Action man Tom reveals the surprising food that fuelled the daredevil scenes as his eighth movie in the franchise hits cinemas this month
Action icon Tom Cruise has revealed a traditional English breakfast is the key to daredevil antics. The Hollywood legend says he scoffed a dozen eggs a day with his fry up to provide him energy for his death-defying Mission: Impossible stunts.
Actor Tom, 62, is a huge fan of the UK, shooting many of the film’s franchises here, where he also has a home. He was in London at the weekend for good friend David Beckham’s 50th birthday party. And it would seem anglophile Tom has grown accustomed to our cuisine too. Asked how he prepares for the dangerous scenes in upcoming Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the Top Gun star confessed: “I actually eat a massive breakfast.
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“The amount of energy it takes – I train so hard for that wing-walking. I’ll eat, like, sausage and almost a dozen eggs and bacon and toast and coffee and fluids.
“Oh, I’m eating! Picture: It’s cold up there. We’re at high altitude. My body is burning a lot.”
Tom’s not the first actor to devour multiple eggs as a pre-filming diet. Mark Wahlberg, 53, once admitted to eating 12 eggs a day in order to pile on the pounds for movie Stu. And Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, 53, previously boasted about eating 12 whole eggs and eight egg whites as part of his post-workout meal.
A trailer for his eighth MI film shows Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt risking his life on the wings and body of a 1940s biplane mid-air. Cruise, whose desire to entertain audiences has seen him risk his life in insane stunts for three decades, dreamed of the scenes since he was a kid.
“I remember seeing old footage of wing-walking,” he explained to US magazine People. “Those aircraft were only traveling at, I don’t know, 40, 50 miles an hour. This aircraft is up to over 120 miles an hour. Going out there, I was realising that it takes your breath away.”
Director Christopher McQuarrie, who directed and co-written the last three films, added: “He’s basically a one-man film crew: operating the camera, acting and flying.”
Co-star Simon Pegg said his friend was crazy for putting his life on the line for film stunts so often. The Shaun Of The Dead star said: “I’ve said, ‘You’re absolutely nuts’ many times to him. But he just cares that much about it.”
Tom told how he showed his late mother Mary Lee footage of the stunt before she passed away in 2017 – but didn’t tell her about his plans to recreate it.
Fans will see Cruise say farewell to Ethan Hunt in what he insists is the last ever installment, The Final Reckoning, which comes to UK cinemas on May 23.
Tom confirmed his relationship with actress Ana De Armas, 37, at the weekend when they attended David Beckham’s celeb-packed party at Core by Clare Smyth in Kensington, West London.
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