Recently there has been a rash of ill fortunes occurring on the sets of films and television shows, with stunt performers and even actors flubbing an action sequence or two and getting banged up, or worse. While shooting an episode of “The Walking Dead” season 8 for AMC last July, a stuntman fell from a height of 20 feet to a concrete floor, later succumbing to his grave head wound. This week a stunt rider on the set of the film “Deadpool 2” was killed after losing control of her motorcycle while filming an action sequence. At roughly the same period, Tom Cruise also suffered a bad (but thankfully not fatal) turn on the London set of Paramount’s “Mission Impossible 6.”
Mistimed jump
It has been decided by Paramount Pictures that “Mission: Impossible 6” will halt production anywhere from six weeks to three months.
This is to allow lead star and producer Tom Cruise to recover from an injury he sustained on set over the weekend. The actor was performing a daring rooftop stunt in their London film set that was improperly executed, leading to Cruise breaking an ankle and possibly a hip. This week had him doing visits to the doctor while the studio made estimates on how long they will put their shooting scheduled on hold.
As seen in video footage taken during the shooting sequence, Tom Cruise was on a building rooftop, running on a platform held up by scaffolding while harnessed to a wire rig with a camera running behind and above his head. As he leaped off the edge of the platform, he flew mid-air and struck the edge of the building on the other side with what looked like a hard impact.
After a few seconds, he clambered onto the rooftop and hobbled painfully for a few steps before collapsing next to another camera crew.
Filming pauses
Tom Cruise has long defended his title as one of the prominent action stars of past and present with his fearlessness in performing his own stunts, much to the consternation of studio heads and insurance firms as he grew on in years (not that it looks obvious).
Therefore he constantly runs the risk of the same mishap that happened to him in the “Mission: Impossible 6” set this week. Responsibility lies most likely in the wire pulley crew, who could not lift the actor high enough and fast enough to accomplish the possible stunt of jumping across rooftops the and landing on his feet.
For the period of time that shooting is stalled due to Cruise’s injury, it has been suggested that Paramount proceed to do post-production work while he recovers, in order to meet the 2018 premiere date. “Mission: Impossible 6” director Christopher McQuarrie went on Twitter to assure the public that Tom is facing no further complications.
