tom cruise mission impossible water scene

Tom Cruise held his breath for 6 minutes in this crazy underwater stunt in the new 'Mission: Impossible'

Since Tom Cruise started the "Mission: Impossible" movie franchise 19 years ago, his reputation as an actor who wants to do his own stunts has become legendary. Each new film for "M:I" seems to bring new spectacular stunts, with Cruise himself doing the heavy lifting.

You probably thought Cruise couldn’t top climbing the tallest building in the world in "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol" in 2011, but you’d be wrong.

"Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation" doesn't hit theaters until Friday, but you've probably already caught a glimpse of Cruise's latest stunt in which he hangs on the side of a massive airplane as it takes off.

And yes, that’s really the actor — not a stunt double.

But according to the film’s stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood , that wasn’t the stunt he was most concerned about Cruise taking on himself.

At a key moment in the movie, Cruise, playing IMF agent Ethan Hunt, has to dive into an underwater safe to retrieve the computer chip that will lead him closer to the film’s villain. Along with having to hold his breath the whole time, he must keep away from a large crane that’s circling around the safe.

The stunt first required Cruise to jump off a 120-foot ledge (the bottom was all CGI, but he really did the jump).

Then, in an underwater set that was filled 20 feet high with water, Cruise had to hold his breath as he acted out the scene.

“It’s all Tom,” Eastwood told Business Insider. “There’s no time you don’t see Ethan in the film and it’s not Tom.”

Eastwood (no relation to Clint) had worked previously with Cruise on “ Edge of Tomorrow, ” so he was aware of Cruise’s obsession with authenticity when it comes to stunt work. But he still marvels over Cruise’s physical ability.

“It’s been said in other interviews, if he wasn’t an actor he would have been a great stunt man,” said Eastwood. “The difference between Tom and a stunt man is he acts the character after hearing ‘action.’ A stunt person just does the stunt to double the character.”

And that is the aspect that made Eastwood’s job to pull off the underwater scene the most challenging.

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Though they had cameras all over the set monitoring the star as he was underwater, and stunt crews at the ready to jump into action if anything went wrong, Eastwood said Cruise still had to act in the scene. This meant it needed to look like he was losing breath and becoming unconscious.

“On two or three occasions I brought him up because I felt he was down for too long,” said Eastwood. “He was like, ‘What are you doing? I was right in the moment. I’m acting.’ And I was like, ‘I know, it was just too real for me and I wasn’t comfortable.’”

Eastwood said the longest Cruise was underwater for a take was over six minutes.

Eastwood recalls Cruise telling him one time after having the actor come up for air, “I got plenty of breath, trust me. I don’t want to die.”

The scene took two weeks to shoot, according to Eastwood. But training for it started two months before production began.

To prepare Cruise for an underwater scene in which he’d be holding his breath for over six minutes, Eastwood brought in a freediving record holder to teach the actor breathing exercises. Basically, as Eastwood explains, teaching your mind “that you don’t have to take a breath.”

Eastwood said Cruise blacked out a few times during the training.

“That’s how you learn your limits,” Eastwood said.

That was another concern of Eastwood’s — what if Cruise got too into character?

“It’s a very calming and surreal state being underwater, especially when you’re holding your breath for that long,” he said. “You’ve gone through training to let your mind to that place where you can control it. It’s dangerous because you get carried away in the acting and you get in such a euphoric and relaxed state being in character that you forget what you’re doing. That was my worry.”

Thankfully, Cruise kept his head together and pulled off a scene that’s agonizingly claustrophobic yet remarkable to watch.

And that’s after seeing him hang from a moving plane.

Watch: This 'Mission Impossible' behind-the-scenes footage of a 53-year-old Tom Cruise hanging off a plane is terrifying

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Tom Cruise Held His Breath Under Water For Over 6 Minutes to Film a Single Take ‘Mission: Impossible’ Scene

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By now, you’ve probably seen or heard about the crazy scene in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation where Tom Cruise actually hung outside of a cargo plane as it took off, dangling from the door as it ascended into the sky. It’s pretty nuts, but if you think that’s all that Rogue Nation has to offer, wait until you hear this. Tom Cruise filmed an underwater scene for the movie, where he had to hold his breath for over six minutes...because it’s all one single take.

We spoke recently about how the long take may have died a slow death as audiences became used to the gimmick and, with CGI, it became largely unimpressive. How do you make the long take impressive again? You get your A-list actor to hold his breath underwater throughout the entire thing.

Cruise, no stranger to doing his own stunts, spoke to USA Today about the insane sequence:

We wanted to create a suspense underwater sequence without cuts. So doing that sequence was really interesting. We’re underwater and we’re doing breath-holds of 6 to 61/2 minutes. So I was doing all my training with the other stuff (on-set). It was very taxing stuff.

It’s one thing to worry about messing up a long take because you flub your line, but to worry about messing it up because you’re running out of oxygen and slowly dying? That's pretty crazy, even by Tom Cruise standards. Director Christopher McQuarrie told Yahoo! he decided on this sequence because he wanted to leave his mark on the franchise.

I asked myself, ‘What can I do to celebrate all those elements of the franchise?’ A signature sequence the way (Brian) De Palma did, a villain the way J.J. Abrams did, the stunts the way Brad [Bird] did.

Cruise trained with professional freediver Kirk Krack on his breath training, while on set. And, if 6 minutes doesn’t seem like that long, listen to “Bohemian Rhapsody” and try to hold your breath throughout the entire thing.

Not so easy, right?

It’s not the first time Tom Cruise has insisted on holding his breath throughout a scene. He told Steven Spielberg he wanted to control his breathing while submerged in a bathtub in this Minority Report scene to get the bubble effect without the use of CGI trickery.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation opens in theaters on July 31.

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Tom Cruise Held His Breath For 6-Plus Minutes In 'Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation'

With each Mission: Impossible movie, Tom Cruise tries to raise the bar. Whether it's hanging off one of the tallest buildings in the world or being strapped to the side of an airplane in flight, he knows that seeing an actor doing a stunt raises the stakes in a film. And while that airplane stunt may have seemed to be the main event in this summer's Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation , that may not be the case.

Talking to USA Today , Cruise said he trained to hold his breath upwards of 6 minutes to film an underwater scene that plays a huge role in the latest trailer. Rewatch the scene and read the Tom Cruise underwater quotes below.

To start, here's the new Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation trailer that starts with the underwater scene.

Cruise talked to USA Today about the scene. He said this:

It's something I have always wanted to do. (Director Christopher McQuarrie) and I have been thinking about it since working on ' Edge of Tomorrow .' I have done a lot of underwater sequences. But we wanted to create a suspense underwater sequence without cuts. So doing that sequence was really interesting. We're underwater and we're doing breath-holds of 6 to 61/2 minutes. So I was doing all my training with the other stuff (on-set). It was very taxing stuff.

I know what you're thinking, and I was thinking that too. Is that even possible? Turns out, it's very possible. The world record for holding your breath underwater is around 22 minutes. That makes Cruise's 6 minute hold seem totally feasible. He worked with a performance underwater trainer named Kirk Krack to figure out the breathing technique and while there's no mention of how many takes it took, you can be sure there were plenty of precautions taken with the mega star.

See the stunt in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation when it open July 31.

Tom Cruise held his breath for HOW long for 'Mission: Impossible' underwater scenes?

You thought Tom Cruise couldn't possibly out-do his Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation A400 plane stunt, featuring Cruise literally hanging from the plane as it took off.  Even with the greatest safety precautions, it could have been perilous.

Well, the latest M:I 5 trailer goes deep, with an intense underwater scene. It's something the adrenalin junkie Cruise has always wanted to do. Cruise told USA TODAY that he worked extensively for the underwater scene shot without a cut, training to have underwater breath holds of 6 to 61/2 minutes. To put it in context, that's the entire Rolling Stones version of "Sympathy for the Devil." Watch portions in the new trailer below. Says Cruise: "It's something I have always wanted to do. (Director Christopher McQuarrie) and I have been thinking about it since working on ' Edge of Tomorrow .' I have done a lot of underwater sequences. But we wanted to create a suspense underwater sequence without cuts. So doing that sequence was really interesting. We're underwater and we're doing breath-holds of 6 to 61/2 minutes. So I was doing all my training with the other stuff (on-set). It was very taxing stuff."

Cruise worked extensively for weeks with Kirk Krack , performance underwater trainer, for the breath training to complete the scene. "When you're making ' Mission' movies you're working with athletes and stunt people at the height of their game," says Cruise. Rebecca Ferguson, who joins the franchise cast, went from novice stunt performer to pro onset. Her first day involved scaling the Vienna Opera House with Cruise.  She took part in the underwater scene. Says Ferguson: "When you are with Tom and the 'Mission' team, the best people are brought in to train you. So you are actually capable of managing everything. It's incredible to know you have the ability to do these things."

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Tom Cruise says iconic Mission: Impossible vault scene nearly didn't happen because stunt was too hard

Fans have seen Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt execute countless thrilling stunts in the Mission: Impossible franchise, but the most memorable may be the vault scene in the first film.

If you don't remember, Cruise had to hang upside down on cables to film the scene, in which Ethan breaks into the CIA's most impenetrable vault.

Cruise recently revealed that the iconic moment nearly didn't happen because he kept falling during earlier takes and director Brian De Palma wanted to move on. In a past interview , Cruise said De Palma wanted to split the scene into two different shots if he couldn't get it.

"I remember we were running out of time and I went down to the floor and I kept hitting my face," the actor said, as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the film.

As the team had a lot to do, Cruise figured out a solution quickly by putting coins in his shoe to balance himself.

"I put the pound coins in and I hung on the cable to see if I was level. And I had to make it. Brian [De Palma] was like, 'One more and I'm going to cut into it,' and I said, 'I can do it.'"

It may have looked slick on the big screen, but Cruise said going all the way down without touching the floor and maintaining his position was very physical and straining.

"I was holding it, holding, holding it, holding it, and I'm sweating, and I'm sweating, and he just keeps rolling," Cruise continued. And in that moment, he realized the director was testing to see how long he could go.

"And I just hear him off-camera, and he's got a very distinct laugh," the actor said. "I can just hear him start to howl, and he goes, 'Alright, cut.'"

Cruise spoke about the 1996 action classic while on the set of the latest Mission: Impossible movie, written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie . Mission: Impossible 7 will be released May 27, while an eighth installment is slated for July 7, 2023.

If you haven't seen the famous vault scene yet, watch the clip below:

Mission: Impossible originally premiered on May 22, 1996. A newly remastered 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition Blu-ray is available now.

