Filming an action scene is a great toil in itself, as it demands a lot of effort to execute a stunt successfully. It has often been the case in the film industry that actors go beyond their limits to create a thrilling experience for the audience. When discussing action films, how can we overlook on legend Tom Cruise?
It’s no secret that Cruise prefers performing most of his stunts himself, and in any film featuring the actor, the action is palpable. But, his enthusiasm once almost got him into serious trouble. Previously, while filming Mission Impossible 2, the actor performed a stunt that could have cost him his eyes.
Tom Cruise’s Daring to Perform Stunts Seems to Have No Limit
Tom Cruise is known for his dedication to performing his own stunts, which adds an extra layer of authenticity and excitement to the action scenes. Cruise’s drive for action is indeed exemplary, but his approach should not necessarily be emulated, as his daring to perform stunts seems to have no limit.
The actor is popularly known as the face of the Mission Impossible series, and he has been portraying the lead protagonist, Ethan Hunt, for decades. Previously, while filming a stunt for Mission Impossible 2, the actor got so excited about an action scene that he didn’t even consider the possibility of getting hurt. The action film is full of breathtaking stunts and among them, there is a stunt that almost costs Cruise his eyes.
There is a scene where Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt is involved in a hand-to-hand combat with the antagonist Sean Ambrose. In the middle of the fight, Ambrose sneakily pulls out a knife. The director of the film John Woo explained during a behind-the-scenes video about the whole scene. The director said that the villain jumps up in the air and lands on Hunt and with his knife, he almost cuts his face, and it was also quite close to his eyes.
However, until yet all these stunts were performed with certain precautions in mind, like the knife used in the scene wasn’t sharp so that it wouldn’t harm the actor for real. But Cruise being a daring one, wasn’t content with the scene and wanted to add more thrill to it so that it looks authentic.
Tom Cruise Didn’t Mind Pushing his Boundaries to Get an Authentic Action Scene
In order to get a real deal of action, Tom Cruise suggested John Woo replace the knife with a real knife which is sharp and pointed. Cruise wanted to film the entire scene by using real life, and he didn’t mind hurting himself. Though the actor wasn’t afraid to execute the scene, the filmmaker was certainly afraid of his idea and he started looking for other ways to film the scene without actually hurting the actor. However, by now Cruise made up his mind and was reluctant to go any other way. Woo said,
“He’s so stubborn, you know. He said, ‘No, no, no. This one’s right in the eyes.'”
Since Cruise was adamant about taking the real knife right into his face, the stunt choreographers started figuring out ways to pull off the stunt. Stunt coordinator Brian Smrz explained how they implemented the most dangerous scene of the film. He said,
“Now, we had a real knife that was really sharp and really pointy. There was no faking that. What we did do was we had a cable attached to it in the knife which was hooked to an overhead bar that, so the knife could only go so far.”
The scene was undoubtedly nerve-wracking as the knife actually stopped one-quarter inch from Cruise’s eyeball. Fortunately, no one was harmed while filming the scene, and it turned out exactly as Cruise envisioned.
Source: Youtube
