Legendary actor Tom Cruise has truly redefined the boundaries of what's possible with the Mission: Impossible series, and with the eighth installment, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, he's pushing the limits even further. During a recent press conference in Tokyo, Cruise revealed that director Christopher McQuarrie proposed some stunts that were, quite literally, impossible. To drive home the point, Cruise had McQuarrie attempt the stunt himself.

"And then we talked about the story, and [McQuarrie] was like, 'Okay, I want you to go from here to here in a couple of seconds,'" Cruise explained. "I was like, 'I can't do that.' He's like, 'Okay, well, I want you to do this and this.' I was like, 'I really can't do that.'"

McQuarrie added, "It was the simplest thing. Anything you'd describe, [he'd] say, 'No, you actually can't do that.' And I don't hear 'can't' from him."

For Cruise, who has performed countless death-defying stunts throughout the M:I films, the challenge was clear. "I said, 'Just in terms of the speed, because the force of the air, for me to move quickly on the wing was... You just can't do it,'" he explained. He emphasized how a "20-minute tutorial" helped McQuarrie understand the physics involved. "You're limited by the speed of the aircraft and the force of the wind, which was utterly brutal. So I just said, 'Listen, I think the best thing is if you just do it. Go out, sit in the airplane, go out on the wing, and feel it. Feel the pressure. So, here I am, training him."

To his surprise, McQuarrie enjoyed the experience. "It was great, actually," he said. "Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again." Cruise also shared that he had been training for this particular stunt for years, and much of the success depended on selecting the right aircraft.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, running from May 13 to May 24, 2025. Following the festival, the film will hit theaters worldwide on May 23, 2025.