Tom Cruise made a surprise appearance at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, teasing new “never been done before” stunts in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, including a dangerous wing-walking sequence.
Cruise joined TikTok creator Reece Feldman (@guywithamoviecamera) for a fireside chat with around 25 creators. Feldman is premiering his short film Wait, Your Car? at the festival. Cruise’s The Final Reckoning debuts out of competition on Wednesday.
He explained he had arrived in Cannes at 3:30 a.m. after receiving the BFI Fellowship in London the night before. He also confirmed his team had just finished work on the film.
Speaking about the film’s aerial stunts, Cruise said his experience as an aerobatic pilot was essential. “I choose the airplane, its colors, and the engineers. Then, I push the aircraft to its limits,” he said.
Cruise described learning wing-walking for a particularly extreme stunt, aiming to achieve zero gravity while walking between wings. This challenge involved flying the airplane inverted, though the engine would stop after a few seconds. “We had to approach it step by step,” he explained.
He hired expert pilots but also trained them to fly with him on the wing. “It was violent. The air force over that wing was intense,” he said.
After the talk, Cruise met with the TikTok creators for photos and brief conversations.
This appearance follows his talk at the British Film Institute in London, where he reflected on his career and shared how he met Dustin Hoffman in 1984. That meeting eventually led to his role in Rain Man.
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning premieres at Cannes on Wednesday and opens in theaters on May 23 via Paramount Pictures.
Related topics:
