Matt Damon’s some pretty wild stories to tell, but one stands out—a dinner tale with Tom Cruise. And no, it’s not just about swapping actor gossip. It’s about how Cruise went to insane lengths for that jaw-dropping Burj Khalifa stunt in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol—and how the whole thing pretty much blew away Damon.
Picture this: Damon, sitting across from Cruise, asks the inevitable question after watching the iconic building-climbing stunt. “Can you tell me how that happened?” Cruise, being his usual intense self, was all in. “I’ll tell you how it happened!” And that’s where the story gets insane. Cruise reveals he’d been thinking about that death-defying climb for 15 years. And when he hit resistance from the safety guy? He did what any hardcore action star would do—he got rid of him. “I get a new safety guy,” Cruise casually explained to Damon. Yep, you read that right. The guy fired his safety guy to pull off the stunt.
Damon was floored. He said it himself: “That’s where we’re different.” When the safety guy says no, Damon’s like, “Well, the safety guy says it’s not a good idea.” But Cruise? He didn’t have it. He pushed through and found someone who’d let him do the impossible. Because why not, right? It’s Tom Cruise.
The Burj Khalifa stunt is legendary. Cruise himself admitted in a documentary that it took years of stunt experience to pull it off, and it wasn’t just about climbing the building—it was about making it believable. The whole sequence had audiences on the edge of their seats, and when it all came together, it was a mix of heart-stopping action and pure Cruise craziness.
But it wasn’t just the climb that had everyone holding their breath. There was a moment when Cruise’s equipment malfunctioned, sending him plummeting down the building. That was a one-take wonder, with stunt coordinator Gregg Smrz admitting it was “the most nail-biting day of the show.” The crew had even calculated the free-fall time—just enough for Cruise to text Smrz before hitting the ground. Talk about trust in your gear.
This shows how much Tom Cruise will go to make a scene unforgettable. And while Damon may not share his extreme stunt philosophies, it’s clear that both actors know how to deliver iconic moments in their way. You can relive the Burj Khalifa glory by streaming Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on Paramount+, and get ready for more insane action in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 coming July 12. We’re sure Cruise will defy gravity again and probably a few more safety protocols along the way.
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