Revisiting Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible’s cable drop scene that made him do the film: ‘Will never forget it’

At the time Mission Impossible was being made, no one, least of all Cruise or Palma, knew that this would end up emerging as a money-making franchise it is today. For them, this was their one shot to do something special and cool. Out of its many memorable scenes, one that has always found a place in popular culture over the years, especially in spoof or heist movies, is the cable-drop and vault-penetrating three minute bit, which left audience and Cruise sweating. You know, the one where Ethan Hunt drops into the vault, hanging on to a cable for his dear life which was being pulled by someone else. Hunt had to keep his silence, work the system, crack the code, all the while ensuring that the room temperature or the floor is not disturbed by any external factor. Clearly, Cruise has always had a great core strength because he had to be very still, holding his entire body weight while being in close proximity to the ground but never touching it.

Cruise had earlier spoken about that segment in a video. He said, “I remember we were running out of time and I went down to the floor and I kept hitting my face and the take didn’t work.” Then the actor suggested that he put coins in his shoes to balance himself, which seemed to work: “I put the pound coins in and I hung on the cable to see if I was level. And I had to make it. Brian [De Palma] was like, ‘One more and I’m going to cut into it,’ and I said, ‘I can do it.’ I was holding it, holding, holding it, holding it, and I’m sweating, and I’m sweating, and he just keeps rolling.” Palma wanted to see how long could his lead star hold onto himself like that. He was having a nice time of it when Cruise heard him laugh. “And I just hear him off-camera, and he’s got a very distinct laugh. I can just hear him start to howl, and he goes, ‘Alright, cut.'” And that was how it got made.

Interestingly, the cable-drop sequence also happens to be the one which sold the script to Cruise. According to a Slash Film report, the actor was pitched MI by De Palma while he was in a car in Japan, and he just heard this one thing and that blew him off enough to give him his approval.

“And then we came up with the idea of us having to go into the CIA, [De Palma] came up with that idea, like ‘Rififi.’ And I remember when he came to me with that idea, I was actually in Japan — and it was an early day of phones — and I remember I was stuck in a traffic jam … on my way to a premiere. I’ll never forget this [… De Palma] was like, ‘I gotta talk to you,’ […] and he pitched me the whole CIA scene. On a phone, when I’m in the back of a car in Japan … and I just went, ‘Okay, this movie’s really cool.’ This guy is brilliant, you know? This was a phenomenal idea,” the actor was quoted as saying. Even in 2023, almost three decades post the release, we can say it indeed was.

You can stream Mission: Impossible on Netflix.