Description
10. Diver Down (Rogue Nation) Eastwood likes to work with elite athletes, both on his stunt crews and in helping to train Cruise well enough so that, “there should be no one I would put in the car instead of Tom, or in the air instead of Tom. … He wants to give as much as the best person doing that specific thing would give.” For Rogue Nation, that led to Cruise and his costar Rebecca Ferguson practicing with professional divers and learning how to go without breathing for upwards of six minutes. In each take, the actors would gulp down oxygen from a tank, then wait for the crew and all the bubbles to clear, before the director yelled, “Action!” “My job is to make sure the only variable is Tom,” McQuarrie says. “I expect perfection from my crew when our star is risking life and limb for a shot. He’s allowed to mess up all he wants. No one else is. I’m not a guy you want to be around when it happens.” 9. Tunnel Vision (Mission: Impossible) Robert Towne wanted to end the first film with an extended scene of characters jabbering at each other and then pulling off masks. Thankfully, De Palma convinced everyone that they should wrap up their big action movie. Towne reportedly brushed off the new final sequence as mere “pyrotechnics,” but Cruise liked the idea of seeing his character Ethan Hunt holding tight to the top of a speeding train. He eventually tethers a pursuing helicopter to one of the cars, pulling the whirlybird into a long, dark tunnel. Though much of this stunt was shot in a studio and added danger via digital effects, the crew did employ a powerful wind machine to whip the characters around, giving a preposterous set-piece some real weight. 8. Motorcycle vs. Motorcycle (M:I-2) John Woo’s Mission sequel is generally regarded as the series’ weakest — but it does feature a few of the best stunts, including one where the hero leaps from a helicopter and a speeding-car tango involving Crusie and costar Thandie Newton. But M:I-2 is arguably best known as the entry that made Ethan’s phenomenal motorcycle skills a permanent part of his resumé. In the Blu-ray commentary track, Woo says that he thought of Hunt as a cowboy who needed his own “horse.” So he designed one long, crazy chase, where the bike-riding badass does nose-wheelies, medieval jousting and saddle tricks, while spinning around and firing his gun with deadly accuracy. It ends, naturally, with a leaping-into-mid-air fistfight and an explosion.