10 Most Amazing Practical Movie Effects Of The 2010s

2. Tom Cruise Hangs On A Plane (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation)

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation Tom Cruise
Paramount

A Tom Cruise movie just wouldn't be complete without a ridiculous, death-defying stunt, and his Mission: Impossible 5 effort - where he strapped himself to the outside of a plane as it took off and flew into the sky - is arguably his most dangerous and impressive to date.

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of this scene reveals that not one part of it is CGI. The only major digital tweak that was required was to have the wires and safety harnesses removed, but this aside, Mr. Cruise, the plane, and the background were all 100% real.

Robert Elswit, the film's cinematographer, spoke with THR about the complex safety measures the crew took to make this stunt possible:

"Tom was in a full body harness and he’s cabled and wired to the plane through [its] door. Inside the aircraft was an aluminum truss that was carefully bolted to the plane, which held the wires that went through the door, which held Tom. He was also wearing special contact lenses to protect his eyes. They were very careful about cleaning the runway so there were no rocks. And we took off in certain weather conditions; there were no birds."

The plane - an Airbus 400 - travelled at over a hundred knots (115mph), reached about 1,000 feet, and was in the air for roughly 6-8 minutes. Cruise reportedly performed the stunt eight times.

At least he didn't have to do much acting...

In this post: 
Inception
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!