How did Tom Cruise manage to hang himself from a plane in Mission Impossible?
The mission of Wade Eastwood, a veteran stunt coordinator, was to hang megastar Tom Cruise from a plane in mid-flight ... wearing a formal suit.
Even to that expert this scene sounded somewhat exaggerated.
"It's one of those conversations where everyone exchanges glances and thinks 'damn it.' Meanwhile Tom (Cruise) smiles and says it will be fun, "Eastwood tells CNN.
Two months after this meeting Cruise would be running on the wing of an Airbus A400M, clinging to it as it soars into the sky over Wittering air base in the north of England.
But the scene, a key piece for the new movie "Mission Impossible: Secret Nation" and which has been seen millions of times on YouTube prior to the film's premiere, for a moment was far from happening.
Airbus declined this proposal because the aircraft was new, and poorly tested, Eastwood said. The counteroffer from the aircraft manufacturer was: "Maybe when (the plane) lands, they can look out of the window."
After thinking of other options for the plane, Cruise told Eastwood "I just want to be on the outside of the plane, go back to them and introduce them to the idea again."
On this occasion, Eastwood, who is also a pilot, presented some plans to show that Cruise would be exposed to the least possible danger. This included a plan so that the actor could enter the plane in case of an emergency, which he considered a harness under his suit and a special platform right at the door of the aircraft.
"We did a lot of tests with dolls and everything went according to plan. The following happened when the plane arrived in England and Airbus gave us the keys and said 'Ok'," says Eastwood.
But all was not well - yet. Cruise still needed to act as he faced 300-kilometer-per-hour winds, which could turn tiny particles into dangerous debris.
The actor did not want to wear special glasses, because that would avoid seeing the fear in his face on the screen so his team put protective equipment on his eyes, similar to contact lenses, to keep him safe from debris, at the same time it allowed her to keep her gaze despite the wind.
The next problem was the safety harness, although he kept it safe, it made it difficult for her to use his body to act.
“I feel like a puppet. I won't be able to sell fear, ”Eastwood recalls Cruise's words.
The team added some rope to the line, meaning that if Cruise lost his grip on the plane, then he would fall several feet before the harness could save him.
"(In the scene) his feet are slipping off the plane and he's really holding on to his life," Eastwood said. The handles Cruise uses in the shot are actually panels that the plane uses to reduce turbulence.
Eastwood was confident the stunt was as safe as possible, but there was only one thing that worried him: the birds. No security measures could prevent a bird from crashing, but they minimized the risk by dispersing the birds that were near the airport in addition to putting a radar in the cabin.
Then there was takeoff, another risk for Cruise. To make the landing the plane had to take an angle more similar to that of a takeoff in an air show.
"The shot was effective to see the track shrink. This meant too much G for Tom," Eastwood said, referring to the gravitational pull that adds weight and causes difficulties in maintaining balance.
Cruise and his team replayed the scene eight times to get the shots seen in the movie. No one was hurt and Eastwood considers this stunt "the best of times."
But there was little time to celebrate. More scenes were needed, one that required Cruise to hold his breath underwater for six minutes.
