Mission: Impossible 8 set photos reveal Tom Cruise’s next death-defying stunt

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
(Image credit: Paramount)

Tom Cruise: Stuntman is showing no signs of slowing down if these new Mission: Impossible 8 set photos are any indication.

Previous M:I movies have already seen the Ethan Hunt actor perform HALO jumps, hang from helicopters, and shatter his ankle after leaping across a building. For his next trick? Hanging upside down on a World War 2-era plane.

As per The Sun, Cruise took to the skies on the wing of a 1941 Boeing Stearman biplane and perched on the aircraft. And this was only for rehearsals. We feel a little queasy just looking at it.

A source close to the newspaper said: "Tom had started to learn to fly a Boeing Stearman biplane earlier this year for a major stunt scene in Mission: Impossible 8."

Mission: Impossible 7, meanwhile, has wrapped filming. Mission: Impossible 8 is, more or less, being filmed back-to-back.

No footage has been publicly released yet, however a sizzle reel of behind-the-scenes material was shown at this year’s CinemaCon – with Tom Cruise in similar death-defying form in a motorcycle jump.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's Aaron Crouch: "Cruise trained for a year doing 500 skydives and 13,000 motorbike jumps. They captured this on day one of principal photography. Genuinely scary watching him do this."

Mission: Impossible 7 is set to release on September 30, 2022. Mission: Impossible 8 is hitting cinemas just under a year later on July 7, 2023.

For more on what else is coming to a big screen near you in 2022, check out our guide to movie release dates.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.