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  • This is far and away the most dangerous thing we've ever attempted.

  • We've been working on this for years.

  • (We're) gonna shoot it in Norway, and itll be a motorcycle jump off a cliff into a base jump.

  • Wanted to do it since I was a little kid.

  • It all comes down to one thing.

  • The audience.

  • There's a lot going into this stunt.

  • So, Tom put together this master plan to coordinate all of these experts in each of the particular disciplines involved to make this whole thing happen.

  • John and I are jumping out of a helicopter; he's gonna chase me.

  • That’s what we say to each other: Don't be careful; be competent.

  • Be competent.

  • A year of base training, advanced skydive training, a lot of canopy skills, a lot of tracking.

  • Tom Cruise, he's an amazing individual; you tell him something, and he just locks it in.

  • His sense of spatial awarenesshe's the most aware person I've ever met.

  • Lots of practice on stability and freefall.

  • Tracking with John and Miles in the air, doing lots of different positioning, like theyre a two-man team in the air.

  • Coming on top of each other, below each other, back tracking, front tracking.

  • You know, we've drilled and drilled and drilled.

  • When you do a lot of jumps back to back, the canopy control skills improve a lot.

  • We have three open canopies, which is a good thing.

  • The training has gone really well.

  • It's progressing massively.

  • - Hey, McQ. - How are you?

  • Great day, man.

  • This the next part of training right here, motocross.

  • Let's do it.

  • So, we built a motocross track.

  • Getting confident in motocross, so he’s comfortably jumping 70-, 80-foot tabletops.

  • Great time in the air, great positioning on the bike, landing well.

  • I have to get so good at this that there's just no way that I miss my marks.

  • That’s good; come a little closer to me.

  • Coming up with the stunt is only one of the technical challenges; the other is putting a camera in a place that you can see where Tom is doing it.

  • Finding the right lens, the right platform, the right medium.

  • Even two years ago, the cameras didn't exist that would allow us to do what we're trying to do today.

  • How do we involve the audience? I just want to give them that thrill.

  • That means the camera has to be in front of Tom and as close to him as possible.

  • - Feels like you're going over the camera. - Yes; very cool.

  • You train and drill every little aspect over and over and over and over again.

  • They were doing 30 jumps a day.

  • Getting to a point where he was just a machine⏤I mean, over 500 skydives.

  • That's what we do.

  • Over 13,000 motocross jumps.

  • - Oh, it's gonna be fun. - Ah, it's great.

  • We replicated this ramp in England at a quarry.

  • We filled the quarry with cardboard boxes, which were there to catch the motorcycle.

  • The reason why we did that is so that Tom could simulate the jump.

  • How fast should I go off, what distance do I travel?

  • We built models of different ramps at different angles to calculate what Tom's trajectory would be.

  • We have to be able to consistently predict where Tom is going to be in three-dimensional space.

  • Were gonna have a GPS chip on me.

  • And that recorded every single one of Tom's jumps, along with his ground speed, whether there was a headwind, whether there was a crosswind.

  • And by doing this multiple times, we were able to get a consistent set of data.

  • So that (for) each take, we could see what height I am, so, this way, we can set drones and cameras in places where I can go right into close-up.

  • Rule one: Don't hit me with the drone.

  • Because if we do it all and we don't capture it right, what's the point?

  • Let’s do it, guys.

  • - Ready? - Yep.

  • Always wear my earplugs so I don't hear myself scream.

  • We are ready-ready.

  • Three, two, one!

  • The key is me hitting certain speeds and being consistent with that.

  • There's no speedometer, so I do it by sound and feel of the bike.

  • And then, as I depart the bike, I'm using the wind is hitting me here and I'm cupping my chest, that will give me lift.

  • Thank you all very much for your help, guys.

  • We're here in Norway.

  • We've been constructing this ramp over a number of months.

  • Everything here has to be brought in by helicopter.

  • Engineers and technicians.

  • It’s incredible what they've done.

  • This is masterful.

  • Today is day one of principal photography, and we are starting in classic "Mission" form, with the biggest stunt in the film.

  • What we're doing here is, I’m just doing jumps just to warm up the body.

  • Let’s do it.

  • Just to get my tracking going and make sure everything's working all right.

  • I’ll try not to smile.

  • Basically, when he gets down and puts the parachute on and goes and does the bike jump,

  • he'll actually know the weather conditions in this area, in the valley, and on the ground.

  • And then he has to safely deploy a parachute.

  • Now he's in a rock bowl with walls all around him, and he's gotta fly out of it.

  • Of course, you know, when something's being done for the first time, you can't help but worry a little bit about how it's really gonna turn out.

  • With a jump like this, the challenge is finding the cameras, it's the amount of preparation, and it’s weather.

  • You want the light to be right; you want the clouds to be rightmisty but not foggy.

  • This weather right here is exactly what we're looking for.

  • He is about 10 minutes away from coming up here, landing and doing the actual stunt.

  • Sounds good. We're in motion; see you soon.

  • Now we're gonna set the frames with this camera ship, with the drone, just to verify everything, then we're gonna get ready.

  • You know, the only things you really have to avoid while doing a stunt like this is, uh, serious injury or death.

  • Here we go.

  • You're riding a motorcyclewhich is pretty dangerouson top of a ramp that's elevated off the ground.

  • So, if you come off the ramp, that's gonna be very bad.

  • You're falling.

  • If you don't get a clean exit from the bike and you get tangled up with it; if you don't open your parachute...

  • ... you're not gonna make it.

  • Three.

  • Two.

  • One.

  • Action!

  • I saw a canopy; I saw a canopy.

  • To you guys; thank you.

  • Tom, that was absolutely beautiful, like, nothing wrong.

  • Bike went away, I mean, the track was perfect.

  • It was actuallyit was... it was great.

  • Thanks, mate; I think I can hold to the bike a little longer.

  • Action!

  • Pretty much the biggest stunt in cinema history.

  • Tom Cruise just rode a motorcycle off a cliff six times today.

  • This is far and away the most dangerous thing we've ever attempted.

  • The only thing that scares me more is what we have planned for "Mission 8".

This is far and away the most dangerous thing we've ever attempted.

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