“That’s a real reflection of Tom”: Tom Cruise’s Real Mission Impossible Stunt Was Forced to Use VFX Trick Despite Actor’s Open Disdain of Artificial Effects

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The Burj Khalifa stunt in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is undoubtedly one of the most iconic stunts in the history of cinema. In the scene, Tom Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, can be seen scaling the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper in Dubai.

Tom Cruise performing the Burj Khalifa stunt

However, that scene wasn’t entirely shot in Dubai, some parts were filmed in another country, and the scene was created with the help of some visual effects. Tom Cruise, who is known for doing his stunts, has highlighted on multiple occasions that he prefers to do real stunts in order to make things look authentic, however, this memorable stunt had to use some editing magic.

Tom Cruise’s Burj Khalifa stunt was partly filmed in Vancouver

Tom Cruise in the Burj Khalifa scene in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Recently, ILM VFX artist Todd Vaziri appeared on Corridor Crew’s VFX Artists React series on YouTube and talked about Tom Cruise‘s iconic Burj Khalifa stunt in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The artist revealed,

“So this is on a partial set piece in Vancouver. He’s 20 feet off the ground, and some of the sky is the real Vancouver sky. On the flip side is a blue screen. We are looking at the beginning of the shot into the set piece of the reflective window into a blue screen, so that’s all synthetic back there. [Digital artist] Mark Nettleton did an amazing job in this shot. As the camera swings around, the window is removed so that the camera can swing around and get an over-the-shoulder of Tom. That’s a real reflection of Tom, but not of Dubai.”

While most of the shots were filmed in real life as Cruise was scaling Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, some parts of it were later added in using visual effects.

Tom Cruise does his own stunts

Tom Cruise

Cruise has reshaped the action genre with his jaw-dropping stunts, especially in the Mission: Impossible franchise. The actor actually climbed Burj Khalifa, 1700 feet in the air for authenticity. But this wasn’t Cruise’s only stunt, Cruise also clung onto a flying plane for a scene in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

While filming 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Cruise injured his ankle, but that didn’t stop him. In the movie, his character and Henry Cavill’s August Walker do a HALO jump out of a C-17 plane to get into Paris undetected. Cruise jumped out of the plane 106 times over the course of two weeks to get the perfect shot.

Source: VFX Artists React