Tom Cruise has been awarded the Guinness World Record for “most burning parachute jumps by an individual” for a stunt performed for his latest film Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
During production of the film, the 62-year-old star leapt out of a helicopter 16 times while strapped to a parachute pre-soaked in fuel and lit ablaze.
Each time he then cut away the charred remnants of the burnt chute before safely deploying a backup.
In a statement, Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said: “Tom doesn’t just play action heroes – he is an action hero!
“A large part of his success can be chalked up to his absolute focus on authenticity and pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do. It’s an honour to be able to recognize his utter fearlessness with this new Guinness World Records title.”
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The sequence was filmed in Drakensberg, South Africa, where Cruise was dropped from a helicopter from a height of at least 7,500 ft. His first parachute would burn for between 2.5 and 3 seconds before completely disintegrating. During some of the 16 death-defying jumps, Cruise also had a 50 lb snorri camera rig attached to his body to film close-ups during his fall.
It is not Cruise’s first Guinness World Record. He also holds the record for the actor with the most consecutive $100-million-grossing movies.
In total, the Top Gun star has been credited in over 30 films that have broken the $100 million mark at the box office. The last 11 of those have been consecutive, starting with Jack Reacher in 2012.
There then followed Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, The Mummy, American Made, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning and most recently Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Earlier this year, Cruise revealed he passed out during the shooting of one stunt sequence for the new film.
The scene in question sees Cruise holding onto a 1930s plane as it soars through the air.
“When you stick your face out [of an airplane], going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen,” Cruise told Empire.
“So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit.”
Cruise is well-versed in stunt work with the previous Mission: Impossible films having shown the actor climbing the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai, jumping off a cliff, and clinging to the roof of a speeding train.
