When you’re hanging onto the wing of a vintage biplane flying over 120 miles an hour, you need more than nerves of steel—you need breakfast.
In “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” Tom Cruise once again proves he’s in a league of his own when it comes to performing death-defying stunts. One standout moment shows him wing-walking on a 1940s era biplane at altitude, a feat that requires extreme physical and mental preparation—and, apparently, an enormous plate of bacon and eggs.
Cruise opened up about what goes into getting his body ready for these intense scenes. “The amount of energy it takes, I train so hard for that wing-walking,” he told People. “I’ll eat, like, sausage and almost a dozen eggs and bacon and toast and coffee and fluids. Oh, I’m eating!”
“It’s cold up there. We’re at high altitude. My body is burning a lot,” Cruise added. It’s not the kind of prep most actors go through—but then again, most actors aren’t strapping themselves to airborne machinery.
Even at 62, Cruise continues to add new skills to his stunt toolkit. From piloting helicopters to playing the piano, he approaches his craft with the mindset of a lifelong student. “The wonderful thing is you’re never there. It can always be better,” he said of his constant drive to improve.
“The wonderful thing is you’re never there. It can always be better.”
TOM CRUISE
Interestingly, that drive doesn’t just apply to high-octane pursuits. Cruise has also taken an interest in dance—not as a gimmick, but as another serious discipline. “I’m interested in that art form,” he explained. “The teachers understand how to move a body, what the shape does, and the emotion it can create in others.”
While it might seem like an unusual addition to his action-hero resume, Cruise’s embrace of dance fits neatly into his broader philosophy: mastering the body as a tool for storytelling, whether that means leaping from buildings or hitting the perfect pirouette.
Cruise’s extreme stunt work has long been a hallmark of the Mission: Impossible franchise, and his hands-on approach is a major reason fans keep coming back. With each film, he seems more determined to push boundaries—not just cinematic, but physical as well.
And yes, that includes breakfast. Would you ever fuel up for a flight like that?
