Tom Cruise reveals his ‘massive breakfast' before filming ‘Mission Impossible' airplane stunt scenes

New York Post

01-05-2025

Mission: Breakfast.
Tom Cruise has revealed the key to enduring his death-defying 'Mission: Impossible' stunts: a 'massive breakfast.'
The 'Top Gun: Maverick' actor, 62, shared the trick of the trade in a new interview with People ahead of the release of the eighth and potentially last installment in the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise, 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,' which hits theaters May 23.
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In the movie, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) clings to the wing of a 1940s biplane mid-air before he hoists himself up and crawls along the metal flank as South Africa's Drakensberg mountains loom below.
7 'I actually eat a massive breakfast,' Cruise told People. 'The amount of energy it takes — I train so hard for that wing-walking. I'll eat, like, sausage and almost a dozen eggs and bacon and toast and coffee and fluids.
People
7 Tom Cruise has revealed the key to enduring his death-defying 'Mission: Impossible' stunts: a 'massive breakfast.'
©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
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Cruise, always up for a challenge, tackled the stunt with relish — and a hearty meal.
'I actually eat a massive breakfast,' Cruise explained. 'The amount of energy it takes — I train so hard for that wing-walking. I'll eat, like, sausage and almost a dozen eggs and bacon and toast and coffee and fluids.
'Oh, I'm eating! Picture: It's cold up there. We're at high altitude. My body is burning a lot.'
The stunt was something he aspired to do since childhood.
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'I remember seeing old footage of wing-walking. Those aircraft were only traveling at, I don't know, 40, 50 miles an hour. This aircraft is up to over 120 miles an hour. Going out there, I was realizing that it takes your breath away,' he said.
7 'I remember seeing old footage of wing-walking. Those aircraft were only traveling at, I don't know, 40, 50 miles an hour. This aircraft is up to over 120 miles an hour. Going out there, I was realizing that it takes your breath away,' he said.
©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
'Anytime you see Tom in the plane, he's at the controls,' said Christopher McQuarrie, who directed and co-written the last three 'Mission: Impossible' movies ('Rogue Nation,' 'Fallout,' and 'Dead Reckoning Part 1').
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'He's basically a one-man film crew: operating the camera, acting and flying.'
Stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood added, 'Everyone will think we did some on green screen on the ground. I guarantee there was not one single shot that was not on a plane flying for real.'
Cruise showed his late mother footage of the stunt before she passed. The actor wisely didn't tell her about the stunt ahead of time. 'Oh, honey, I'm so glad you didn't fill me in on that one beforehand,' he recalled her saying.
7 'Anytime you see Tom in the plane, he's at the controls,' said Christopher McQuarrie, who directed and co-written the last 3 'Mission: Impossible' movies ('Rogue Nation,' 'Fallout,' 'Dead Reckoning Part 1').
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7 'He's basically a one-man film crew: operating the camera, acting and flying.'
©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
7 Stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood added, 'Everyone will think we did some on green screen on the ground. I guarantee there was not one single shot that was not on a plane flying for real.'
©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
'Final Reckoning' also included another terrifying stunt: Cruise tumbled around a giant water tank built to replicate the interior of a flooded submarine without a SCUBA mask so the audience could see his face unobstructed.
'You're not going to feel as connected with the character if I went with a regular mask and a thing in my mouth to breathe,' Cruise said. 'Luckily when you're flying jets you train for hypoxia and for carbon dioxide buildup. You start to be able to perceive your body and how it's reacting so that I knew when to stop.'
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'If we knew what it took to do it, we would not have done it,' McQuarrie reflected.
Cruise has no regrets, however. 'On Mission, if it was easy, I guess we wouldn't want to do it,' he explained.
Even after making 8 'Mission: Impossible' movies, the star still 'always' has moments of gratitude for his work.
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'I love making movies. It's not what I do. It's who I am,' he said.
'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' premieres at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 14 before arriving in theaters on May 23.