Related content:

• Mission: Impossible 7 halts production in Italy due to threat of coronavirus
• Hayley Atwell cast in new Mission: Impossible film opposite Tom Cruise
• Next two Mission: Impossible sequels set dates for 2021 and 2022

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This Early Mission: Impossible Heist Is Still the Franchise’s Best

In the right director's hands, a floppy drive can be as tense as a helicopter chase.

The Big Picture

• The first Mission: Impossible film directed by Brian de Palma is a tight, taut thriller that combines old-fashioned espionage with suspenseful action.
• The heist scene in the film stands out for its complexity and the balance of factors that constantly put the mission at risk of failure.
• The attention to detail, such as the use of silence, the technician's role, and the bead of sweat, adds weight and intensity to the heist, making it as thrilling as the franchise's more extravagant stunts.

The lucrative Mission: Impossible franchise has made its name on the ingenious clout of its action sequences, and rightly so. Almost every sequel has excelled at the trickiest of dilemmas: surpassing its predecessor with entertaining cleverness and a scale of execution that's practically unmatched. Beyond the fun spy antics and found family banter, viewers have been treated to increasingly wilder stunts performed by Tom Cruise over the years. The latest franchise installment, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One gave us Cruise motorcycling off a cliff for crying out loud!

With more movies on the horizon, it's wild to imagine things getting even crazier than that stunt. The dedication of cast and crew alike has cemented this particular franchise as the best action series of all time. However, sometimes the simpler things are the best. A crucial set piece from one of the first films remains brilliantly effective thanks to numerous overlapping factors. There's no doubt that the effort it took to achieve the newer Mission: Impossible stunts is astonishing, but there’s also something grounded, human, rough, and grungy about this older heist that even Cruise hanging off a moving airplane can’t surpass.

Mission: Impossible

An American agent, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organization.

What Is ‘Mission: Impossible’ About?

Released in the summer of 1996 , the semi-convoluted plot of the first Mission: Impossible sees a baby-faced Ethan Hunt on the run from his own task force after a mole within the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) assassinates his team during an operation and frames him for the act. Hunt must clear his name through increasingly difficult means and discover who used him as a scapegoat. Stealing a list that exposes the names of all undercover CIA operatives (the NOC list) becomes essential to this endeavor. Aiding Hunt in his quest are Claire Phelps ( Emmanuelle Béart ), another surviving member of his team, and former IMF agents Luther Stickell ( Ving Rhames ) and Franz Krieger ( Jean Reno ), a hacker and a pilot extraordinaire, respectively.

Director Brian de Palma 's work prior to kicking off a nearly thirty-year series included psychological thrillers like Sisters , Obsession , Dressed to Kill , Blow Out , and Body Double , among many others. He notably channeled his primary influence Alfred Hitchcock by emphasizing a "Hitchcockian" atmosphere he personalized enough to become recognizably and distinctly "de Palma-ian." Indeed, de Palma's disciplined pacing eviscerates the screen. Unlike subsequent entries, Mission: Impossible is of a particularly old-fashioned ilk : an action-adventure espionage drama that emphasizes its espionage side instead of substituting it with irrationally awesome mask reveals scattered in between action sequences. The first film is a tight, taut thriller that recalls classic Hollywood thrillers of yore and reflects de Palma's methodical style to its ultimate benefit.

What Makes 'Mission: Impossible's CIA Heist So Great?

The set-up for Mission: Impossible 's heist scene is as complicated as it is intimidating. Hunt, a wanted man, must steal the NOC list straight out of the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and that's no cakewalk. The list sits on a '90s-era computer in a dedicated vault room. Only one analyst, William Donloe ( Rolf Saxon ), is permitted inside. He has to pass a series of security checks: a voiceprint identification, a six-digit access code, a retinal scan, and a double electric key card lock. Once inside the vault, any sound above a stage whisper and the temperature rising a single degree triggers a building-wide lockdown and traps potential thieves inside. There's an air conditioning duct thirty feet above the floor, but it's guarded by laser wires. If that wasn't enough, when Donloe isn't in the room, any weight increase on the monitored floor sets off the same alarms. The increasingly ridiculous mental strategizing required to bypass comprehensive security measures is as expected and fun a part of Mission: Impossible as anything else.

However, several factors keep this particular heist compelling despite its "simpler" nature (in comparison to breaking into the Kremlin, for instance). For starters, the security hoops Hunt and his makeshift team jump through aren't one-and-done obstacles in the spirit of a video game. Everything is a balance of factors constantly at risk of tipping the mission into failure. Once Hunt and Krieger achieve step one (infiltrate the CIA building thanks to a fake fire alarm), they ascend the ductwork and deactivate the laser pit from above. Then Krieger lowers Hunt into the vault room via a body harness on cables and spends minutes holding him suspended by the strength in his arms. A temperature monitor measures the room to the percentile and Hunt wears a decibel meter on his wrist. Something as commonplace as a sneeze or a cable dragging against metal ductwork qualifies as loud enough to be dangerous. Hunt's movements must be cautiously precise as well, whether it's lifting the duct hatch, inserting a floppy drive, or clacking on keyboard keys. Even composer Danny Elfman 's score drops out, making the silence almost oppressive.

