Tom Cruise is explaining what was going through his head when he decided to film the most dangerous scene in "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" first.
In a recent interview, the daredevil explained that he wanted to be certain that if he didn't successfully complete the stunt and injured himself, filming wouldn't have gone to waste.
In the scene, Cruise rides a motorcycle straight off a cliff before deploying a parachute that takes him to safety.
"Well we know either we will continue with the film or we're not - let's know day one!" Cruise recently told Entertainment Tonight. "Let's know day one, what is going to happen: Do we all continue or is it a major rewrite?"
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Cruise – who plays Ethan Hunt in the action franchise – hurt his ankle during filming of "Mission: Impossible" 6, which had an impact on filming.
Cruise, 60, shared that he was laser focused on completing the stunt, which not only took mental clarity but also physical correctness.
"I was training and I was ready," Cruise told the outlet. "You have to be razor sharp when you're doing something like that."
He continued, "It was very important as we were prepping the film that it was actually the first thing. I don't want to drop that and go shoot other things and have my mind somewhere else."
Emphasizing the importance of not only his mental strength, but the rest of the cast, Cruise said, "Everyone was prepped - let's just get it done."
"Mission: Impossible" director Christopher McQuarrie spoke to Esquire and said Cruise kicking off production with the dangerous stunt set the precedent for the rest of filming.
"Doing that on day one gave us all the time in the world to understand why he [Ethan] was doing what he was doing," McQuarrie told the outlet earlier this month. "If we sat around and tried to figure out these movies the old-fashioned way, you'd never find it, simply because it's such a living, breathing thing."
Cruise previously reflected on his career and his decision to perform all of his own stunts in his action movies.
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"I am a very physical actor, and I love doing them," Cruise said during an appearance on "The Graham Norton Show." "I study and train and take a lot of time figuring it all out. I have broken a lot of bones."
"The first time of any stunt is nerve-wracking, but it's also exhilarating," he added. "I have been told a few times during shooting a stunt to stop smiling."
The upcoming "Mission: Impossible" films will be released as part one and part two of "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning."
The coronavirus pandemic did stall filming of "Mission: Impossible 7," which is now set to be released July 14, 2023, with part two slated to bow in the summer of 2024.
