By India McCarty
Tom Cruise is known for his daredevil stunt work, but who is the man behind designing those action scenes?
“Our first time working together [was EDGE OF TOMORROW],” stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood told IndieWire. “And then when I finished, I was doing a car commercial…and I got a phone call saying, ‘Could you leave on Monday for England to do MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5?’ And I was meant to start another project, so I had to give an answer quick.”
He added, “And the rest is history!”
Eastwood shared that he is “involved in the story phase” of the movie very early on, brainstorming ideas with Cruise and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE director Christopher McQuarrie.
“They know where they’re going with the character, so they push heavy on that, and I’m trying to come up with action that’s cool and different and hasn’t really been seen before, but stays true to the story, and between the three of us, we all start pushing our own individual thing,” Eastwood said, joking, “And then once we got something that we’re all excited about from the high energy conversations, then I go into a dark room on my own and cry and work out how to do it.”
One of those stunts Eastwood designed for the latest installment in the franchise, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — THE FINAL RECKONING, involved Cruise hanging off of a vintage biplane. He explained that they worked the stunt out with dummies at first, then added the movie star.
“There I had to come up with a rigging system that would allow Tom to start in the cockpit for takeoff and landing, to step out onto the wing to spin and rotate his body with all the cables and everything to get the shot and then get back in the cockpit for landing,” he said. “So it was a complicated system, so we had to have a slack management system built into the wire that was hands free.”
Related: This MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Stunt Made Tom Cruise Pass Out
In an interview with The Times of London, Eastwood said the plane stunt “was the hardest workout you could ever do, it was very dangerous and very exhausting for [Cruise]. Many times we were carrying him off the wing because he was so tired. And he was flying all day.”
“Tom doesn’t show fear; Tom shows competence,” Eastwood continued. “He had fun during all his stunts, even when it was exhausting. He’s always positive, he’ll always put on a smile, and he genuinely enjoys it.”
Cruise’s work in THE FINAL RECKONING was even enough to score him a Guinness World Record for the most burning parachute jumps by an individual.
“Tom doesn’t just play action heroes — he is an action hero!” Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records, said. “A large part of his success can be chalked up to his absolute focus on authenticity and pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do. It’s an honour to be able to recognize his utter fearlessness with this new Guinness World Records title.”
While Cruise typically gets the praise for his amazing stunt work, Eastwood has an equal hand in the process, planning out all the action that takes place on the big screen.
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