There's also the technician to deal with. If Donloe catches them in the act, it's over. A disguised Claire discreetly drops a vomiting drug into Donloe's coffee cup and places a tracker on his shoulder. Hunt's left waiting for Donloe to rush to the bathroom before Hunt can make his move, and then he works around the analyst's failed attempts to return. Wisely, de Palma uses these numerous loopholes as an excuse to cut between the different locations and strain the scene's tension to its breaking point. Multiple set pieces emphasize just how wrong anything could go on a split second's notice, and Hunt's precise movements demand the sequence take its time to build despite speed being narratively of the essence. (Who knew using a floppy drive could be so intense!)

How Does Brian de Palma's ‘Mission: Impossible' Vault Scene Keep Our Attention?

Brian de Palma further heightens the palpably breathless suspense when things inevitably go wrong. As Krieger strains to keep Hunt aloft, a rat scuttles close to Krieger. Its clattering movement in the ductwork echoes loud enough to register on the sound meter, and Krieger briefly loses his grip. Hunt plummets and stops just inches above the floor, his limbs splayed and wildly swinging to keep himself steady. As he does, one bead of sweat trickles down his glasses . It catches on the rim, providing a reprieve, until a second bead slides down and sends the first dropping. Somehow, Hunt catches the sweat in his palm before it hits the floor and keeps his body from triggering the floor's pressure-sensitive alarm. All the while, Donloe might return at any moment. Luther tracks the analyst's location and appraises Hunt of his status in an urgent whisper.

These factors lend the heist a decided weight that's often lost in the Mission: Impossible franchise's progressively ludicrous (if delightful) grandeur. Something as small as a single bead of sweat has consequences. There's no fancy equipment to zip Hunt up and down. It's just an exhausted Krieger barely maintaining his grip on the cable as the veins in his arms pop. Equipment unreliability poses an additional risk: de Palma uses teeth-gritting close-ups of the cable connected to Hunt's holster as it drags and frays against the duct opening's metal edge. And for all that Hunt navigates with acrobatic grace through the air, he feels heavy. Viewers know the weight of his potential failure and just how difficult a time Krieger's having to keep him afloat.

Once Hunt's seemingly safe and sound, de Palma doesn't let audiences off the hook. Oh, no, he's not that merciful a director. Krieger's knife slips from his grasp, drops in slow motion, and lands blade side-up in Donloe's desk just as his return disables the alarms. Watching this sequence after six subsequent films enhances the tension in a fascinatingly meta way because we're used to an Ethan Hunt who manages the impossible stunt every time . It's his job description! The Hunt of 1996 is still young and inexperienced with no reliable team backing him up. This kid is fighting the entire system with the barest resources, and he made it out of Langley by the skin of his teeth.

Mission: Impossible is a deluge of tangibly sharp tension , and it's an interesting film for a franchise that wouldn't establish its cultural and stylistic identity until arguably the third and fourth installments. It's a down-and-dirty thriller executed with a flourish. No matter how tremendous Tom Cruise's recent feats are, the grounded nature de Palma brings to the entire film makes a heist that nowadays reads as "simple" on paper as arduously stressful as any skyscraper climb or helicopter chase.

Mission: Impossible is available to watch on Netflix in the U.S.

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Tom Cruise Breaks Down His Iconic Vault Scene in 'Mission: Impossible' for Its 25th Anniversary 

Tom Cruise recalls the infamous vault scene where he was suspended by wires in the 1996 film

It's been 25 years since Mission: Impossible debuted in theaters, but Tom Cruise remembers it like it was yesterday.

The 58-year-old action star recently broke down the film's most iconic scene, where he was suspended in the air by wires as he infiltrated a vault.

In the video, the actor recalled "running out of time" for shooting the scene and constantly landing on his face during a moment where his character has a close call as he falls from his wires to just barely be suspended in the air, without setting the vault's alarms.

"I went down on the floor and I didn't touch [the floor], I remember [thinking], 'Oh my gosh, I didn't touch.' And I was holding it, holding it, holding it, and I'm sweating and [director Brian De Palma] just keeps rolling.

Laughing, Cruise said, "I just realized Brian's doing it, he's working it. I'm like, 'I am not going to stop'" filming.

He added, "I hear him off camera, I could just hear him start to howl. He goes, 'All right. Cut.'"

Mission: Impossible debuted in theaters in 1996 and stars Cruise as Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) who is framed for the murder of his IMF team during a botched mission in Prague and accused of selling government secrets to an arms dealer known as "Max."

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On the run, Hunt seeks to uncover the real traitor and clear his name.

The film was made on an $80 million budget and grossed $457 million worldwide. Due to its success, a franchise was launched with Cruise reprising his role as Hunt for six films, the latest of which was 2018's Mission: Impossible–Fallout .

Cruise is working on two more installments, Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 due for release in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The Mission: Impossible 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition Blu-ray is now available from Paramount Home Entertainment.

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Mission: Impossible 7 scenes with Tom Cruise filmed at St. Pete studio

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A movie scene with Tom Cruise for “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” , the 7th installment in the iconic film series, was shot at Litewave Media in St. Petersburg.

The media company will begin production on a new Rom-Com later this month, according to founder Christian Cashmir.

What You Need To Know

A movie scene with tom cruise for “mission: impossible – dead reckoning part one” was filmed at litewave media the litewave media founder's looking forward to working on his next big movie, “mother nature and the doomsday prepper” actor mickey rourke, who received an academy award nomination for his role in “the wrestler,” has been hired to play zeus filming is scheduled to begin on feb. 20.

