Tom Cruise’s most popular movie franchise released its 8th part titled Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning this year. The film featured a daring sequence in the final moments where Tom Cruise, a licensed skydiver, leapt from a helicopter while strapped to a parachute soaked in aviation fuel and set ablaze. With this scene, he has set the record for performing the stunt 16 times, and after every jump, he cut away the burning parachute and deployed a backup to land safely. Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records, made a statement, which was posted on the official website.
Praising Tom Cruise, he said, “Tom doesn’t just play action heroes – he is an action hero. A large part of his success can be chalked up to his absolute focus on authenticity and pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do. It’s an honour to be able to recognise his utter fearlessness with this new Guinness World Records title.” He also mentioned, “Tom is no stranger to record-breaking. Over his impressively long and consistent career, he’s proved himself to be the most powerful actor in Hollywood and the most bankable star, and he’s still the actor with the most consecutive US$ 100 million movies on their resume and the most successful leading action hero at the worldwide box office.”
A behind-the-scenes clip featured Tom Cruise’s all 16 takes after the actor walked through the stunt with his crew. He was seen saying, "We're gonna be real smart. I'm not saying be risky. We don't take risks... obviously," as reported by Deadline.
In the video posted by the official YouTube page for Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the film, Tom Cruise can be seen discussing with the stunt coordinators, saying, “I am going to be deploying. If this is twisted while it’s burning, I am going to be spinning and burnt.”
Apart from Tom Cruise, the cast includes Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, Ving Rhames as Luther Strickell, Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, Hayley Atwell as Grace, Esai Morales as the antagonist Gabriel, Shea Wigham as Jasper Briggs, Greg Tarzan Davis as Degas, and Pom Klementieff as the assassin Paris.