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Tom Cruise details 'Mission: Impossible' jump stunt at 25,000 feet

Between training for the stunt and shooting it Cruise leapt from a C 17 military plane a total of 106 times to get the three takes.
Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images for CinemaCon
Actor Tom Cruise (L) and director/writer/producer Christopher McQuarrie speak onstage during the CinemaCon 2018 Paramount Pictures Presentation Highlighting Its Summer of 2018 and Beyond at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon.

Tom Cruise has put the dangerous falling out into Mission: Impossible — Fallout.

The action star, 55, wowed CinemaCon late Wednesday with details and stunning footage of his "High Altitude, Low Open (HALO)" parachute jump stunts for the action thriller due out July 27.

The numbers alone for the stunt, which took over a year to plan and execute, are daunting. Cruise did the jump requiring an extended free-fall — used by military special forces — from 25,000 to 30,000 feet, flying through the air at speeds up to 220 miles per hour.

Between training for the stunt and shooting it Cruise leapt from a C 17 military plane a total of 106 times to get the three takes he and director Christopher McQuarrie wanted.

"For these films it's about what we can do that's physically possible, but without killing Tom," said McQuarrie.

Just one shot left At 25,000 feet At 200 mph At dusk Three minutes of available light Two minutes of action One chance per day Just one Just one shot left #MissionImpossibleFallout

A post shared by Christopher McQuarrie (@christophermcquarrie) on

McQuarrie joked that it didn't make sense "falling out of perfectly functioning aircraft."

But this is what Cruise does for his Mission: Impossible franchise, including strapping himself to a A400 plane in flight for 2015's Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation.

For those who doubt the star is in peril, Cruise broke his ankle shooting a building jump for Fallout, causing production to temporarily shut down.

McQuarrie's team had to develop a special oxygen mask which would allow Cruise's face to be lit and not obscured by the protruding hose — so audiences will see for themselves its actually Cruise jumping.

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