From scaling the world’s tallest building to breaking his ankle jumping from a building, Tom Cruise has truly pushed the boundaries for his movies. While his co-stars often jokingly complained about struggling to keep up with the Mission: Impossible actor’s eccentric energy, one actress embraced all the crazy stunts. Cameron Diaz collaborated with Cruise for the second time in the action comedy film, Knight And Day.
Diaz was excited to play June Havens, a classic car restorer, who gets caught up with Tom Cruise’s secret agent character. Similar to her character’s arc in the film, the Charlie’s Angels actress also realized her own capabilities on set. When Cruise approached her with a wild motorcycle stunt scene, Diaz enthusiastically accepted the challenge.
Cameron Diaz Filmed A Daring Motorcycle Stunt Scene With Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise, known for executing challenging stunts, was joined by the daring Cameron Diaz for a motorcycle stunt scene in the film Knight And Day. Cruise envisioned a sequence that required him to flip The Holiday actress around to the front of the motorcycle while still driving. When the Minority Report actor pitched the idea to director James Mangold and Diaz, they eagerly agreed. Cruise shared with Access Hollywood:
“I called [Director James Mangold] and I said, ‘Look, I’ve got this stunt. It’s this motorcycle stunt… We’ve gotta put a motorcycle in this scene and I’ve gotta flip her around this thing. I called Cameron and said, ‘Are you up for it?’ She came out. We practiced it and stuff and Jim shot it. I couldn’t wait to do that!”
The elaborate scene became even more dangerous as Diaz wielded two guns loaded with flash blanks in her hands. However, Cruise remained unfazed by the potential danger of guns coming past his head, as he had complete trust in Diaz and knew that she was up to the task. The Jack Reacher actor told Access Hollywood:
“There’s a lot of trust because she had full flash blanks in the gun as she’s going around [me], they’re coming past my head and she was always — you have to be there with someone and really know that they’re gonna be there.”
The sequence also involved riding the bike amidst a pack of raging bulls. Though the bulls were trained, and the crew had practiced with them four days before filming with Cruise and Diaz, the scene still proved to be risky and demanded intense focus from the stars.
Cameron Diaz Loved Doing Her Stunts In The Film
According to The Mirror U.K., Cameron Diaz thoroughly enjoyed preparing for the stunts in the movie. In her intensive training, she suffered a lot of bruises, cuts, and sprains, but nothing could stop the Bad Teacher actress from having fun. She even flexed her bruises on her arms and knees when she attended the Golden Globes Award ceremony while filming Knight And Day. She told The Mirror:
“I love training for fight sequences – it’s a week of getting bruises, cuts and sprains, but it’s also a lot of fun. When I went to the Golden Globes this year in the middle of filming Knight And Day, I had lumps up and down my arms and scraped knees. I loved it!”
Cameron Diaz was also intrigued by her character June Havens, who evolves from someone unaware of her capabilities to someone who can drive, shoot, and fight people effortlessly. Despite the efforts of the stars, not everyone loved the movie at first. However, the film became a sleeper hit at the box office, grossing $262 million worldwide.
Knight And Day is now available for streaming on Prime Video.
