Tom Cruise Made the Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning Director Go Out on the Wing of a Plane to Prove a Point About an Impossible Stunt

Legendary actor Tom Cruise has consistently pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and The Final Reckoning is no exception. Director Christopher McQuarrie challenged Cruise with stunts that seemed almost impossible, but as Cruise explained during a press conference in Tokyo, even McQuarrie had to face the limits of reality when trying to explain the impossible.

"And then we talked about the story, and Chris was like, 'Okay, I want you to go from here to here in a couple of seconds,'" Cruise recalled. "I was like, 'I can't do that.' He said, 'Okay, well, I want you to do this and this.' I said, 'I really can't do that.'"

McQuarrie admitted that the stunt wasn’t complex but was indeed physically demanding. "It was the simplest thing," he said. "But anything you'd describe, Tom would say, 'No, you actually can't do that.' And I don’t hear 'can’t' from him often."

Cruise, who has performed numerous daring feats in the M:I series, knew firsthand the limitations imposed by physics. "In terms of the speed, because the force of the air, for me to move quickly on the wing was... You just can't do it," Cruise explained. A "20-minute tutorial" helped McQuarrie grasp the challenge. "You're limited by the physics of how fast the aircraft is traveling and the force of the wind—it was utterly brutal. So I said, 'Listen, I think the best thing is if you just do it. Go out, sit in the airplane, go out on the wing, and feel it. Feel the pressure.'"

McQuarrie embraced the experience. "It was great, actually," he said. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again." Cruise also noted that years of training and selecting the right aircraft were crucial to making the stunt work.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival from May 13 to May 24, 2025, and release worldwide on May 23, 2025.