5 Times Tom Cruise Nearly Lost His Life For Being Hollywood's Ultimate Daredevil
Tom Cruise is undeniably Hollywood's ultimate daredevil when it comes to performing his own stunts in films.
Be it free-climbing the deadly cliffs off Utah, jumping from one building to the other, or hanging off a passenger plane mid-air, the 58-year-old actor puts his body on the line to make sure that fans get the most realistic action-packed sequences possible.
But doing that for a span of four decades is truly a very risky business and there have been several times when his death-defying stunts for films nearly cost Tom his life.
1. The Last Samurai
While shooting for 2003’s The Last Samurai, Tom had to duel with co-actor Hiroyuki Sanada while being mounted on mechanical horses.
In one of the takes, one of the horses was supposed to stop right before Sanada swiped a real-life samurai sword at Cruise.
However, the horse failed to stop and the cast and crew feared that Tom was going to get his head cut off.
Fortunately for the actor, despite great difficulty, Sanada succeeded in pulling back his sword right in time, ensuring that Cruise could return for more Mission Impossible films!
2. Edge Of Tomorrow
The 2014 Sci-fi film Edge of Tomorrow, featuring Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson, and Bill Paxton was undoubtedly successful in receiving a positive response from both fans and critics because of the action-packed sequences.
However, in one of the scenes that involved Blunt driving in a car chase scene, the actress almost got Tom Cruise killed.
Apparently, the car had a trailer attached at the back of it and Blunt was to take a hard right to let the trailer swing out behind the car, but unfortunately, the actress ended up driving the car into a tree.
"We start—I tear down this path, and Tom is being very quiet, and suddenly I hear him under his breath as I approach the right-hand turn, I hear him going, 'Brake, brake brake' ... I left it too late and drove us into a tree. And I almost killed Tom Cruise." said Blunt.
3. Top Gun
Top Gun was one of Tom Cruise's most iconic films with his daredevil US Navy fighter pilot avatar of Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell really hitting off with fans of every generation.
Shockingly though, the super hit film almost cost Cruise his life.
In the scene where his on-screen best friend and partner Goose loses his life, the actor is seen lifting up the body of the deceased co-pilot, while wearing a parachute in the middle of the ocean.
However, it was later revealed that Cruise was almost taken deep into the ocean by his own parachute after it started filling up with water.
His co-star Barry Tub, who played the role of Wolfman in the film, said, "Cruise came as close to dying as anybody on a set I've ever seen. Luckily one of the frogmen in the chopper saw his chute ballooning out. He jumped in and cut Cruise loose right before he sank. They would have never found him. He would have been at the bottom of the ocean."
4. Oblivion
Be it the Mission Impossible series or Knight and Day, Cruise loves riding bikes and he certainly likes them fast to try nerve-wracking stunts with them in films.
In the 2013 sci-fi action film, Oblivion, Cruise like always, insisted on doing his own stunts and rode a motorcycle at high speeds through a rocky mountain plain.
The director, obviously, like others before him, gave in and let the actor take cruise control. However, things could have gone real bad.
According to reports, Cruise lost control of the custom-made bike while going down a slope and fell off it.
Fortunately, the actor used his riding abilities to land safely and got back up to finish the film in one piece.
5. Mission Impossible: Fall Out
During the shooting of the sixth instalment of the Mission Impossible series, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Tom Cruise almost ended up breaking everything in his body when he miscalculated a jump while performing one of the stunts.
In the film, the actor's character Ethan Hunt can be seen jumping from one building to another but painfully for the actor, he failed just short and hitting the side of a building instead.
While Cruise walked it off soon after, it was revealed that he ended up breaking his ankle and could have even shattered his entire torso.
However, knowing what a superhuman Tom really is, he returned to sets after being nine weeks out and finished the film.
