Tom Cruise Nearly Lost His Neck – Literally, While Filming The Last Samurai, Co-Star Once Recalled “The Film Crew Watching Thought Tom’s Head Would Fly Off”
Tom Cruise is a daredevil, but this attitude nearly cost him his life during the filming of The Last Samurai. Read on to know all about it.
Tom Cruise Nearly Died While Filming The Last Samurai, Read On To Know About The Incident & Why The Film Crew Watching Thought ‘Tom’s Head Would Fly Off’ ( Photo Credit – Flickr / Movie Still )
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Tom Cruise is a daredevil star who loves doing his own stunts. Be it jumping from one building to another or riding off a cliff, or even climbing to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the ‘Misson: Impossible’ has made many impossible scenes possible and sustained several injuries filming them. But did you know he once almost lost his neck while shooting a scene involving a sword?
While filming the 2003 epic period action drama, The Last Samurai, Cruise opted to do his stunts himself instead of a body double substituting. Many of the scenes went as planned, but the one involving swords and riding mechanical horses almost has him beheaded. Read on to know the whole incident and what Tom and the other actor involved in the scene, Hiroyuki Sanada, had to say about it.
As per reports and the actor’s own confession, Tom Cruise came within inches of death when a stunt went wrong on the set of The Last Samurai. The scene in question saw him and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada riding mechanical horses and the latter having to swing his sword at Tom’s head. Due to a technical fault, Sanada’s horse – meant to stop a certain distance away- continued forward and nearly led to tragedy. The mishap was averted thanks to Hiroyuki’s martial arts background.
As reported by Dailymail, Tom Cruise once animatedly narrated the entire incident. The actor who nearly had his head chopped off while filming The Last Samurai said, “One day we were shooting, I was on a mechanical horse and Hiro (Hiroyuki Sanada) was on one too. He was approaching me and then suddenly his horse hit me and his sword was right here (points an inch from his neck). Luckily Hiro is trained in martial arts. I trust him.”
Not only Tom but Hiroyuki Sanada also once spoke about the ‘Mission: Impossible star’s near-death experience. Recalling the incident that took place on the sets of The Last Samurai, the Japanese actor – as reported by Loopers, said, “Tom’s neck was right in front of me, and I tried to stop swinging my sword, but it was hard to control with one hand. The film crew watching from the side all screamed because they thought Tom’s head would fly off.”
Just for your information, this wasn’t the only time Tom Cruise came close to losing his life while filming a movie. To know more about him and others who faced near-death situations while shooting, stay tuned to Koimoi.
