There have been a lot of opinions on Tom Cruise doing his own stunts. Many have praised the actor for his dedication to performing such major feats, while others have questioned whether he should be the one doing them. Regardless of how some might feel, it's hard to deny Cruise knows how to accomplish them and remain in one piece when he's done. Apparently, even when his stunts when go wrong, Cruise can look at them through a humorous lens. For instance, he shared an on-brand response after crashing into a wall while filming Days of Thunder back in the day.
Days of Thunder remains a great auto-racing movie, and that's in great part due to director Tony Scott's reliance on practicality. By taking on the role of star racer Cole Trickle, Cruise apparently wanted to immerse himself in the world of racing, and did so in a big way. Cruise's co-star in the racing flick, Cary Elwes, recently shared with ET how one of Cruise’s stunts went wrong and he crashed into a wall, prompting the risk-taking leading man shared the perfect two-word reaction:
Yeah, Tom put a car in the wall actually on his first day of driving. And these things are not cheap. And he was so funny on film. His last words before crashing were ‘Hello, wall.’
If you ask me, that doesn't sound like a man too torn up about the crash. Something I appreciate is a person who can find humor in a terrifying situation, and that totally tracks for Cruise. Of course, I'm just glad this story doesn't end with any major injuries for the actor. This story just furthers the notion that Cruise can be just as self-deprecating as he can be fearless.
Of course, even though Tom Cruise is a total pro at performing stunts, it doesn’t mean he never gets hurt as a result. When he did "ferocious” boxing stuntwork for Far and Away, he got hit in the ribs a lot due to all of those jabs and was in a lot of pain for a week and a half. Of course, production on the Mission: Impossible movies also resulted in Cruise injuring himself over the years. For instance, when making the movie, Cruise broke his foot while filming the free-climbing opening sequence and kept on going for that scene to be perfect.
Of course, Cruise also broke his ankle on Mission: Impossible—Fallout after attempting to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Yet the Hollywood icon still performed his scene as planned and even joked about the incident later, calling the London jump sequence “the easy one.” Clearly, the adrenaline-seeking actor knows how to fight through the pain, and his ability to laugh about it is really something.
Years after crashing into that wall, Tom Cruise may be in a position to play Cole again. It's been known for a while now that a Days of Thunder sequel could happen, and that's an exciting prospect. Of course, if the sequel does move forward, I'd say the crew may need to reinforce a few walls in case a certain Golden Globe winner hits them at full speed. In the meantime, stream the original 1990 film using a Paramount+ subscription.