“Apparently, Tom Cruise spends some time in the area,” he said. “It might have been a convenient place for him to film.”

Cashmir said the set for the scene was shipped to Florida from the United Kingdom. The scene appears near the beginning of the movie when Cruise, who plays Ethan Hunt, gets his instructions from a self-destructing message.

Nearly three minutes of the scene filmed at Litewave Media made the cut with some flashbacks intertwined which were not shot locally, according to Cashmir.  

“The scene that they filmed here in our studio was one of the first scenes that Tom Cruise is in,” he said. “He’s at a table and he’s looking through a bunch of documents.”

The movie was released by Paramount Pictures last July and the scene in St. Petersburg was filmed just a couple of months earlier in May.

“They wrapped out filming right here in our studio. Which was kind of surreal hearing the crew go ‘alright, that’s a wrap on Tom. That’s a wrap on Mission Impossible 7,’” said Cashmir. “Everybody clapped and were kind of looking at each other like ‘oh, that’s cool.’”

Tom Cruise filmed scenes for “Mission: Impossible 7” at Litewave Media in St. Petersburg. The production company will begin shooting another movie, “Mother Nature And The Doomsday Prepper” starring Mickey Rourke, later this month. @BN9 pic.twitter.com/40thVVFhvW — Josh Rojas (@JoshRojasBN9) February 1, 2024

The MI7 crew signed a poster for Cashmir, gave him a mug shot card with a photo of Tom Cruise which was used in the movie, and he got to watch a rough cut in his screening room.

“They said, ‘hey Christian, you have a nice screening room. Would you mind if we sat down and watched a rough cut of the movie?’ And I was like ‘are you kidding me? Of course,’” said Cashmir. “Then, they were like ‘if you want, you can sit in the back room and watch.’ And I was like ‘okay, let’s do this.’”

The Litewave Media founder said he’s looking forward to working on his next big movie, “Mother Nature and the Doomsday Prepper,” where his company will handle all the pre-and-post production work.

“We’re really excited to have a project like this that’s coming here and using all the local crew and local cast,” he said. “95 percent of the crew above and below the line is all local. Whereas most of these other films that come in here they bring in their directors, they bring in their producers, they bring in their DPs.”

“Mother Nature and the Doomsday Prepper” is a fantasy romance movie where mother nature is going to lose her job unless she can convince a fanatic doomsday prepper that there’s still hope for mankind. Actor Mickey Rourke, who received an Academy Award nomination for his role in “The Wrestler,” has been cast as Zeus.

Cashmir said the entire movie will also be filmed locally, which was written by executive producer Laurie Criego.  

“She created this project. She wrote it and she brought it here to St. Petersburg-Tampa,” he said. “We’re going to shoot most of ‘Mother Nature and the Doomsday Prepper,’ locally here in St. Petersburg, Florida. A few scenes in Tampa.”

Producer Cameron Brumbelow, owner of Angry Elf Entertainment , said the local film incentives from Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties are a major reason the film will be made in the Tampa Bay area.

“Film incentive wise, this is exactly what Pinellas County is looking for,” he said. “This movie features the best of the county in all aspects.”   

Criego had a couple of other options to film the movie but chose Litewave Media due to the location, incentives and production value, according to Cashmir.

“Laurie Criego could’ve taken this project to Palm Beach. She could’ve taken it to Minnesota. She was courting those locations,” he said. “She felt like this was the right place to do it.”  

Litewave Media has a 40 foot wide and 15 foot tall LED wall that is used as a backdrop for a few scenes in the movie.

“We’re also going to actually build an entire ship in here. So, we’re going to have a 40 foot boat. Like an ancient Greek sailing ship,” said Cashmir. “The LED wall will serve as sort of the water and the clouds in the background. So, it’s some stuff that I personally have never done.”

To accommodate larger productions, Cashmir and his wife spent $2 million purchasing and renovating a nearly 12,000 square-foot office warehouse in 2021.

“We kind of wanted to take the next step and invest in the business and hopefully it would bring us bigger projects,” he said. “So far, we’ve been fortunate enough to work on some pretty amazing things and also produce our own content here in the studio.”

Cashmir said MI7 has been the biggest budget movie Litewave Media has worked on so far. Some other big productions include the “Summer of Soul” which won an Oscar for Best Documentary, National Geographic’s “Drain the Oceans” series and music videos for Australian rock band AC/DC.

Brumbelow and Cashmir most recently worked together on the feature film “R.A.D.A.R.: The Adventures of Bionic Dog” which was distributed by Lions Gate Films last year. Filming for “Mother Nature And The Doomsday Prepper” is scheduled to begin on Feb. 20.

Tom Cruise Goes Running Again in First Look At Mission: Impossible 8

Tom Cruise does what he does best in new footage from the filming of the next Mission: Impossible installment, and fans love it.

• Fans share excitement over Tom Cruise running in London for Mission: Impossible 8 .
• Action-packed scenes feature Cruise sprinting to save the world from rogue AI, captivating audiences globally.
• Mission: Impossible 8 plot remains a mystery, but it will likely continue the story with The Entity and familiar faces.

Hollywood icon Tom Cruise is back to doing what he does best, running, as the actor films scenes for the action sequel Mission: Impossible 8 in London, England. Fans of the actor and the franchise have now taken to Twitter/X to share images, footage, and their thoughts on Cruise’s running, which somehow remains one of the most gripping elements of modern blockbuster moviemaking.

