It wasn’t mission impossible for Tom Cruise to deliver the Olympic flag to Los Angeles after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
But as it turns out, the Top Gun star agreed to pull off his dazzling death-defying stunt without receiving a paycheck.
“We pitched on a Zoom,” 2028 LA Olympics President and Chairperson Casey Wasserman said of the Closing Ceremony during a CNBC panel Sept. 11. “About five minutes in the presentation, he goes, ‘I’m in. But I’m only doing it if I can do everything.’ Every step of the way, he got more involved and more engaged-and by the way, he did it all for free.”
E! News has reached out to reps for Tom for comment but has not heard back.
It was a surprise for Casey and executive producer Ben Winston, who initially wanted to make the performance as easy as possible for Tom to take part. “The original idea was a person in the stadium as a stunt double,” Casey recalled. “We’re like, ‘Well, there’s no way we’re getting this. We’re going to get four hours of filming time. We’ll do the thing in LA with the Hollywood sign, he’ll hand the thing off and he’s done. Maybe we’ll get the other stuff and the rest will be just a stunt double.'”
But Tom wanted to really be a part of the performance. And Ben couldn’t help but gush over his commitment to the project. “I don’t think there’s anybody like him in the world,” he told The Hollywood Reporter last month. “There is no better collaborator.”
In fact, when the producer informed the Mission: Impossible actor that a stunt double would do the heavy lifting, he replied, “We’re not doing a stuntman in a balaclava. I’m going to be the one who jumps off the roof, and I’m going to be the one who drives through Paris.”
As for why they wanted Tom for the honor? “I can’t really think who else would work,” Ben admitted to the outlet. “Who else is synonymous with action and an American hero?” The 62-year-old’s stunt that closed the chapter on this year’s Olympic Games will surely go down in history. After Tom dove into the stadium, LA Mayor Karen Bass and Simone Biles presented him with the Olympic flag before he took it back to Los Angeles in true Mission: Impossible fashion. Because for Tom, moving the goalpost for each project is crucial. “I’m always pushing,” he told Business Insider last June. “I just remember, every time they say, ‘Can you top it? Can you not top it?’ we’re always pushing. Every film I do, whatever genre it’s in, I want to make it as entertaining as possible for that audience. I know I can do things better.”