Tom Cruise Has Been Told To Stop Smiling During Stunts Several Times

Famous movie star Tom Cruise, known for volunteering to perform his own stunts, occasionally forgets that most regular humans don’t typically enjoy plummeting to their possible deaths. Cruise has starred as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible mega-franchise of espionage movies from 1996 until now. Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 are both on track for release with Christopher McQuarrie directing in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

After establishing himself with diverse performances across a variety of genres, Cruise has since pivoted to the action hero role later in his career. Although the spy series is Cruise’s only long-running action franchise, the actor also starred in the Jack Reacher thrillers and has a long-awaited Top Gun follow-up coming out this November. Cruise also has a bevy of one-off action vehicles under his belly, including Valkyrie, Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow, War of the Worlds, and a reboot of The Mummy. The preternaturally in-shape star is notorious for choosing to do his own stunts in these films, many of which revolve around putting their protagonists in dangerous scenarios. On most sets, trained professionals will typically step in to do the physically challenging stunts that actors can’t reasonably be expected to perform.

During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show airing Friday per The Daily Mail, Cruise admitted that crew members have had to tell him not to smile when filming stunts. According to Cruise, the adrenaline of performing life-threatening physical acts can be so powerful that he sometimes forgets to stay in character during the action. Though Cruise may be experiencing the high of thrill-chasing while filming a given scene, Ethan Hunt would most likely not be feeling quite so chipper. Cruise explained:

I am a very physical actor and I love doing them. I study and train and take a lot of time figuring it all out. I have broken a lot of bones! The first time of any stunt is nerve-wracking, but it’s also exhilarating. I have been told a few times during shooting a stunt to stop smiling!

As with all action franchises, as Mission: Impossible produces more installments, the audience expects even more action, resulting in bigger explosions and closer brushes with death. Some of the stunts that have made Cruise smile over the years include jumping out of planes at various altitudes, holding onto an airplane’s exterior during takeoff, and driving cars during chase scenes. Cruise has also held his breath underwater while filming a drowning scene for six minutes. While recently filming Mission: Impossible 7, the actor tucked-and-rolled off of a motorcycle into open air.

It’s understandable that someone who would voluntarily participate in any of the above activities might not realize that others might be less inclined to disregard their natural instinct for self-preservation. In fairness, most of the characters Cruise plays in Mission: Impossible and other action movies are also willing to endanger themselves in order to achieve their missions. Of course, these characters aren’t usually happy to be in these situations, but that’s what acting is for.

Source: Daily Mail

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