Tom Cruise Was Flying Blind In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation's Plane Hang Stunt

Tom Cruise has become renowned for his death-defying stunts in the "Mission: Impossible" movies. In the recent film, "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One," Cruise rode a motorcycle off a cliff. In "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol," he scaled the side of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. And in "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation," he clung to the side of a plane as it took off and flew 5,000 feet into the air. It's jaw-dropping stuff, and it remains a bit bonkers that Cruise keeps doing things like this for our entertainment. What drives him? What gives him the confidence to do all of these dangerous things? And what's he going to do next? 

Of course, it's worth noting that Cruise isn't doing all of these things willy-nilly. They're planned out, and safety precautions are taken to help ensure the megastar doesn't end up dying during filming. And when it came time to shoot the "Rogue Nation" plane sequence, Cruise needed some protection. 

In a behind-the-scenes featurette for "Rogue Nation," Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie break down what went into creating the plane scene. Specifically, they talk about, well, how crazy and dangerous it all was. According to McQuarrie, right before they started shooting he thought of a direction he wanted to give Cruise. This meant McQuarrie had to get out of the plane and walk around to Cruise, who was already clinging to the side, waiting for takeoff. 

McQuarrie says that when he moved behind the plane, he encounter "This absolutely stifling wave of exhaust," adding: "You couldn't inhale, it was so foul. And then you walk between the engines and it was freezing cold again, and then walk behind the next engine and it was hot again, and then pass through that heat barrier and there was Tom, and he's clinging to the side of this metal plane with his bare hands."

Cruise had hearing protection in to protect his ears from the roar of the plane. He also had special contact lenses in so he could keep his eyes open against the rushing air when the plane finally took off. But there was a slight issue. As Cruise puts it: "I couldn't see when I had the lenses in. They protected my eyes, but it cost me my eyesight."

McQuarrie goes on to say that he was "directing through pantomime" to the blinded Cruise. Then, before the scene began, Cruise gave some advice to the filmmaker. "Don't worry about me," Cruise said, 'If I look terrified ... It's just performance. I'm just acting." Cruise advised McQuarrie: "Don't break the shot ... I'll tell you when to break the shot." 

According to Cruise, he wanted to make sure everyone else was comfortable with this daring stunt. "I also know everyone kind of, they have their own quiet panic about it, and I want to calm people down," the actor/stuntman said. 

It's telling that Cruise insisted McQuarrie not break the shot — he both wanted to show he could pull this off, and he didn't want to ruin the take. I imagine ruining the take would be a bad thing since it would require Cruise to do the stunt again. However, the actor did perform the scene multiple times, as the plane took off a total of 8 times before they got the shot they wanted. 

Folks, I don't like being inside a plane, so I can't imagine what it's like to cling to the outside during a takeoff. But that's because I'm not Tom Cruise. I'll let him stick to the stunts, he clearly knows what he's doing, even when he's blinded by contact lenses.