Tom Cruise’s death-defying stunts in his upcoming Mission: Impossible sequel were apparently too much for one unfortunate audience member.
Christopher McQuarrie, who directed the forthcoming Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning and the previous three films in the series, recently revealed to Empire Magazine that an audience member confessed that the 62-year-old actor’s stunts were so intense they feared they would have a medical emergency.
‘We had a small screening and someone said, “I was suffocating throughout the entire sequence. I almost had a heart attack,”‘ McQuarrie said, via GamesRadar.
‘I thought, “I guess we did something right,”‘ the 56-year-old filmmaker boasted.
Cruise — who might share the screen with a younger actor in future installments — famously does nearly all of his own stunts, and his Mission: Impossible films regularly feature his most impressive feats.
Despite previous installments featuring dangerous sky-diving stunts and a breathtaking motorcycle jump off the side of a mountain, McQuarrie reportedly bragged that the eighth and possibly final film in the franchise features ‘the most difficult thing’ he and Cruise have ever collaborated on.
Tom Cruise’s death-defying stunts in his upcoming Mission: Impossible sequel were apparently too much for one unfortunate audience member, according to Empire Magazine; seen in July 2023 in NYC
Christopher McQuarrie, who directed the forthcoming Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, revealed that an audience member confessed that the 62-year-old actor’s stunts were so intense they feared they would have a ‘heart attack’; seen in July 2023 in Toronto
However, he didn’t say what the stunt was, nor did he clarify if it was the same sequence that made the viewer worry that they might have a ‘heart attack.’
The trailer for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning features clips going back to the first entry in the series — which was directed by legendary filmmaker Brian De Palma — and includes plenty of sH๏τs of Cruise — as his character Ethan Hunt — showing off his on-screen running skills.
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Among the stunts are a scene in which the Top Gun: Maverick star fights a man with a knife while in his underwear and underwater scenes, including one in which he enters a submarine stocked with nuclear warheads and another in which he appears to be at the bottom of the ocean with no breathing gear.
There’s also a shocking scene in which Cruise appears to hang on to a small biplane even as it flies upside down and gets within just a few feet of a rocky outcropping.
Although the Mission: Impossible films have a loose continuity, The Final Reckoning is the first film in the series that is a direct continuation of the previous film, 2023’s Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning Part One.
That movie was described as a disappointment for Cruise and the franchise, as it only earned about $570 million against a $291 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo.
The film’s grosses were more than $200 million less than the previous film, 2018’s acclaimed Mission: Impossible — Fallout, while only cost about $180 million to make.
The film reportedly lost about $100 million, when accounting for its mᴀssive publicity campaign and other expense, according to Variety.
‘We had a small screening and someone said, “I was suffocating throughout the entire sequence. I almost had a heart attack,”‘ McQuarrie said. ‘I thought, “I guess we did something right”‘
Cruise famously does nearly all of his own stunts, and his Mission: Impossible films regularly feature his most impressive feats, including a scene in which he hangs onto multiple biplanes
The film features returning stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, Pom Klementieff and Henry Czerny, all of whom are back from the previous film
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning will be released in theaters on May 23 of this year; seen in June 2023 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
However, the film received strong reviews from critics, and a significant chunk of its inflated budget was due to significant delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It also debuted in a more difficult theatrical environment, as it came out one week before the much-hyped Barbenheimer pairing of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
The intense publicity and excitement around those two films may have taken away attention from his film, and ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning also lost out on the higher ticket sales that come with IMAX screenings, as it only commanded those premium-format screens for one week before they were reserved exclusively for Oppenheimer, as Christopher Nolan has long been a booster for the format who regularly shoots his films on IMAX film stock.
Cruise is certainly hoping fans will be in more of a mood to check in on his action thriller this time around.
The film features returning stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, Pom Klementieff and Henry Czerny, all of whom are back from the previous film.
The stacked cast will also be augmented by new faces, including Bob Odenkirk, Parks & Recreation star Nick Offerman, Ted Lᴀsso’s Hannah Waddingham, Ozark actress Janet McTeer and Katy O’Brian.
ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning and The Final Reckoning were at one point billed as the last films to star Cruise in the Mission: Impossible series, though McQuarrie backed away from that idea during the publicity campaign for the first film, and Cruise has since expressed interest in continuing to explore what Ethan Hunt’s adventures might be like well into old age.
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning will be released in theaters on May 23 of this year.
