Tom Cruise conquers new heights with jaw-dropping speed-flying stunt

Los Angeles: Tom Cruise, has once again astounded audiences with a death-defying feat in 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.' At the age of 60, Cruise fearlessly showcased his daredevil spirit by engaging in "one of the most perilous sports in the world" - Speed Flying. In an Instagram video, the Hollywood star is seen speed-flying off the side of a rocky mountain in the United Kingdom's Lake District for the 'MI7' film.

"It's a beautiful and delicate sport," 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning' director Christopher McQuarrie says in the video and explained how he and other filmmakers achieved filming dynamic shots for the highly-anticipated movie. McQuarrie also shared some of the challenges that came with filming Cruise doing the stunt, which included figuring out where to place the cameras.

The director went on to explain that "while it may look similar, speed-flying is not skydiving. Skydiving is fairly predictable. Speed-flying is incredibly unpredictable."

As per The Hollywood Reporter, the air sport, similar to paragliding, combines elements of parachute swooping to allow people to fly at high speeds down mountainsides while maintaining close to the slope. In the footage, Cruise said of the stunt: "We're gonna do spirals, and we’re landing at an incredibly high speed, over 80 kilometres an hour." McQuarrie added that when "flying very close to rocks," the crew was in “absolute terror” behind the cameras. The director called the whole experience a "one-of-a-kind adventure."

Throughout his decades-long career, Cruise has continued to look for ways to push the limits for projects, from scaling a skyscraper to dangling on the outside of a plane. For his upcoming film, in another death-defying stunt, Cruise drove a motorcycle off a cliff and parachuted to safety, on the first day of filming. 'Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One' is set to hit theatres on July 12.
(With IANS inputs)