Tom Cruise keeps proving that there’s no greater love story than his love and passion for death-defying, gravity-bending stunts. The actor continuously makes it tougher for himself to top his records, as nobody else seems willing to push the limits quite like he does.
And to top it off, reports now claim that Cruise performed all the jaw-dropping stunts at the Olympic closing ceremony, live and unrestrained, all for the sheer thrill of it, and thus, did it absolutely for free. Tom Cruise is notorious for dodging brand deals and endorsements, so, this move in the most non-surprising way, is a pure Cruise! Here’s how it all went down.
Tom Cruise Charged Absolutely Nothing to Perform at The 2024 Olympics Closing Ceremony
Olympic’s closing ceremony this year was nothing short of spectacular, thanks to a mind-blowing stunt by Tom Cruise that took over a year for executive producer and creative director Ben Winston of Fulwell 73 Productions to orchestrate. And it all paid off, as it was for sure the most thrilling moment of Paris 2024.
Most recently, Casey Wasserman, president and chairman of LA28, revealed at a CNBC x Boardroom’s Game Plan Summit panel in L.A. on September 10 that Cruise pulled off the entire stunt for free. Wasserman explained what went on behind the scenes, first speaking of his Hollywood sign bit, he said (reported by The Hollywood Reporter),
The original idea was a person in the stadium as a stunt double,–About five minutes into the presentation [Cruise] goes, ‘I’m in. But I’m only doing it if I get to do everything.’
He further explained, how the actor pulled it off despite his stacked schedule,
He finished filming Mission: Impossible at 6 p.m. in London, got right on a plane. He landed in L.A. at 4 a.m., and filmed the scene where he pulls onto a military plane. In L.A., he does two jumps out of the thing. He didn’t like the first one, so he did a second jump. Then he helicoptered from Palmdale to the Hollywood sign, filmed from 1 until 5, helicoptered to Burbank Airport and flew back to London.
Tom Cruise certainly gave it his all, going above and beyond and that too free of charge, on stunts that would have cost a fortune if someone else were to partake in it. This level of commitment is exactly why he’s a true superstar. There’s simply no one else like him, and there probably never will be.
Now That’s How You Make an Entrance!
This year, Tom Cruise took the Olympics to a whole new level, making the world fall even more in love with the Games than they already were, by the dazzling performances of athletes of the entire season.
In a recent Variety interview, Ben Winston, the mind behind the stunt, spilled the beans on the hard work and effort that went into pulling it all off. He explained,
We’ve been planning this for a year and a half, and we had this idea that it would be so beautiful if we could take the flag from the Paris stadium and make it travel all the way to Los Angeles and then go live and do something spectacular here.
The first thing we did was pitch Tom, because there’s nobody better to do an incredible stunt. I pitched him on the idea of a stuntman grabbing the flag, coming down from the roof of the Stade de France, and then taking his mask off and you see it’s Tom Cruise, who then jumps out of a plane and lands in LA. Tom said, “I’m in, but I want to do the whole thing,” so it was this huge undertaking of this live stunt with Tom jumping off the roof.
It’s truly amazing to witness how the actor continues to pour his heart and soul into every stunt he tackles. Even after decades of doing this, he still keeps his fans guessing what his next move will be, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and redefining expectations with each performance.