You can check out the visual poetry that is Tom Cruise running below, as well as some thoughts and feelings shared by fans who cannot wait to see him run all over the world once again in Mission: Impossible 8 .

Several images of the actor sprinting either away or towards the latest global threat have also emerged, and offer our first look at the next Mission: Impossible sequel, which was formerly titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two before changes were made behind the scenes .

Released in July last year, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning is directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen. The Mission: Impossible follow-up finds Tom Cruise back as Ethan Hunt, who this time must save the world from a rogue AI known as “The Entity.” You can check out the official synopsis and trailer for Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning below.

“Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With the fate of the world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.”

What Will Mission: Impossible 8 Be About?

It is currently unknown exactly what Mission: Impossible 8 will be about but, considering that movies 7 and 8 were initially intended to be a two-parter, we can no doubt expect the next movie to carry over some of the plot elements from its predecessor. This likely includes both the AI enemy known as The Entity , and the villainous Gabriel (Esai Morales), a terrorist with ties to Ethan Hunts's past. We can also expect to see the core cast return, including Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, and Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, as well as newcomer Hayley Atwell as Grace.

How the Mission: Impossible Title Change Could Save the Franchise

The rest of the ensemble will reportedly include Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge, Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, Pom Klementieff as Paris, and Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs, alongside Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman, Janet McTeer, Hannah Waddingham, and Lucy Tulugarjuk. Following the apparent fate of Ilsa Faust , it is currently unknown whether Rebecca Ferguson will be involved.

Mission: Impossible 8 is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 23, 2025, by Paramount Pictures.

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Mission Impossible 8 spoiler photos leaked as Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt captured in huge twist

Spoiler photos for the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two have been leaked and it looks like Tom Cruise's iconic character Ethan Hawk could find himself in trouble

• 12:00, 15 Apr 2024 Updated 12:33, 15 Apr 2024

Tom Cruise has been spotted filming Mission Impossible scenes in London.

The iconic actor, famous for pulling off his own stunts while filming the Mission Impossible franchise, has been seen filming scenes as Ethan Hawk in England's capital. Tom has been spotted filming a scene near Downing Street where it appears his character Ethan has been captured.

In a series of behind-the-scenes photos, Tom is seen on his knees with his hands in the air, but could this mean the of Ethan in the upcoming eighth instalment of the franchise? Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two will see Ethan's battle with the Entity continue.

As well as being spotted in London, the actor has been seen filming an action scene for an upcoming movie in Derbyshire, in a dirt-covered Jeep, as well as aerial footage showing evidence of a film set, according to the BBC . Social media posts from his former co-stars also heavily suggest that filming of the eighth instalment is well under way.

Simon Pegg posted a selfie on Instagram with co-stars Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Tarzan Davis and wrote the cryptic caption: “Saving the world has never been so much fun.” In the new addition to the franchise, IMF agent Ethan and his allies will go up against a number of antagonists as they aim to get control of the AI weapon known as the entity.

Mission Impossible fans can expect plenty of death-defying stunts. The new movie is scheduled to be released on May, 23, 2025. Filming initially began in May 2022 but was paused due to writers' and actors' strikes.

Esai Morales as villain Gabriel, Shea Wigham and Greg Tarzan Davis as CIA agents Jasper and Degas, and Pom Klementieff as assassin Paris are in line for a return. Henry Czerny will also reprise his role as IMF director Eugene Kittridge, while Rolf Saxon will return as another character who first appeared in the very first Mission: Impossible film – CIA analyst William Donloe.

It's yet to be confirmed whether Angela Bassett will return after starring as CIA director Erika Sloane in Fallout after Covid travel restrictions ruled her out of an appearance in Part 1. "It's interesting, she was going to be the head of the CIA, she was going to be in that room with all the other heads of the intelligence community that you meet," director Christopher McQuarrie told Variety in a recent interview.

"And we're not done with Angela Bassett. Angela is too fabulous. You can never, ever let Angela get away," he added. "There's always a plan in the future."

Meanwhile, Dakota Fanning recently revealed that Tom Cruise still sends her a birthday gift every year after she was gifted her first mobile phone from the actor. Dakota starred in Uptown Girls with the actor. She made the revelation during a joint interview with her Ripley co-star Andrew Scott for Harper's Bazaar earlier this week.

Andrew was asked: "Who gave Dakota her first cell phone?" To which he guessed: "Okay, well it's gotta be some Hollywood icon... Tom Cruise?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "It was a Motorola Razr," before her co-star asked: "Wow! Were you so excited?"

"Oh my God, I was so excited," Dakota replied. "I didn't have anyone to call or text at the time. You know, I was 11...But I loved having it!" The actress revealed she "still keeps in touch" with the actor, adding: "Tom still sends me a birthday gift every year and has since that birthday."

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Screen Rant

Mission impossible almost cut the vault scene after tom cruise kept hitting his face.

Arguably the most iconic scene in the Mission: Impossible film franchise was almost cut due to the difficulties Tom Cruise had with getting it right.

The now classic vault scene from the first Mission: Impossible film was almost cut because Tom Cruise kept hitting his face on the ground. When legendary filmmaker Brian De Palma first gave the popular 1960s TV series life on the big screen in 1996, very few people could have predicted that Mission: Impossible  would go on to become an enormously popular franchise 25 years later. But aside from kicking off what has undeniably been a highly lucrative franchise, the first Mission: Impossible film also marked the start of Cruise’s rather seamless transition into high-stakes action filmmaking.

