is then seen attempting to finish the scene, he also appears to be badly limping.
Cruise's current condition is unknown.

TMZ later reported in a second story that Cruise had already tried and failed to perform the stunt at least once before, proving that one 55-year-old man can only defy gravity so often before gravity strikes back.

The Mummy (2017)

It wouldn't be a Tom Cruise press tour without a gleeful anecdote about the star nearly getting decapitated, or getting tossed out of an exploding plane onto a motorcycle or something similarly outlandish.

So, right on cue, Cruise has been busy recalling the days it took to shoot one of the standout action scenes in The Mummy, which involved him and costar Annabelle Wallis being flung around an airplane cabin in zero-gravity.

"I had to convince the studio to let me do it, and Annabelle and I had to do the scene 64 times," he revealed on The Graham Norton Show.

"It took us two days and the crew was flying around and vomiting in between takes. You couldn't train for this. Normally stunts take months of prepping but we just did it. It was wild and I can't believe the studio actually let me do it!"

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

The most extreme stunt in the fifth Mission: Impossible film has Cruise's Ethan Hunt attempts to break into a Airbus A400M, the huge military transport plane starts to taxi down the runway, before taking off with the super-agent clinging on by his fingertips.

Cruise was attached to the plane by a harness. In order to have his eyes open during the scene, the film's team used "sclera" contact lenses that would cover them both entirely, protecting them from rogue particles and hard air.

Airbus was initially reluctant to let the star do the stunt, and it took some convincing before they agreed to it. "The things we were all very concerned about were particles on the runway and bird strikes," Cruise said in an interview with Yahoo Movies.

"We spent days clearing out the nearby grass of any birds, and they brushed the runway as best they could. My stunt coordinator would poke me if he got reports of bird strikes. The pilot had to be on the lookout for anything in the air that could impact me in any way."

In the end, they shot the scene eight times. "I fly warbirds [vintage military aircrafts], I fly aerobatic airplanes, but this was pretty damn exciting and exhilarating," said Cruise. "The adrenaline was flowing! When that thing was going down the runway it was everything to keep my feet down, then it went up and my body was slamming on the side. I was like 'Whoa, this is intense.'"

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

Ever the dedicated professional, the anxiety-inducing scene in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation in which Ethan Hunt has to break into underwater security vaults was all Cruise, along with his superhuman Scientology lungs.

After training with a professional free-diver, Cruise repeatedly submerged himself under water for six whole minutes at a time in order to film the scene.

"The kind of training I had to do for that was pretty intense," Cruise said. "I've done a lot of underwater scenes but I've never done one [like this] that will get the audience to lean forward and have a visceral reaction."

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Filming a car chase sequence, Cruise was "almost killed" by his co-star Emily Blunt. As they performed the scene for a second time, Blunt had to take a hard right at high speed.
"Suddenly, as I approach the right hand turn, I hear him going, 'Brake, brake, brake... Oh God! Oh God! Brake the car! Brake the car!'"

"When I first heard him say, 'Brake', in my head I went, 'Oh, shut up', you know? As if I knew more about stunt driving than Tom Cruise!"

Jack Reacher (2012)

In 2012 Cruise told American talk-show host Jimmy Fallon how he hurt his foot after repeatedly kicking another man in the crotch during the shoot of espionage thriller Jack Reacher.

Having filmed a number of takes, what was initially a not unenjoyable activity for the actor - "the first 10 times it was like 'Yeah!'" Cruise told Fallon - became painful for him. "After about 50 times in, my foot was swelling... I kept having to loosen my shoe."

Rob Alonzo, the film's stunt coordinator, said that Cruise is "better than most stunt men. He's an incredible driver, an incredible fighter and stunt performer. He flies planes, he knows how to ride horses, he rides motorcycles, so any director would be lucky to have a guy like that because they can keep the camera on him the whole time and it's more engaging."

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

While filming Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Cruise insisted on scaling Dubai's Burj Khalifa which, at 2,723ft, is the tallest building in the world. In the movie's most memorable action sequence, Cruise's Ethan Hunt climbs up the building with adhesive gloves, then abseils down it on a makeshift rope, swinging himself through an open window.

For this last part, the actor struggled against crosswinds, and repeatedly slammed into the building: "It took a while to figure out how to not come into the building head first," he said. Although Cruise did have a stunt double, he was only used to check the rigging (Cruise wore a harness that was digitally edited out in post-production).

