Tom Cruise and the trick that almost ruined the first Mission Impossible
Cruise is known for doing the most dangerous tricks on set, but one of the most iconic was not coming off.
Tom Cruise’s career wouldn’t be the same without Mission Impossible , which gave him the opportunity to become a secret agent that gave James competition. Bond with his style a little less refined and elegant, but just as mysterious and legendary.
It all started in 1996 with a first film in which Tom Cruise became agent Ethan Hunt , who is accused of disloyalty and must prove that he is innocent and that there is another spy who must be arrested, and it was there that he left us one of the most famous scenes in cinema, which has even received tributes in all kinds of movies and series, including The Simpsons.
When we think of the first Mission Impossible , we think of a particular scene that happens inside the CIA offices , where Hunt must infiltrate undetected to search for the evidence that can clear his name and help him find the real agent who It has been causing all their problems, but what if we told you that it almost had to be eliminated?
The legendary trick that almost didn’t come out
The scene in question shows Tom Cruise in a stunt that leaves him hanging from a cable that he must use to slowly descend into a CIA vault that has all kinds of sensors that are activated by detecting movement and the weight of a person. .
Ethan knows that if he hits the ground, the alarms are going to go off, so the cable is his only option and what happens next is an intense moment where you keep shaking with the thought that something is going to happen, everything is going to ruin and Ethan will be discovered and arrested.
Of course that does not happen, Ethan is a few inches from the ground and manages to complete his mission with the help of his most faithful friends, but for Tom Cruise it was different and things were going so badly, that they almost ruined the most famous scene of the movie.
In a series of interviews he did with director and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie for the 90s movie anniversary Blu-ray, he launched the millionaire franchise that (going for his movie 7) saved his career after the scandal from Scientology , Crusie revealed that he fell too much when they lowered him with the cable and failed to swing fast enough to get what they needed.
“We were running out of time, and he kept hitting my face and the shot didn’t work,” the actor said, explaining that he finally came up with an idea that saved the day and the scene. Cruise asked the team to give him some coins to put inside his shoes to create a point of counterbalance.
“ Brian De Palma said, ‘One more and then I’ll have to cut the moment and do it,’” Cruise said. “I said, ‘I can do it.’ And I went down to the ground and didn’t touch. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh. Do not touch it’. And it held me, it held me, it held me, it held me And I’m sweating and I’m sweating And keep rolling. “
Cruise said that at that point he realized they had the scene and was able to relax a bit because he knew they weren’t going to have to cut it or use a stuntman, which is something he prefers to avoid in his filming.
As part of the franchise, Tom Cruise He has jumped off buildings and helicopters, scaled buildings on the outside, and had to hold onto the wing of a moving plane, but he probably wouldn’t have been allowed to do all of that if he hadn’t pulled off that first trick in 1996, though we won’t know. never.