Tom Cruise movies daring airplane stunts for Mission Impossible 8

He’s normally front and centre of dramatic stunts in his biggest roles.

But even Tom Cruise showed that even he can get spooked by some of his biggest roles, as he prepared to film daredevil plane scenes for Mission Impossible 8 in Oxfordshire on Sunday.

The actor, 62, climbed into the cockpit of a World War II biplane in preparation to take to the skies.

Getting back into character as Ethan Hunt, the legendary actor was filmed soaring into the skies in the plane, as part of the heart-stopping final scenes of the eighth Mission Impossible film.

Tom, who has had his pilot licence since 1994 and owns several aircrafts, was dressed in Ethan’s famous leather jacket as he jumped into the plane.

The star had previously been filming scenes for the long-awaited sequel Mission Impossible 8 at Longcross Studios. 

Back in April, Tom was last seen filming just a stone’s throw from Downing Street in London. 

Dramatic scenes signalled trouble for the Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt as the actor was seen kneeling on the road in surrender. 

Other scenes have been shot across Derbyshire, Surrey and central London at landmarks including the Natural History Museum in Kensington and Westminster Bridge.

The filming of the UK scenes of the eighth instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise initially took place between March and December 2022. 

Production on the eighth film had originally halted so that the cast could promote Part One, and then the strike began causing further delays.

Production restarted soon after, but was suspended in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Filming resumed in March 2024, but came to another halt in May, allegedly due to a faulty gimbal (a camera tool). It has since restarted again.

It was previously reported that the Minority Report star was learning to fly a World War II plane for the eighth installment of the action franchise. 

A source told The Sun : ‘Tom had started to learn to fly a Boeing Stearman biplane earlier this year for a major stunt scene in Mission: Impossible 8.

‘It’s obviously a highly skilled task but as usual he has no plans to cut any corners or bring in a stuntman.’

The insider went on: ‘Filming has only just wrapped on Mission: Impossible 7 but Tom has not given himself a break. And trying to film jaw-dropping scenes with an 80-year-old plane is particularly dangerous.’

Mission Impossible 8 was originally meant to be filmed back-to-back with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which raked in over half a billion at box office.

If not for the strikes, MI:8 would have been with fans by the end of summer: its scheduled release date is now May 23, 2025.

As well as Tom, the eighth Mission Impossible film will also see the return of Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Vanessa Kirby.

It is hoped that the actor will not have to resort to desperately begging studio bosses to extend the film’s run this time around.

When the seventh film hit cinemas, the actor was concerned about Oppenheimer overshadowing the film, as it required the same limited screens.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One underperformed at the box office compared to the previous films in the franchise, despite Tom’s attempts to extend its run. 

He was proved right as Oppenheimer achieved almost $400 million more than Mission: Impossible at box office. 

The Mission: Impossible film series began in 1996 and is based on the 1966 television series of the same name.