In order to do the stunt, the production team was forced to scrabble around for an insurance company after the first one they used refused to cover Cruise's scramble on top of the Burj.

Valkyrie (2008)

In 2008's Valkyrie, Cruise played amputee Nazi war hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who unsuccessfully plotted to assassinate Hitler. Although the actor remained unharmed during shooting, 11 extras were injured on set when they were hurled from a truck.

The side of the vehicle came loose during the filming of a night scene in Berlin, where part of the city was cordoned off and transformed into the Third Reich's power base.

Collateral (2004)

Another day, another near-death experience at the hands of a co-star. During the filming of Michael Mann's Collateral, Jamie Foxx had to drive his car into Cruise's Mercedes, but misjudged the speed. Cruise's car went flying off the set: "I was hitting the roof," said Cruise. "I was down on the ground."

"They were so worried that I had killed my man," Foxx said. "Can you imagine all that money bouncing around in the back seat?"

The Last Samurai (2003)

The Last Samurai involved 8 months of training for the then 41-year-old Cruise, including horseriding and all manner of martial arts. "I've done fight scenes before," Cruise told the Daily Mail, "but this was significantly different from anything I've ever experienced... There were over 70 points of contact where you could potentially lose your eye, your ear or your nose."

The actor came closest to death when the mechanical horses used for some of the scenes malfunctioned. While filming a fight sequence with co-star Hiroyuki Sanada, the horses were meant to stop as the two actors swung their blades. "He was approaching me and then suddenly his horse hit me and his sword was an inch from my neck".

Cruise was saved by Sanada, whose quick reflexes and skill with the sword meant he was able to avoid decapitating the Hollywood star. "I just managed to stop my sword an inch from his neck," said Sanada. "It was so hard. I was drenched in sweat! My God! But Tom never blinked! It was the biggest moment, the most dangerous moment. After that, I never hit him, he never hit me."

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

In opening scene of this 2000 sequel, Cruise's Ethan Hunt is reintroduced to viewers free-climbing cliffs at Utah's Dead Horse Point. Cruise did all of the climbing save for the moment his character slips from the cliff. He was winched in and out of position and the harness he wore for safety was removed in post-production.

Director John Woo said that he was too terrified to look through the viewfinder as the scenes were shot, fearing that his star might slip 2,000ft to his doom. Cruise would not be persuaded against doing the stunt, though, and even tore his shoulder jumping across the cliff-face in the pursuit of the perfect shot.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

The first Mission: Impossible film set the tone for all that followed. Here, aside from the famous dangling-on-a-rope break-in scene, the most memorable stunt was the one which saw giant fish tanks explode, bringing with them a tidal wave of glass.

Cruise did the stunt himself, to the horror of director Brian De Palma and Cruise's producing partner Paula Wagner. Fortunately he walked away with nothing more than a hurt ankle. One of the other stuntmen was unluckier still, as a piece of glass cut a gash in his leg.

Far and Away (1992)

For his role in the 1992 immigration drama Far and Away, Cruise had to play a contender in the world of bare-knuckle boxing.

"I caught a few shots," Cruise said. "The stunt guys didn't want to hurt me, but it had to look real."

"I screamed," said Nicole Kidman, who co-starred in the film. "I saw the bruises to his body and said you better tell Ron [Howard, the director] what's happening. But [Tom's] pretty tough."

Days of Thunder (1990)

The idea for this Nascar racing drama was Cruise's: he'd been introduced to the sport by Paul Newman when the two were filming The Color of Money. Cruise did his own driving, naturally, and was praised by real-life racers for his control of the stock cars.

There was one occasion, though, when he lost control of his car. After shimmying to the left, he tried to take a right-hand turn, with the result that the car span off the track. Although Cruise wasn't badly hurt, the $100,000 camera that was attached to his car was totalled.

Top Gun (1986)

While filming the climactic post-crash scene in which Cruise's character holds Goose's lifeless body in the ocean, the actor's parachute began to fill up with water without him realising. Luckily a frogman noticed the swelling and cut the chute loose seconds before it could drag Cruise down to the depths. "Cruise came as close to dying as anybody on a set I've ever seen," said Barry Tubb, who played Wolfman in the film.

Sadly, Top Gun's aerial camerman Art Scholl wasn't so lucky. Scholl's biplane spun out of control as he filmed scenes meant to show Maverick's POV as his jet plunged into the sea; he crashed, and was killed instantly.