Tom Cruise performed unforgettable Olympics stunt without pay, insisted on no stunt double

Weeks after Tom Cruise’s unforgettable, jaw-dropping stunt performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, behind-the-scenes secrets have been revealed. 

During a CNBC x Boardroom: Game Plan panel to discuss the 2028 Olympics, Casey Wasserman, who serves as LA28 president and chairperson, gave fans insight as to how they were able to make the Cruise stunt happen. He also explained why the iconic actor had insisted on no pay and no stunt double.

“He finished filming ‘Mission: Impossible’ at 6 p.m. in London, got right on a plane,” Wasserman said, via The Hollywood Reporter. “He landed in L.A. at 4 a.m. and filmed the scene where he pulls onto a military plane. In L.A., he does two jumps out of the thing. He didn’t like the first one, so he did a second jump. Then he helicoptered from Palmdale to the Hollywood sign, filmed from 1 until 5, helicoptered to Burbank Airport and flew back to London.” And according to Wasserman, Cruise did it all for free.

TOM CRUISE DIVES INTO PARIS OLYMPICS CLOSING CEREMONY IN JAW-DROPPING STUNT

Wasserman, who hired seasoned TV producer Ben Winston to execute the stunt, said the idea was originally pitched to Cruise via Zoom. 

“The best part of the story is we pitched on a Zoom, and the original idea was a person in the stadium as a stunt double,” said Wasserman. “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 . . . 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.’ About five minutes into the presentation [Tom Cruise] goes, ‘I’m in. But I’m only doing it if I get to do everything.'”

The actor insisted on doing the stunt himself.  (Getty Images)

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“[Ben] says, ‘Don’t get too excited. He loves doing this stuff, but when his team realizes how many shooting days it’s going to be and rehearsals, this is never happening. I’m telling you I got it, but it’s never happening.’ Sure enough, every step of the way, he got more involved and more engaged,” he continued.

Tom Cruise waived the Olympic flag on stage at the closing ceremony. (Getty Images)

“I don’t think there’s anybody like him in the world,” Winston said in an interview with THR. “There is no better collaborator.”

“The French team deserves a lot of credit,” Wasserman said during the panel. “They reminded people why people fall in love with the Olympics. . . . It’s been a long time since you had a really beautiful, high-engaged global city that had the resources and the time and the opportunity to take advantage of what the Olympics can be, and they did it spectacularly. To me, the greatest thing they did was they energized the people of France, and those stadiums were full and excited, and you saw the results for the French teams being remarkable.”

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The “Mission: Impossible” star descended from the top of the Stade de France after H.E.R. sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the 2024 Paris Olympics’ closing ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 11.

Cruise waited at the top of the Stade de France before launching himself into the crowd. (Getty Images)

Cameras panned to the top of the building to watch Cruise effortlessly fly through the sky and down to the athletes who had competed in the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.

After walking through a sea of competitors, Simone Biles and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass handed Cruise the flag for him to bring it back to the States in a nod to signify the hand-off from Paris to the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“Thank you, Paris! Now off to LA,” Cruise shared on X.

In a pre-recorded clip, Cruise rode through town and onto a plane before he made his way to the top of the Hollywood sign in LA, which was by then configured to show the Olympic rings. 

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Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this post.