Tom Cruise Has A Weird Rule About Running Scenes In His Movies

Whether he's trying to avoid an explosion, save the love of his life, or make it to school on time, the one thing you can always expect from most Tom Cruise movies is a running scene. It's one of Cruise's trademarks that's arguably just as important as the death-defying stunts he pulls off for our pleasure. The truth is that when he starts moving like the bus from "Speed," the energy of the film does too. The man's got places to be, and he's gotta get there looking awesome.

It's no secret that Cruise is a movie star and loves playing into the notoriety of enveloping the screen with his magnetism — even with dreck like "The Mummy." To this day, it still baffles me how Cruise feels so lost in the failed startup to the monster mash cinematic universe. But at least there's a running scene. Rather than Cruise sprinting by his lonesome, however, "The Mummy" featured his co-star Annabelle Wallis keeping up with him (seen below).

While making the rounds to promote "The Silencing," Wallis told The Hollywood Reporter that Cruise initially shot down her request. "I got to run on-screen with him, but he told me no at first," said Wallis. Why? Well, she claims that her "Mummy" co-star follows an 'I run alone' mantra, but he changed his mind after seeing her dedication:

"He said 'Nobody runs on-screen [with me],' and I said 'But I'm a really good runner,'; so I would time my treadmill so that he'd walk in and see me run. And then he added all these running scenes. So that was it. It was, like, better than an Oscar. I was so happy!"

But the weird thing is that Cruise's filmography proves otherwise.

It's easy to believe Cruise has only appeared on-screen by himself during his runs because all eyes are on him. All it takes is one look at the films throughout his career, however, to see that he's done so with a number of co-stars. First, you have examples where he's running alongside a collective like in "TAPS" or "The Last Samurai." But he's also been shown running on-screen with Robert Duvall in "Days of Thunder," Cameron Diaz in "Knight and Day," and Cobie Smulders in "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back."

It sounds less like a rule that Cruise has had from the get-go and more one that he adopted in his later years. The only time where it really makes sense that he's by himself is the "Mission: Impossible" movies. Cruise is no stranger to working with ensembles, but when you imagine him taking off, it's usually on his own accord to go save his friends or avoid a projectile. The thing about his runs in those movies is that he keeps managing to top himself with every installment. The long take in "Mission: Impossible III" is one of the film's most memorable moments.

You would think that he could never top himself after the run in "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" that resulted in a broken ankle, but I was levitating during Cruise's candlelit chase in "Dead Reckoning." Sometimes it helps to have a cinematographer like Fraser Taggart keeping up, while composer Lorne Balfe illuminates the intensity and passion.

Time will tell if "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" will feature Ethan Hunt performing the Cruise run to end all Cruise runs.