Mission: Impossible’s Wild Tom Cruise BTS Stories Explain Why Its So Great

Tom Cruise’s wild behind-the-scenes stories explain why the Mission: Impossible franchise has remained so great over the years. Beginning with Mission: Impossible in 1996, the titular franchise centers around Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, a key member of the Impossible Missions Force that continually works to avert global, often espionage-inspired, disasters. Cruise has since become synonymous with the Mission: Impossible franchise, starring in all six action-packed, stunt-filled installments to date.

The Mission: Impossible movie series has received widespread critical acclaim as one of the standout action franchises still in production. The most recent Mission: Impossible movie, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, opened to much fanfare in 2018 amid praise for its slick combat sequences and willingness to evolve beyond the bounds of the original Mission: Impossible‘s more hard-boiled, slow-burn tension – both changes helmed by Cruise. The franchise also has two more films set to release in 2023 and 2024, respectively, with both Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8 being orchestrated by the series’ latest director Christopher McQuarrie.

Yet beyond Mission: Impossible‘s continued critical success, Tom Cruise’s behind-the-scenes true stories explain why the franchise remains so great to this day. Tales of Cruise’s daring stunt work, grueling training regimens, and willingness to push the production envelope highlight, just as much as the movies, Cruise’s daredevil persona that inexorably is woven into the Mission: Impossible franchise. In this way, it is Cruise’s lack of inhibition, despite the risks that accompany it, that makes his willingness to push the action genre’s boundaries alongside McQuarrie through the Mission: Impossible movies so compelling 26 years later.

While Tom Cruise has garnered quite the reputation performing his own stunts throughout his long and illustrious career, it is the Mission: Impossible franchise that truly allows the 59-year-old to continually push his limits. 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a prime example here, with Cruise hanging from a plane taking off to complete one of the movie’s most memorable action sequences. More recently, Cruise has also been spotted performing several daredevil stunts for Mission: Impossible 7, such as riding a motorcycle off of a cliff and pulling a parachute while freefalling, which highlight his insatiable appetite to add realism and risk to the celebrated franchise.

Moreover, Cruise’s desire to drive the Mission: Impossible franchise forward does not end with his increasingly dangerous stunts. In a Square Mile interview, Cruise’s Mission: Impossible co-star Simon Pegg recounts how, while filming Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the cast and crew received an invitation to go zip lining in Morocco, but the group was due to fly to Casablanca that evening. Cruise, however, deemed this zip lining excursion was good for morale, insisting everyone take his private jet to the zip-lining location. Pegg then notes the crew went on their zip lining adventure, which took no longer than an hour-and-a-half, then “drove to the airport, got on his private jet and flew to Casablanca.”

What this displays, therefore, is Cruise’s complete dedication to the Mission: Impossible franchise, which continues to make the film series great. Cruise, alongside McQuarrie’s fresh new direction, is ever-willing to go the extra mile to add credibility and panache to the Mission: Impossible movies, whether that be via a daring new stunt or a display of benevolence to keep his co-stars on song. Put simply, Tom Cruise’s wild behind-the-scenes actions are what keep making Mission: Impossible such a compelling project 26 years and six (soon to be eight) movies later.

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