The footage of Tom Cruise breaking his ankle during production on Mission: Impossible – Fallout isn’t for the faint hearted.
Not only can you literally see it snap back into a position that will instantly make you feel nauseous, but Cruise somehow manages to get through the rest of the scene, and even runs out of shot on his crippled leg.
It is a good job that Cruise completed the scene, too. Because during my recent interview with Simon Pegg, the English actor, who plays Benji Dunn in the franchise, confirmed that the shot of Cruise breaking his ankle is in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout.”
“It was the best take of the stunt,” explained Pegg. “So even though it involved him breaking his ankle, it was by some measure the best take that they had done so that is the take that is in the movie.”
But while most people were left shocked by Cruise’s injury, Pegg wasn’t surprised to learn that the mega-star had broken his ankle during production, as he has repeatedly put himself in harm’s way for the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
In fact, Pegg was relieved that was the extent of the damage.
“It is a call you expect to get all the time you get on these films. I was relieved it was just his ankle. I wasn’t on set, I was driving, I think I was doing the school run and then I got a message from Chris.”
“I think he sent me the footage from the video of the monitor. That was the only time I ever watched it, because it was gross. It was just, ‘OK. So, what do we do now?’ We were just waiting.”
Cruise’s fracture was expected to put “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” so far behind schedule that its release date would have to be delayed. But, instead, Cruise once again used this as an opportunity to prove just how astonishing a human being he is.
“I think the doctor said it would be at least 9 months before Tom could even walk and he might not be ever to sprint on it again. Then 9 weeks later he was sprinting on it. We always knew it wouldn’t be as long as the hiatus projected, because, you know, he is Tom Cruise.”
“He has a kind of inhumane resolve to succeed. I mean, it was not like he wasn’t in a lot of pain doing that stuff 9 weeks later. He was. He was visibly stressed out by it, and the day he finished having to do all of the running you could see it lift off him like a black cloud. He was so happy that day.”
“He just, he is a producer as well as an actor. And the second his ankle smashed on that wall he became a producer. And you see it. He limped out of shot. So he saved the shot, even though he was in pain.”
“He knew it was broken. He did everything he could to facilitate finishing the film on time, and within the realms of credible budget. Even though it was uncomfortable for him.”
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout” is now in cinemas.
