Tom Cruise Has Been Training For an Action Sequence From Mission: Impossible 6 For a Year (!)

When it comes to practical, as-close-to-real-as-you-can-get stunts, Mission: Impossible is ahead of the curve, and honestly, has been for years. From scaling the Burj Khalifa to hanging outside of a plane as it takes off, Tom Cruise has been continually doing his own stunts to increasingly crazy degrees. Now, according to Collider, Tom Cruise has been training for a sequence in the forthcoming Mission: Impossible movie for a year. A year. For one action sequence. Crazy.

David Ellison, Skydance Media CEO, commented on Cruise’s training and the new film in general, saying:

We’re thrilled. Chris [McQuarrie] is back, obviously, writing and directing after Rogue Nation. We could not be more excited about the character Henry Cavill’s going to play. And I will say after the Burj [Khalifa] we thought it was going to be impossible to top that stunt, and then Tom did the A400M for the plane. What Tom is doing in this movie I believe will top anything that’s come before. It is absolutely unbelievable—he’s been training for a year. It is going to be, I believe, the most impressive and unbelievable thing that Tom Cruise has done in a movie, and he has been working on it since right after Rogue Nation came out. It’s gonna be mind-blowing.

Just to imagine any sequence topping what Cruise has done in the past is mind-blowing, and the fact that he’s been training for a year is very promising. Ellison went further, talking about some of Cruise’s philosophy when it comes to filmmaking, and leaning on the practical elements. It’s really refreshing to hear, considering how much of today’s films rely on CGI. He explained:

It all comes from the best place. It is all about entertaining an audience. Tom’s entire mantra for hanging on the side of the Burj Khalifa or the A380 or literally holding your breath for six minutes underwater to do the Taurus sequence is, in a world of massive [visual] effects, he said the audience can tell when it’s you on a green screen or when you’re actually doing it live. And the tension, because the stunt is real, actually puts the audience where Ethan Hunt is where they are in the movie. He said that’s why he does it; it’s all about entertaining an audience and it makes the movie better.

Needless to say, we’re all sorts of pumped for the new Ethan Hunt adventure. The next Mission: Impossible film is slated for a July 27, 2018 release. Also, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie took to Twitter to clarify Ellison’s comments. Take a look at that below, and the Henry Cavill casting announcement here.

To be clear: it’s a SEQUENCE Cruise has spent a year training for. Not a stunt.

The stunts are a hobby.

— ChristopherMcQuarrie (@chrismcquarrie) March 20, 2017