Tom Cruise was ‘scared sh**less’ by plane stunt in ‘Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation’

HE’S famous for demanding to do his own stunts, but even Tom Cruise was ‘scared sh**less’ by a stunt in the latest Mission Impossible movie.

TOM Cruise hung off the side of an aeroplane a death-defying eight times for the most memorable stunt in the upcoming Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, the actor revealed to theatre owners at CinemaCon.

The sequence required the star to cling to a Airbus A400M as it soared 5,000 feet (1,524 metres) in the air, something that necessitated wearing special contact lenses so he could keep his eyes open despite the wind pressure.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Cruise quipped, as he presented behind-the-scenes footage of his air flight, adding, “ I want to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.”

In past Mission: Impossible films that’s resulted in Cruise scaling mountain peaks or hanging along the exterior of the Burj Khalifa. But this may have been his most dangerous mission yet.

Here’s the stunt that terrified Cruise.

Cruise admitted that the crew did their best to make certain that there were no birds that could collide with the actor or jet fuel fumes to contend with, but at a certain point ... it was up to the fates.

“He’s actually out there doing these things,” marvelled Rob Moore, vice-chairman of Paramount, the studio behind the hotly anticipated sequel.

The ever affable Cruise laughed off the risks, but copped to a few twinges of anxiety. There was one shot of the actor giving the crew a thumbs-up sign indicating he was ready for takeoff.

“I’m actually scared sh**less,” Cruise said.

The behind-the-scenes look at the signature stunt was part of Paramount’s presentation of its upcoming slate of films. The studio also screened two nearly finished scenes from the film, one that showed a shirtless Cruise drugged and hanging from a lead pipe as he’s beaten by a muscled bad guy called the bone doctor. Think the Marathon Man interrogation scene with a WWF star filling in for Sir Laurence Olivier.

The other scene centred on Cruise and Simon Pegg’s sidekick character Benji engaged in a high speed car chase through the streets of Morocco.

The movie hits Aussie cinemas on August 6.