Prior to Mission: Impossible , Cruise had starred in the action flicks  Top Gun and Days of Thunder.  However, Mission: Impossible  gave Cruise something far more different than those past films had; he began to push himself physically to create on-screen moments that were enough to draw in audiences. Though the first movie didn’t offer the same caliber of jaw-dropping stunts that future Mission: Impossible  installments did , the film still had its share of impressive moments, with one moment in particular going on to become one of the franchise’s most recognizable.

Related: Why Top Gun: Maverick Flopping Could Be Good For Tom Cruise

As 2021 marks the 25 th anniversary of De Palma’s Mission: Impossible , Cruise recently sat down to chat about one of his most memorable moments working on the film. But as he tells Paramount Movies ' official YouTube channel, the famed vault scene in which Ethan Hunt is lowered horizontally within inches of an alarmed floor wasn’t so easy to shoot. In fact, the scene came very close to being scrapped altogether, had Cruise’s signature determination not helped him find a way to make the challenging feat work:

When you look at that shot, I’m going from the computer to the floor and I remember we were running out of time and I went down to the floor, and I kept hitting my face and the take didn’t work. And we were running out of time – we had a lot we had to do. So I went up to the stunt guys and I said, "Give me coins." You know, here in England they have pound coins, so I put the pound coins in and I hung on the cables to see was I level. And I had to make it, you know, and so I said okay I said, Brian was like, "One more and I’m gonna cut into it and do it," and I said, "I can do it," you know. It was also very physical, like straining, I’m doing it. So I went down, starting at the computer, went all the way down – beautiful set, like De Palma is, has got amazing taste - went down on the floor and I didn’t touch, and I remember I was there, I was like, 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 then, he just keeps rolling. I just realize, Brian is like, he’s doing it, he is like, he is working it. It’s like we did it, we did it, we did it, I’m like, I am not going to stop. And I just hear him off camera and I could - he’s got a very distinct laugh – and a very, you know, when he laughs it makes me laugh and he just, I could just hear him start to howl and he goes "Alright…cut."

As with most of Cruise’s stunt work in the franchise, he managed to make the physicality of it all seem simple. But as he clearly points out, the vault scene was anything but simple and it was only through Cruise’s own determination that the scene ultimately ended up in the film. It’s hard to imagine what Mission: Impossible  would have been like without that scene, but the series is arguably much richer for it. What’s more, Cruise’s triumph over the more challenging aspects of the scene allowed him to push himself even further in subsequent installments.

Today it feels like the stunt work in Mission: Impossible isn’t quite on the same level as what was being done even four years later in Mission: Impossible 2 , let alone what audiences have become accustomed to in more recent years. The stunts in the Mission: Impossible   franchise have become increasingly dangerous for Cruise to pull off, with recent entries having him hang from a flying plane and jumping across rooftops. But the vault scene was unique for its time, spawning imitators as well as parodies and ultimately giving the franchise the boost it needed to be in a league of its own.

Next: Oliver Stone's Mission: Impossible 2 Saw Ethan In The Garden Of Eden

Source: Paramount Movies

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Tom Cruise looks terrified as he films dramatic Mission Impossible 8 scenes in London

• Callum Wells , Showbiz Reporter
• Published : 12:00, 15 Apr 2024
• Updated : 13:25, 15 Apr 2024
• Published : Invalid Date,

TOM Cruise looked terrified as he filmed dramatic Mission Impossible 8 scenes in London today.

Actor Tom , 61, was seen filming the upcoming blockbuster near Downing Street , playing out a scene where his character appeared to be captured by the enemy.

The Hollywood movie star was seen holding his hands up in surrender while in-character as protagonist, Ethan Hunt.

Dressed in a navy jacket and jeans, Tom chatted with director Christopher McQuarrie and production staff inbetween scenes.

Just a few weeks ago, Tom stunned tourists as he sprinted through the city covered in blood , shutting down Central London.

In exclusive photos from the set, he was seen running over Westminster Bridge with army and police officers on his tail.

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Tom Cruise runs through London covered in blood as MI8 filming shuts down city

The Mission Impossible team have been filming at  Surrey’s  Longcross Studios as well as on location since the beginning of March.

Determined to stick to schedule by any means necessary, at one point Tom forked out for the  entire cast and crew to be flown to set by helicopters  after the M25 shut down.

Little is known about what will happen in the eighth instalment of the series - only that it will  follow on from Dead Reckoning , which was released last year.

Originally titled Dead Reckoning: Part Two, the new film has since dropped being considered a second part and will instead go by its own name.

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Reasons for this are unknown but rumours have varied from the film going in a completely different direction to what was initially planned, to the name being scrapped due to Part One's lacklustre success at the box office.

Starring alongside Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Simon Pegg among others, Dead Reckoning went on to get two Oscar nominations for sound and visual effects.

However, despite raking in $565.8million worldwide at the box office, Dead Reckoning failed to meet the necessary returns to break even from its $291million budget.

On average, taking into account promotional costs etc, a film needs to make 2.5x its budget in order to be considered a financial success.

This was hindered slightly by the global phenomenon of  Barbenheimer   (the release date of Barbie and Oppenheimer)  which came just two weeks after Dead Reckoning's, causing a drop off in potential sales.

