“For me, it’s about storytelling”: When the Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise spoke about doing his own death-defying stunts

In 1996, Tom Cruise entered the Mission Impossible universe as the IMF agent Ethan Hunt, who can do things that others can only dream of. He climbed on an aircraft at the last minute and jumped from the tallest building on the planet with such ease that you would think he had been doing so since he was born. The unbelievable part is how Tom Cruise has been performing all these stunts himself.

So, during the 2019 Comic-Con, comedian and talk show host Conan O'Brien asked Cruise something that must be in everyone's mind: Why does he perform his stunts himself? Why doesn't he just use stunt professionals or CGI to do their thing?

In his usual fashion, Conan phrased this question:

"What I think no one processes is the stunts that you do. You climbed Burj Khalifa, I believe and you held your breath for six-and-a-half minutes in water for one [stunt]. You hung off the side of an Airbus A400M. Now, have you ever heard of CGI and would you ever want to explore it or is it important to you to really do this [by yourself]?... You always shoot in such a way that it's clear it's you, and you're on the side of that airplane. There have been times you have been hurt, almost killed, and it makes me think: Are you a bit addicted to the adrenaline of it all?"

Tom Cruise plainly responded by saying:

"No."

Jokes apart, Cruise revealed why he likes to do these death-defying stunts in his films and spoke in detail about his creative inspirations behind them.

"For me, it's about storytelling and I grew up watching [artists like] Charley Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Abbott [and] Costello — the kind of work they did. They're classics. They made me laugh and they had tension. I want to really build stories around these things [that fascinated me as a kid]. That's why I started producing Mission Impossible movies."

Cruise further added that he hoped these stunts would "put people in the seats of the character". It can allow them to experience the rush of a life-threatening stunt, filled with suspense and dramatic tension. Cruise mentioned filmmakers like Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, who became famous for their elaborate physical quips.

Keaton, in particular, worked on set pieces that seemed as innovative as the ones that eventually appeared in action projects like Mission Impossible. So, it was great to see someone as influential as Cruise paying respect to the foundational heroes of filmmaking. Well, that's not the only time he has spoken about his love for cinema.

Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise is a cinephile: "I watch about a movie a day"

Besides Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon also spoke with Tom Cruise in 2014 about his thrilling on-set life. Fallon wondered what Cruise does in his free time when he is not working on the potentially life-threatening stunts in Mission Impossible. Cruise said:

"I watch a lot of movies. I watch about a movie a day. I try to. Yeah, I love movies. I grew up loving movies and had jobs and went to movies."

Despite being one of the biggest Hollywood stars, Cruise seemed genuinely satisfied to be able to work in movies. His eyes gleamed as he spoke about his past and his love for cinema.

"I watch all the films that come out. [In] the first apartment that I had in New York, I didn't buy drapes or anything like that. I had the biggest television that I could get with all of the [quality] systems, the laser discs, and VHS [and everything]... because the quality [on them] is incredible."

With The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible franchise enters its eighth chapter. It had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival ahead of its wider theatrical release on May 23, 2025.

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Also read: "I am CGI (Cruise going insane)": Fans react as Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning drops full-length trailer

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