The actor stole the show during the closing ceremonies of the Paris Olympics, performing a stunt during the symbolic handoff to host-city-in-waiting Los Angeles.
Speaking on a panel during CNBC x Boardroom’s Game Plan Summit, president of the Los Angles Olympic Organizing Committee Casey Wasserman said that getting the A-lister to participate was always his top priority, but he was skeptical of how much time he’d be able to get on Cruise’s calendar.
“We were like ‘There’s no way we’re getting this much. We’re going to have four hours of filming time [with him]. We’ll do the thing in LA with the Hollywood sign, he’ll hand the thing off and he’s done. The rest will be just a stunt double,’” Wasserman recalled.
But the 62-year-old Cruise quickly surprised the Organizing Committee with his enthusiasm and interest in their pitch.
“About five minutes into the presentation he goes ‘I’m in, but I’m only doing it if I get to do everything,’” Wasserman said.
Wasserman said Cruise “got more involved and engaged” as planning for the closing ceremony stunt got underway.
The stunt would see him rappel down from the roof of the Stade de France and accept the Olympic flag from Simone Biles and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass. Cruise would then ride off on a motorcycle and the feed would cut to pre-taped footage of him riding onto a waiting plane which would fly him to Los Angeles, at which point he would skydive down onto the Hollywood sign.
Wasserman said Cruise was true to his word, arranging a jam-packed travel day in order to film everything that was needed.
“He finished filming ‘Mission: Impossible’ at six o’clock in London, got right on a plane and landed in LA at 4 a.m.,” Wasserman explained. “He filmed the scene where he pulls onto the military plane in LA. He did two jumps out of the plane. Then he helicoptered from Palmdale to the Hollywood sign, filmed from one until five, helicoptered to the Burbank airport and flew back to London at six o’clock.”
And despite the lengths he went to in order to fit the shoot into his schedule, Cruise “did it all for free.”
Watch Cruise’s Closing Ceremony stunt here.
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