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Mission: Impossible: Expert behind award-winning stunt speaks out

GEIR OLSEN/GETTY Tom CruiseGEIR OLSEN/GETTY
The film was shot partly in the UK and features the usual death-defying stunts, including one in which Cruise jumps off a cliff on a motorcycle

A skydiving expert who was behind one of the biggest stunts in cinema history has spoken of the experience.

Karen Saunders, of Skydive Langar, in Nottinghamshire, worked on the stunt in the seventh Mission: Impossible film.

The scene saw Cruise - Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt - speed off a cliff on a motorcycle and parachute down to a valley below.

The stunt won "outstanding performance by a stunt ensemble" at the annual screen actors guild awards.

With over 10 years of experience working full-time as a skydiving rigger examiner, Ms Saunders was selected as Cruise's personal equipment monitor for Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).

Supplied Tom Cruise and Karen SaundersSupplied
Karen Saunders worked with Tom Cruise on his skydiving stunts in Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Dead Reckoning Part One

The award-winning motorbike and parachute scene was in Dead Reckoning Part One - the seventh film in the franchise.

Ms Saunders said: "The work that went into the motorbike shot was incredible. We were all very nervous and, the moment he launched, everyone went quiet until the parachute opened.

"You don't want to be known as the person that killed a major A-list star!"

Filming for Dead Reckoning Part One took place in Norway and the Lake District.

The stunt team and Cruise did two months of preparation in the UK before they filmed the stunt in Norway.

Supplied Mission Impossible stunt teamSupplied
Karen Saunders with Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One stunt team

"He did about 30 jumps a day out of the helicopter in preparation," said Ms Saunders.

She was not going to Norway to help film the stunt - but she said Cruise wanted her there - so he flew the stunt team out on his private jet.

Ms Saunders, of Newton, in Nottinghamshire, described Cruise as being "lovely, very dedicated, very focused and kind".

"I've always been a fan of him and the films so we had some good fun."

Cruise appeared to have been pictured in Derbyshire on Monday, fuelling excitement about another Mission: Impossible film.

He was apparently snapped driving a Jeep in an apparent stunt scene at Middleton Mine.

Mission: Impossible 8 is due to be released on 23 May, 2025, according to Paramount Pictures.

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