Tom Cruise reveals how jaw-dropping ‘Final Reckoning’ aerial sequence was executed

“Pushing Death-Defying Stunts to the Next Level” isn’t just a featurette tagline. It’s Cruise control.

Paramount Pictures has just released an adrenaline-pumping “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” featurette titled “Creating the Aerial Sequence,” starring none other than Tom Cruise himself alongside longtime collaborator and filmmaker daredevil-in-chief Christopher McQuarrie. Together, they offer a breathtaking behind-the-scenes look at how they took aerial cinematography, and arguably human sanity, to thrilling new heights.

At the center of the featurette is an 80-year-old Stearman biplane, the kind you’d expect to find in a museum, not engaged in mid-air acrobatics with one of Hollywood’s biggest stars strapped to its wing. But Cruise, of course, is no ordinary action star. He’s also the producer, chief stuntman, and recently — officially — a world record holder.

As reported recently by US and Global News, Tom Cruise was awarded the Guinness World Record for executing the most burning parachute jumps by an individual — a jaw-dropping 16 times, a feat he achieved during the production of — you guessed it right if you didn’t know — “The Final Reckoning.”

This new featurette only reinforces why: it’s not enough for Cruise to act the part. He lives it, preferably at 10,000 feet, with 140-mph winds roaring past his helmeted head.

“McQ and I went through every step of this aerial sequence,” Cruise says in the featurette’s opening. The “McQ” in question is, of course, director/co-writer/producer Christopher McQuarrie, the man who somehow keeps saying yes to Cruise’s increasingly audacious ideas.

Together, the duo painstakingly choreographed the aerial sequence — rolls, loops, hammerheads — all while adapting specialized camera rigs to capture the spectacle from heart-racing angles. Oh, and did we mention Cruise is on the wing of the plane? With no audio communication possible in hurricane-level winds, they resorted to hand signals. Because of course they did.

“We are pushing it to that next level,” says Cruise, like there is no upper limit to the level he’s willing to push.

Cruise also flashes a thumbs-up while clinging to the wing of the airplane in flight — a moment that demands a grip of steel and nerves to match.

This featurette does not seem like just promo material for the movie — it feels like a masterclass in practical filmmaking, fearless innovation and good old-fashioned human audacity. While many productions might lean on CGI or green screen magic, Cruise and McQuarrie continued to rely on gravity, torque and a healthy disregard for the word “impossible.”

With rumors swirling of a space-bound “Top Gun 3” — don’t rule it out, the “Creating the Aerial Sequence” featurette serves as both a technical marvel and a warning: Tom Cruise is still airborne, and Hollywood has yet to catch up.

Don’t take our word for it, watch below yourself the featurette released just a few hours ago.

Featured image is a cropped version of a photo showing Tom Cruise at the “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” Sydney, Australia, Red Carpet premiere. Original Photo Attribution: Eva Rinaldi from Abbotsford, Australia. The original photo and the cropped one above both are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)