Tom Cruise’s recent movies have been defined by death-defying stunts, but his early movies were not always as reliant on him jumping out of planes. Still, he had some challenging stunts, including one that made him want to throw up. During a recent stop on The Graham Norton Show in the U.K., Cruise shared a story from the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, released in 1983.
“I was working with [director Francis Ford] Coppola, and I was like, ‘You know what, I’m going to eat chocolate cake in the scene.’… I had to do it in the scene, it’s part of the character, I’m going to eat chocolate cake,” Cruise told Norton. This turned out to be a bad idea because Coppola filmed 100 takes of the scene over three days. He thought Coppola would be satisfied after the first few takes, but this was not the case. After three days of Coppola asking him to shoot the scene again, Cruise “was in sugar shock… I was vomiting.”
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While the jump from eating chocolate cake to leaping from one building to another might not seem connected, it did help Cruise understand the importance of preparing for stunts. After The Outsiders, Cruise established himself as an action star with the original Top Gun, which required a lot of training. He told Norton he even flew with the Blue Angels and learned how to “eject out of the aircraft.” During that process, he also learned what it feels like to get hit with G forces.
Cruise also teased a crazy motorcycle stunt featured in the upcoming Mission: Impossible 7. Back in September 2020, director Christopher McQuarrie shared a photo of an insane ramp built in Norway. Cruise told Norton it took five weeks to shoot the stunt.
“I did this particular one eight times, I did it six in one day and two the other day and we spent a good year prepping this thing and figuring [it out]… I’ve wanted to do it since I was a little kid,” Cruise explained. It was “pretty nerve-wracking” the first time they attempted it. “No matter how much you train or what you do… there’s so many things… that were challenging,” Cruise said. “It is exhilarating attempting to do it.”
Unfortunately, Cruise fans are going to have to wait a long time to see that motorcycle stunt. Mission: Impossible 7 has been delayed to May 22, 2022, after Paramount Pictures postponed Top Gun: Maverick to Nov. 19, 2021. Mission: Impossible 8 was also delayed until July 7, 2023. Both M: I movies are directed by McQuarrie, who directed Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Fallout. McQuarrie also co-wrote and co-produced Top Gun: Maverick, which was directed by Joseph Kosinski.
