Tom Cruise Reveals Key to Epic Stunts: A Massive Breakfast

LOS ANGELES, CA — Tom Cruise has shared his secret to performing high-octane stunts in the “Mission: Impossible” series: a hearty breakfast. The 62-year-old actor revealed this vital detail while promoting the upcoming film, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” set to hit theaters on May 23.

In a recent interview, Cruise described a jaw-dropping stunt from the film in which his character, Ethan Hunt, clings to the wing of a biplane flying over the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa. To prepare for this challenge, he fuels up with a substantial meal. “I actually eat a massive breakfast,” Cruise noted. “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! It’s cold up there. We’re at high altitude. My body is burning a lot.”

Since childhood, Cruise has dreamt of emulating wing-walkers, who stood on biplane wings in the early days of aviation. “I remember seeing old footage of wing-walking,” he recounted. “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.”

Director Christopher McQuarrie, who has worked with Cruise on the last three “Mission: Impossible” films, emphasized the authenticity of the stunts. “Anytime you see Tom in the plane, he’s at the controls. He’s basically a one-man film crew: operating the camera, acting and flying,” McQuarrie stated. Stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood echoed this, asserting, “I guarantee there was not one single shot that was not on a plane flying for real.”

Cruise shared that his late mother was relieved not to know the details of the stunt until after it was completed, saying, “Oh, honey, I’m so glad you didn’t fill me in on that one beforehand,” he recalled. The new film also features a daring underwater scene where Cruise performs without a scuba mask to maintain a more intimate connection with the character. “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,” he explained.

Despite the challenges, Cruise maintains that the risk is part of the attraction. “On Mission, if it was easy, I guess we wouldn’t want to do it,” he confessed. As the film prepares for its release, anticipation continues to build for what many speculate could be Cruise’s final entry in the legendary franchise.