Currently, the as-yet-untitled Mission Impossible 8 is scheduled to be released on May 23, 2025 after a string of  pushbacks due to the pandemic  and last year's SAG-AFTRA strikes.

It was initially meant to be ready for release in August 2022, before being delayed to November 2022, July 2023 and June 2024.

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise's stunning daughter Suri, 18, is a vision as she steps out in flowing skirt and cowboy boots

The daughter of katie holmes and tom cruise, recently celebrated her milestone 18th birthday without her father.

Stepping out in the heart of New York City, Suri Cruise was the epitome of urban chic on Wednesday. The daughter of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise , who recently celebrated her milestone 18th birthday, was spotted enjoying a casual stroll through the bustling streets. 

For her day out, Suri opted for a stylish ensemble, featuring a billowing tan sweater cinched at the waist with a leather belt, paired perfectly with a flowing white skirt. 

Her outfit was completed with a pair of well-worn cowboy boots, adding a touch of rugged charm to her sophisticated look.

As she navigated the sidewalks, Suri snacked on a bag of chips and sipped from a green water bottle, her long brunette locks styled with a center part, cascading beautifully down her back. 

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This sighting comes shortly after her significant birthday, a celebration in which her estranged father, Tom was notably absent. 

The Hollywood star has been busy in London, engrossed in the filming of his eighth Mission Impossible movie and recently attending Victoria Beckham’s 50th birthday celebration.

Tom’s involvement in the glittering social scene, including his time with the Beckhams, starkly contrasts with his absence from Suri’s life. 

The pair have been estranged since 2013, a year following his highly publicized divorce from Katie. 

The end of Suri’s 18th year also marked the conclusion of Tom's child support obligations, which were reported to be around $400,000 a year as stipulated in their divorce settlement.

The last public sighting of Tom and Suri together was during a trip to Disneyland in 2012, the same year his marriage to Katie ended. 

Reports suggest that Katie’s decision to end the marriage was influenced by concerns over raising Suri within the Church of Scientology, to which Tom is a devoted member.

Looking to the future, Suri is rumored to be eyeing a career in fashion, with plans to study the subject in New York starting this September. 

Family lawyer Theresa Wright commented on the situation, explaining the nuances of child support obligations that might extend due to educational pursuits. 

"If Suri is enrolling in Art college, Tom would still be responsible for paying child maintenance to Katie until Suri reaches the age of 20, provided she stays in Art college full time. There may have been an agreement in Katie and Tom’s divorce settlement that maintenance is provided for longer, in which case it may be that Tom continues to pay child maintenance until either Suri finishes university or reaches the age of 25," she told HELLO!

Meanwhile, Tom remains committed to his own career, continuing to film the latest Mission Impossible sequel in the UK. The project, tentatively titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two , is expected to release on May 23, 2025. 

This follows the release of Dead Reckoning Part One last July. The production of MI:8 has faced several setbacks, including delays due to the Hollywood writers' strike and the need to pause filming to promote the previous installment.

Filming locations for the eighth installment have included various iconic sites across Derbyshire, Surrey, and central London, such as the Natural History Museum in Kensington and Westminster Bridge. 

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The Very Mission: Impossible Reason Tom Cruise Was Able To Attend Victoria Beckham’s Big 50th Birthday

Tom Cruise reportedly tore up the dance floor and Victoria Beckham's birthday party.

At this point, the impossible mission seems to be completing filming on two Mission: Impossible movies. Tom Cruise has technically been working on the two films for more than four years, and it seems there’s no end in sight. On the plus side, however, the fact that Cruise has been living in the UK while filming means that he was able to attend Victoria Beckham’s birthday party over the weekend, where he reportedly brought the house down.

Daily Mail reports that Cruise, a friend of David and Victoria Beckham, was in attendance at the former Spice Girl’s 50th birthday party, where he apparently left guests “dumbfounded” following a breakdancing routine that ended in the splits. Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed at the party, so there are no pictures of this epic dance routine. But the guests were likely only able to witness it because Cruise is still in the U.K. because the epic Mission: Impossible production isn’t yet over. At this point, we don't really know when it will all end.

We knew Tom Cruise could dance . From Risky Business to Tropic Thunder some of the actor’s most famous moments on screen that didn’t involve him putting his life on the line in crazy stunts have involved dancing, but at 61 not only is Cruise not slowing down when it comes to the best Mission: Impossible action scenes , but he’s still got the dance moves as well.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two Cast List

Tom Cruise Plane Stunt For Mission: Impossible 8

It was four years ago when Mission: Impossible 7 was set to get underway filming in Italy when that nation became one of the first outside of China to have a significant coronavirus outbreak. Venice went into lockdown and the production was put on hold. M:I 7 would then become one of the first movies to go back into production. But it was slow going, as the films would need to pause more than once due to their own virus issues, and the movie’s globetrotting caused several delays for required quarantines going into and out of various nations. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One alone took over three years to wrap production.

The Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two release date is currently set for May 25, 2025, more than a year from now. Unless the film sees yet another release date delay, then filming is likely close to being finished. Unless they need to do some final pickup shots in Tom Cruise’s garage again, of course. When the next Mission: Impossible movie does hit theaters it won’t just be the epic conclusion to a two-part adventure for Ethan Hunt, but the end of a years-long adventure for the entire cast and crew.

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CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.

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