Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, who has crossed the age of 60 in Korean age, has returned once again with his ‘Mission: Impossible’ series armed with extreme action. From hanging on to an airplane crossing a canyon to dangerous underwater filming and jumping into the rough sea bare-bodied, he once again pulled off seemingly ‘impossible’ action scenes. To safely film these action scenes, he mentioned that he developed superior ‘spatial awareness’ compared to others, enabling him to detect the positions of cameras and obstacles to avoid getting hurt.
At a press conference for ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ held at Lotte Cinema World Tower branch on the 8th, Tom Cruise stated, “I filmed a scene approaching a submarine sunk in the depths of the sea from a rotating tank. To avoid getting hurt, I had to detect the positions of the camera and obstacles, which required me to develop spatial awareness surpassing that of ordinary people. As a result, I can now detect objects and cameras approaching from all directions, as well as our acting.”
When asked by the host if he was scared while filming underwater action scenes or wing walking, Tom Cruise replied, “I don’t mind feeling fear. When people ask me if I’m not afraid of doing extreme things, I answer that I don’t mind feeling fear. I don’t particularly enjoy feeling fear, and I don’t necessarily want to do things that I’ve done before or feel safe in life.”
He mentioned, “I constantly hone my storytelling skills and strive to anticipate upcoming problems to handle the ‘pressure.’ Among people who enjoy pressure, there is a saying that ‘pressure is a privilege.’ What I’ve realized about myself is how much I enjoyed this pressure, how much I enjoyed the ‘responsibility’ of making a movie.”
Director Christopher McQuarrie, who directed the film, said, “The scariest part (of filming underwater scenes) was the ‘unknown territory’ that we already knew about when planning.” He explained, “When filming aerial shots, Arctic shots, and other scenes, we only knew what we knew, and we didn’t know what we didn’t know. It was really scary to find out things only when we arrived on set. Another scary thing was the (oxygen) mask that Tom wore.”
McQuarrie explained, “The mask Tom Cruise wore in the movie was good for the camera as it allowed his entire face to be visible from all directions and was also efficient for the film, but it was not very efficient for actual underwater breathing.” He lamented, “Tom Cruise breathed in his carbon dioxide, suffered from hypoxia, and as a result, the sequence became physically very challenging. So it was difficult to continue filming.”
Tom Cruise said, “Not only was it difficult to breathe, but it was also difficult because of the weight of the diving suit I was wearing at the time.” Recalling, “The weight of the suit sometimes went up to 125 pounds (about 57kg) due to moisture,” he said, “Especially when I inhaled oxygen, the air trapped inside the mask made it very difficult to breathe, so I had to keep filming, recovering, and filming again on set.”
McQuarrie said, “Tom Cruise had to be able to see 360 degrees wherever he was for a few seconds,” adding, “So it took a tremendous amount of time to set the camera position.” He explained, “For Tom Cruise’s safety, we set a timer and kept informing him that 2 minutes or 4 minutes had passed each time he took off his mask, checking the amount of carbon dioxide he was breathing to help him take off the mask as soon as possible.”
He added, “Before Tom Cruise filmed the underwater scenes, he practiced without a mask on the water surface,” and elaborated, “With limited visibility underwater, he had to rely on memory to act.”
In response, Tom Cruise laughed, saying, “I thought, ‘This isn’t difficult enough,’ and I thought I should ‘slowly’ tell the director about these problems so as not to burden him.”
Tom Cruise emphasized, “Making a movie is a very profound work,” and said, “So it is important to work with dedicated people. It is a great fortune to be able to work with the best experts in each field on a movie set.”
The 8th installment of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ series, where the ‘master of action’ Tom Cruise and his ‘soulmate’ director McQuarrie joined hands, ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,’ will be released nationwide on the 17th.