"We were running out of time and I kept hitting my face and the take didn't work," the actor says of the moment.
One of the most iconic shots from the first Mission Impossible film nearly did not happen because Tom Cruise was having a difficult time pulling it off.
In a series of snippet interviews the star did with director-screenwriter Mcquarrie for Paramount’s anniversary Blu-ray of the 1996 film that kick-started the billion-dollar franchise, Crusie explained that he kept falling too far when he was suddenly lowered via a cable into CIA headquarters vault.
Cruise said he was unable to balance fast enough on the cable.
“We were running out of time, and I kept hitting my face and the take didn’t work,” the actor said, explaining he finally asked crewmembers for British pound coins to put in his shoes as counterweights.
“[Director] Brian [De Palma] said, ‘One more and then I am going to have to cut [into the moment] and do it,'” Cruise said. “I said, ‘I can do it.’ And I went down to the floor, and I didn’t touch. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh. I didn’t touch.’ And I was holding it, holding it, holding it, holding it. And I’m sweating and I’m sweating. And he just keeps rolling.”
Cruise said he realized in that moment that they got the shot and De Palma was now just messing with him. Finally, De Palma began to laugh and called cut.
In another interview section, Cruise said he was stuck in a traffic jam in Japan while marketing another film when he got the pitch call from De Palma for Mission: Impossible.
Cruise has Mission: Impossible 7 due out in May 2022.
Article by: Ryan Parker for THR
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