Performing dangerous stunts, the likes of which involve driving a motorcycle off a cliff and hanging off the world’s highest skyscraper, is obviously a heavenly treat for Tom Cruise who’s a certified adrenaline junkie. But embarking on such daring ventures also comes with certain repercussions, for instance, death.
All it takes is one wrong movement, a blip in time, a slight shift in position, and before you know it, you’ve landed on the doorstep of disaster. And Cruise is no stranger to the dance of death with the number of times he’s willingly placed himself in the arms of danger with the nature of stunts he’s indulged in. Like the time when he nearly got into a fatal accident during Days of Thunder.
Days of Thunder – NASCAR Racing Got Tom Cruise in Trouble
It’s no secret that Tom Cruise is a glutton for thrilling adventures and risky stunts. But his penchant for danger has hurled him toward accidents on more than one occasion. One such instance took place when the actor was filming Tony Scott’s Days of Thunder.
Starring the Top Gun star along with his now ex-wife Nicole Kidman, the movie is a Jerry Bruckheimer production that narrates the tale of a novice racer who’s out to establish a name for himself. One of Hollywood’s most bankable actors, Cruise depicted the cocky hotshot Cole Trickle in the action film. And much like his on-screen character, who gets into an unfortunate accident on the track, Cruise too, had a near-fatal car crash when the sports drama was being shot.
Unlike regular cars, stock cars are built and modified distinctly for racing, which is why they’re specifically engineered to turn left. But when Hut Sticklin, a real-life NASCAR racer who served as an advisor on the film, tried to convey to Cruise the dangers of going right in a stock vehicle, the latter failed to comprehend the mechanisms. “He didn’t really know what I was talking about,” the former professional racer said according to USA Today.
Getting Into A Near-Fatal Car Crash
It didn’t help that the Mission: Impossible star’s knowledge about racing was limited to what he’d gathered from television. So, when Cruise went out on the track of Volusia County Speedway outside of Daytona Beach in Florida, he simply tried to mirror what he’d seen professional racers do. But what he didn’t realize was that he was driving straight into the mouth of tragedy, because stock vehicles aren’t meant to be steered right.
“I guess he’d seen guys on TV squirming back and forth left and right,” Sticklin added. “He turned to the left, the car turned left. But when he goes back to the right…” Well, the car veered off the track and slammed right into the wall. While the actor, fortunately enough, came out unscathed, the same can’t be said for the $100,000 camera that got obliterated because of the impact.
At least Cruise figured out how to drive a stock car, or not.
Days of Thunder can be rented on Amazon Instant Video or Apple TV.
Source: Movie Web
