Why does Tom Cruise insist on performing his own stunts?
Tom Cruise is known for his wide variety of roles, whether it be in the realm of drama or action. In terms of the latter, Cruise has starred in several of the genre’s most beloved efforts, including Top Gun, Minority Report and The Last Samurai.
Cruise has always insisted on performing the several white-knuckle stunts shown in his films, particularly in the Mission Impossible franchise. We have regularly seen Cruise at the top of some of the world’s tallest buildings and witnessed him dangle from helicopters and scale gigantic mountains.
During an interview with Graham Norton, the actor explained the reason that he has always insisted on performing stunts himself rather than taking help from a stunt double. Norton asked why Cruise would ever dare to consider putting his own life at risk. Cruise explained that even before he was a star actor, he enjoyed spending childhood days performing “flips off the house into the snow” and racing bicycles over ditches. Evidently, the thrill-seeking side of Cruise was always present in his blood, even as a young kid.
He then explained to Norton that as he grew older, he began to love “fast cars, motorcycles, hiking and climbing,” essentially anything that gets the blood pumping. So it’s clear that he was always destined to play the likes of Ethan Hawke in his films with a complete determination of reality.
It’s also beneficial to Cruise, his directors and stunt coordinators that he is already in top physical condition. Otherwise, they may have just had to break the news to him that it might have been better to hire a stunt double. But Cruise’s real-life passions lend him a helping hand when it comes to putting his body on the line.
That intensity is shown on screen, whether in a dramatic role or an active role. Cruise’s commitment to the acting craft is evident in his stunt work. However, that diligence is part and parcel of Cruise’s desire to tell good stories within his filmography. He told Norton: “I feel that [when acting] you’re bringing everything, you know, physically and emotionally, to a character in a story. I’ve trained for 30 years doing [stunts], and it allows us to put cameras where you are normally not able to.” Indeed, being able to see that a person performing a stunt is the actual actor rather than a double lends a film a layer of believability, so we ought to tip our hats to Cruise on that one.
