Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: How Tom Cruise Shot The IMPOSSIBLE Stunt Of Hanging On The Airbus
Advertisement
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation‘s opening scene in which Tom Cruise aka Ethan Hunt takes off while hanging along with the Airbus 400 still gives us goosebumps. The film released in 2015 and the way it starts still keeps us on the edge of the seat.
But do you know, Tom Cruise like always shot the scene in as much authentic way as possible. And guess what there was no use of visual effects while filming the scene.
As per Screen Rant, it was tough for Tom Cruise to keep his eyes open while shooting for the scene because of high-speed wind. And to make sure there’s no harm to his eyes, a special lens was designed. He gave as much as 8 takes for the shot before it was called perfect.
Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation’s DOP Robert Elswit earlier told Hollywood Reporter, “There’s no digital Tom, and there’s no fake plane. He’s really strapped to an Airbus.”
He further added, “It’s pretty damn crazy; it’s over a hundred knots when it takes off. They can slow down pretty quickly, but it still does on a complete circuit. They go up, get altitude, make a complete circuit and land. I think it’s up in the air for about 6-8 minutes before it lands again. It had to be at least 1,000 ft. up. And he’s attached to the thing the whole time. The visual effects that were involved were erasing the wires (which held Cruise to the plane).”
Isn’t that amazing?
Talking about all the planning & practice they did before the shooting, Robert Elswit said, “Tom was in a full-body harness and he’s cabled and wired to the plane through (its) door. Inside the aircraft was an aluminium truss that was carefully bolted to the plane, which held the wires that went through the door, which held Tom,”
Talking about the contact lenses used for his eye protection, he added, “He was also wearing special contact lenses to protect his eyes. If anything hit him at those speeds it could be really bad. They were very careful about cleaning the runway so there were no rocks. And we took off in certain weather conditions; there were no birds. And he’s sort of protected by the way the air moves over the wing.”
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section.
