New particulars about Tom Cruise’s stunt on the 2024 Paris Olympics are coming to gentle.
The “Mission: Impossible” star closed Sunday’s ceremony in true Hollywood trend by leaping into the Stade de France and hopping on a bike, earlier than a pre-taped clip confirmed him skydiving towards the Hollywood sign up Los Angeles and the 2028 Olympics.
Whereas the feat appeared most impressed by the stunt-laden “Impossible” franchise, former “Late Late Show” producer Ben Winston informed The Hollywood Reporter that this symbolic passing of the baton was as a substitute influenced by a 15-year-old bit — from Conan O’Brien.
“I liked the idea of doing the bulk of it in Los Angeles but with an amazing open in Paris,” Winston stated Monday. “This is such a weird reference, but remember when Conan O’Brien started on ‘The Tonight Show’ and moved from New York to Los Angeles?”
“He did a really fun sketch going cross country,” he continued about O’Brien’s hilarious 2009 opener. “That has always stuck with me. So I was like, ‘How do Tom Cruise and all these incredible athletes take that flag from Paris to L.A.?’ It’s a weird inspiration.”
Winston recalled studying that “there’s this tradition of a 12-minute show” to represent the Olympics’ journey from one host nation to a different and instantly pondering: “Well, it would be the coolest thing if we snatched the flag, and we could get Tom Cruise to do it.”
Whereas he initially deliberate to have a masked stuntman pull off the extra harmful moments, Winston stated filming the nearer — which had onlookers within the Hollywood hills consider they had been filming the following “Impossible” film — went even higher than anticipated.
Tom Weller/VOIGT by way of Getty Photos
“Tom’s feedback was, ‘I love the idea, only we’re not doing a stuntman in a balaclava. I’m going to be the one who jumps off the roof, and I’m going to be the one who drives through Paris,’” he stated Monday. “Obviously, that’s better for me.”
Cruise clearly succeeded in his ongoing mission to turn out to be probably the most death-defying A-lister on the town, and notably grabbed an Olympics flag from gold medalist Simone Biles and LA Mayor Karen Bass after abseiling into the packed Paris stadium.
Whereas he’s definitely pulled off related stunts earlier than and promoted “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) with dizzying flying classes for former “Late Late Show” host James Corden, the feat of insuring Cruise was possible simply as troublesome because the Olympics stunt itself.
“It was definitely a consideration when we were doing the ‘Top Gun’ stuff for ‘The Late Late Show,’” Winston informed THR. “It was like, ‘Well, who does the liability lie with — the show or Tom?’ I still don’t know the answer on this one.”
