From climbing the world’s tallest building to clinging to the wing of a plane in flight and even jumping on Oprah’s couch — there’s a reason why Tom Cruise is the last great action star.
It’s simple: stunts.
In the 15 years since the release of 2011’s “Ghost Protocol,” the fourth “Mission: Impossible” film, Cruise has done increasingly hair-raising stunts in each of his new movies.
Earlier in his career, Cruise acted in a greater mix of genres, including the 1994 horror “Interview with the Vampire,” the 1996 comedy-drama “Jerry Maguire,” and the 1999 erotic thriller “Eyes Wide Shut.” In that era, he was considered widely a sex symbol.
Now, he trades in extaordinay feats.
“I’m always pushing,” Tom Cruise told Business Insider in 2023 on the red carpet for “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning.”
“Every time they say, ‘Can you top it? Can you not top it?’ We’re always pushing. Every film I do, whatever genre it’s in, I want to make it as entertaining as possible for that audience. I know I can do things better,” he said.
And it’s a winning tactic. “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which Cruise flew in real fighter jets, raked in $1.5 billion in 2022, while “Dead Reckoning,” where he leapt off a mountain on a motorbike, made $567 million.
In “Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning,” which is out on Friday, Cruise performs two nerve-shredding stunts: a scuba dive into the wreck of a submarine that rolls down into an ocean trench, and the climactic third act, where his character clings on to a biplane in flight.
It’s expected to make $80 million in its opening weekend, The Hollywood Reporter reported, citing the National Research Group.
Cruise’s enduring star power can even grab the attention of the most seasoned industry insiders. Rob Mitchell, the director of theatrical insights at film tech company Gower St. Analytics, recalled working as a sales analyst at Paramount in 2011, when employees did a set visit to see Cruise climb the Burj Khalifa.
“Everyone was taking pictures inside the Burj Khalifa, with Tom Cruise outside waving in,” he told BI.
These sorts of stunts signal to audiences that Cruise is a bona fide star who is hardworking and takes his craft seriously—all ingredients of a movie more likely to be worth their hard-earned cash.
Referring to “Mission: Impossible,” Mitchell said: “There comes a point where people aren’t really going for the story as much as they are for the excitement and the thrills.”
“In an era dominated by CGI superheroes, Cruise’s staying power lies in the ‘authenticity’ of his performances,” Stuart Joy, the course leader of film and TV at Solent University, UK, told BI. “Like Christopher Nolan, he champions analogue filmmaking in a digital age. But while Nolan does so behind the camera through practical effects and large-format film, Cruise embodies it on screen through real stunts and real danger.”
Cruise’s dedication to filmmaking has taken him around the world. During an interview at the BFI in London in May, he said he would “force” studios to send him to different countries to learn how movies were made there.
He also said encourages younger stars to “spend time in the editing room, produce a movie, study old movies, recognize what the composition is giving you, know what those lenses are, understand the lighting and how to use it for your benefit.”
Last year, Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” costar Glen Powell told GQ that he was sent to a theater in Los Angeles to watch a six-hour “film-school” movie that Cruise made just for his friends.
“[Cruise] is like: ‘Do we all agree that this is what a camera is? This is the difference between a film camera and a digital camera…’ The funniest part is on flying. It was like he put together this entire flight school. So he would literally go ‘OK, this is what a plane is. Here’s how things fly. Here’s how air pressure works,'” Powell said.
Centering his career around stunts is a smart PR move
As well as being undeniably impressive, stunts help to keep past controversies out of the conversation, Joy said.
“Cruise’s transition from character-driven roles to stunt-centered performances seems intentional, not just as a creative decision but as a deliberate attempt to recalibrate public perceptions of his star persona,” he said.
“After the mid-2000s controversies (most infamously the Oprah’s sofa moment and scrutiny of his ties to Scientology) Cruise has successfully redirected the audience’s attention,” Joy added, referring to the moment in 2005 when he jumped on Winfrey’s sofa while talking about his love for his then-girlfriend, and now ex-wife, Katie Holmes.
“Rather than inviting emotional connection through vulnerability, he now earns our praise and admiration through the spectacle of physical risk,” Joy said.
Next, Cruise plans to shoot a movie in space with his “Edge of Tomorrow” and “American Made” collaborator, director Doug Liman.
In 2020, Deadline reported that Universal planned to spend $200 million on the film, and collaborate with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to shoot it. Cruise and Liman were originally set to take flight in 2021, but the project is yet to materialize.
If it does get off the ground, audiences will likely flock to see “the ultimate Tom Cruise movie,” as Mitchell puts it.
But wherever Cruise’s career takes him next, Joy said that one thing is for certain: “He’s made himself the guardian of a traditional cinematic spectacle.”
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