Tom Cruise has once again raised the bar for action stunts, this time by setting a new Guinness World Record for the most burning parachute jumps by an individual.
The Mission: Impossible star performed 16 such death-defying leaps during filming of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth chapter in the high-octane franchise.
Guinness World Records made the announcement on Thursday, praising Cruise’s dedication to authenticity and fearlessness.
‘Tom doesn’t just play action heroes – he is an action hero!’ said Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records.
‘His absolute focus on pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do is unmatched. It’s an honour to recognise his utter fearlessness with this new title.’
In the film’s dramatic climax, Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt faces off against his nemesis Gabriel, portrayed by Esai Morales, high in the skies.
The scene culminates with Hunt jumping from a burning plane. After deploying his parachute, the fabric ignites and disintegrates, forcing him to cut away the charred chute and deploy a backup.
Cruise, who is a licensed skydiver, executed the stunt 16 times. Each jump involved leaping out of a helicopter while strapped to a parachute soaked in fuel and set ablaze.
According to Guinness, no other actor or stunt performer has come close to matching that number of fiery parachute drops.
Cruise is certainly willing to push the limit. At one point during filming, director Christopher McQuarrie shared a terrifying moment when he feared Cruise had passed out while filming a death-defying stunt on the wing of a plane.
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‘There was a moment – more than one moment – where Tom had pushed himself to the point that he was so physically exhausted he couldn’t get back up off the wing,’ he revealed during a Rendezvous event at Cannes Film Festival, attended by Metro.
‘He was lying on the wing of the plane, his arms are hanging over the front of the wing. We could not tell if he was conscious or not,’ he continued.
‘We also knew that unless Tom did this [gestures], it was expressly agreed he was not in trouble and we could not cut – you can’t do this when you’re unconscious, so we’re waiting to see if there’s any indication Tom is okay, and we’re waiting to see this sign and Tom is laying on the wing of the plane.’
Whether you like Cruise and his attention-grabbing stunts or not, it’s easy to agree that this World Record is well-earned.
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