Actor Tom Cruise has been an A-list movie star for decades, and has a bit of a reputation. Namely the 64 year-old actor’s penchant for dangerous stunts in the Mission: Impossible movies (which are streaming with a Paramount+ subscription) and more. Someone recently asked him if he’s ever scared for his life during these sequences, and his answer surprised me.
Whether Tom Cruise is hanging off the side of a plane or he’s sky diving to celebrate Top Gun: Maverick’s success, he’s known for looking death right in the eye as part of his career. In a profile for GQ, the beloved actor got real about his love for dangerous stunts by saying:
Look, I think you could look at my life and go: I like standing on the edge of a cliff physically and metaphorically. Meaning, I look at life as an adventure, and I always have, my whole life. I want to understand people. I want to understand life and cultures. We’re looking at life. I wonder: Who are those people? How do they feel? Do they think the way I do? Do they laugh at the same thing? How do I connect with them?
Honestly, I didn’t expect Tom Cruise to get so deep about his stunt work. While I assume it was all about creating memorable and real moments for the big screen, it’s about more than just each individual film project. He’s hoping to connect deeper with the world, and understand different type of people and cultures. Traveling and doing his unique type of acting is also about forming those connections.
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Cruise consistently risks his life for his movie roles, as well as extracurricularly as a thrill seeker. Later in the same interview, he went on to speak about why this unique way of traveling allows to understand other cultures in a way that a simple vacation does not. He went on to say:
And I didn’t want to just be a tourist. I wanted to go make movies there because I also find you really get to know people when you create with them. Everyone has a different subjective reality of what they think about life, about people. And there is common ground in humanity, and I’m looking for that common ground.
Movies bring together, and for Cruise that happens long before each new title arrives in theaters. Because he seems to feel like that traveling for work and doing insane stunts allow him the chance to understand other cultures and POVs. And that’s part of his stunt-heavy work that I never actually considered.
In the same conversation, Tom Cruise spoke candidly about death, and the possibility of something tragic happening during his wild stunts. Unsurprisingly, the Jerry Maguire actor seemingly isn’t afraid to die, as he put it:
So do I fear death? No. I don’t. It’s not like I’m not afraid. I don’t mind the feeling. I understand life has certainties and uncertainties. And in making movies and living life, what interests me is: Let’s move the uncertainties more into the certainties, but I want to create other uncertainties, so that we’re moving forward and it’s part of the adventure of it.
As someone who gets scared on rollercoasters or any other activities that involve heights, I simply can’t relate. But I guess that’s why Tom Cruise is an action star and I’m just writing about him. Still, this profile has shown new sides to the iconic actor, and it’s fascinating to get into his head about his wild stunt work.
Tom Cruise will return to the big screen as the title character of Digger, which arrives in theaters October 2nd as part of the 2026 movie release list. It doesn’t look like he’s going to be doing crazy stunts, but I also can’t put it past him.
