Watch Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible’ Death-Defying Helicopter Stunt

Viewers who head to theaters in July for Mission: Impossible — Fallout will experience a totally new kind of Cruise control. That’s because Tom Cruise, who is known for doing his own stunts, actually flew the helicopter involved in a death-defying stunt for the action movie.

Paramount Pictures released behind-the-scenes footage of the stunt, in which stunt officials said Cruise not only learned how to fly the helicopter on his own, but that he was also responsible for operating the camera — all while playing Ethan Hunt.

“None of this has ever been attempted before,” writer/director Christoper McQuarrie said.

“It’s super important for a movie like Mission to be doing it all practically and for real,” stunt coordinator Wade Easton said. “Tom doesn’t want to sit in a green screen. The audience can tell when something has been cheated.”

According to producer Jake Myers, special camera rigs were created to show that Cruise is flying the helicopter on his own — while Henry Cavill’s character tries to blast him out of the sky.

Making the stunt even more dangerous, 13 helicopters were in the air at once. Praising Cruise’s bravery and dedication to the movie, Easton said, “Most pilots wouldn’t attempt this.”

In the scene, Cruise sends the helicopter into a terrifying 360-degree corkscrew spiral.

Cruise also shared the behind-the-scenes footage on Instagram, writing that he’s “always wanted to do a sequence like this.”

Luckily, the scene went off without a hitch; the same can’t be said for other stunts Cruise has attempted on set. Over the summer, Cruise was trying to jump from one building to another, and intentionally slipped. As he hit the building, however, he jammed his foot, sending it in a direction it is not supposed to go.

The accident forced the project to shut down for six weeks. Filming still has not completed, but Paramount expects to get the movie out on time this summer.

“It’s still broken, but I’m doing well,” Cruise told Graham Norton on his eponymous show in January. “It’s not fully healed, but we’re shooting.”

Cruise has been sharing teasers and posters for the sixth installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise. On Thursday, Feb. 1, the 55-year-old shared a poster that features a silhouette of himself over white background. Inside the outline of the actor is a mountain range with a helicopter flying high above it as someone, presumably Cruise’s character, hangs from it by a rope.

During the Super Bowl, the official trailer aired for the first time. McQuarrie has stated that MI:6 will be an “emotional journey” for Ethan Hunt, saying “I want an emotional journey for this character, and Tom (Cruise) really embraced it.”

Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa Faust) and Sean Harris (Solomon Lane) will be joined by other returning cast members Ving Rhames (as Luther Stickell), Simon Pegg (as Benjamín “Benji” Dunn), Michelle Monaghan (as Julia Meade-Hunt) and Alec Baldwin (as Alan Hunley).

It looks as if Jeremy Renner, who played William Brandt in both Rogue Nation and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, will not be returning for the sixth installment of the franchise. However, Man of Steel’s Henry Cavill has been added to the cast.