Tom Cruise is 55 years old. Usually, by this point in your life, you become aware your body can't quite pull off the same things it used to. But while plenty of people in their mid-fifties are starting to find they have back pains and knee problems, the actor is living life on the edge in a way most twenty-year-olds wouldn't dare.
When it comes to the Mission: Impossible series,
Cruise has started to challenge himself more and more, not only taking part in huge action set pieces but insisting on doing the most difficult stunts himself. Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation saw him holding onto the side of a plane as it took off, leaving many of us wondering if one day the
ballsy actor was going to hurt himself one of these days.
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As it turns out, he eventually did, on the set of the latest entry in the spy action series. The sixth mission, recently revealed to be titled Mission: Impossible - Fallout, is due to be released later this year, and the cast has started making the rounds to promote the film. Speaking on
The Graham Norton Show this week, Cruise spoke about the lengths they were going to in the movie:
"There is one big set piece, which has been two years in the planning. We do an aerial helicopter sequence, which in terms of action is the largest we have ever done. We were flying very low near rock faces and I was literally on Henry's tail. It was incredibly exhilarating and dangerous."
On top of this, he shared an image of this particular stunt on his Instagram:
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But the moment where he actually injured himself came from a less flashy but nonetheless dangerous stunt wherein he had to jump the gap between two buildings, but broke his ankle in the process.
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"I knew instantly my ankle was broken and I really didn't want to do it again so just got up and carried on with the take," the actors explained. "I said, 'It's broken. That's a wrap. Take me to hospital' and then everyone got on the phone and made their vacation arrangements."
In addition to this, he brought along the clip in which this accident was caught on camera. Once you slow the footage down and zoom in on what happened, it can be tough to watch. As the host says, "If you are squeamish, don't watch this".
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Apparently his ankle is still broken, but that hasn't stopped him from promoting the movie - because apparently nothing will slow this man down.
"I was chasing Henry [Cavill] and was meant to hit the side of the wall and pull myself over but the mistake was my foot hitting the wall"
"It's still broken but I'm doing well. It's not fully healed but we are shooting and we have a release date so I just have to keep going. I spent 8-10 hours a day, seven days a week in rehab because we still have some major stunts to do."
The movie is going to be released on July 27th this year, where we can all watch Cruise making ludicrous commitments to his performance and know the amount of turmoil his body went through to put the spectacle on the screen.
