Tom Cruise's Olympics closing ceremony stunt took over 1 year to plan. Here’s how it came together.
The Olympics closing ceremony or a Tom Cruise film? The Aug. 11 event was a little of both as the actor performed a stunt that helped hand off the Games from Paris to Los Angeles. (Natacha Pisarenko/AP)
Tom Cruise brought some movie magic to the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony.
The action star, who’s currently filming Mission: Impossible 8, executed the much buzzed-about “epic stunt” on Aug. 11. It began with him rappelling from the Stade de France roof and ended, in a prerecorded portion, with him on the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, where the 2028 Summer Olympics will take place.
The stunt took a year and a half of planning, executive producer and creative director Ben Winston of Fulwell 73 Productions told Vogue. He said “the secrecy was tricky,” and there were multiple “leaks.” In March, video of Cruise, 62, was captured by paparazzi as he climbed the Hollywood sign to film that portion.
Cruise’s big moment
The actor, who watched the Games in the stands the first week they kicked off, made his appearance as H.E.R. finished singing the U.S. national anthem.
Cruise lept from the top of the stadium.
He rappelled from the roof to the ground, where he was greeted by many medal-toting athletes.
He was greeted by a sea of Olympic athletes.
An awkward moment was when one woman tried to kiss him, but he’s been a movie star for decades and did his best to divert.
Cruise took the Olympic flag from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and decorated gymnast Simone Biles.
Cruise taking the flag from gymnast Simone Biles and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
He brought it to his motorcycle and then cruised out of the arena, sans helmet, and a prerecorded bit began.
It showed the Top Gun star channeling Maverick while riding through Paris, including with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop.
It was as if you were watching a Cruise film when he rolled up and boarded a plane. Cruise then folded the flag, tucked it away and jumped out of that plane.
Once in L.A., he climbed the Hollywood sign — which had a makeover in which the two O's became the five Olympic rings.
Other athletes took the flag from there — including mountain biker Kate Courtney, former sprinter Michael Johnson and skateboarder Jagger Eaton — bringing it to the beach, where there was a concert with performances by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop and Dr. Dre.
How it came together
Winston told Vogue he pitched the Jack Reacher star the idea in 2023 “because there’s nobody better to do an incredible stunt.” Initially, it involved the help of a stuntman, which Cruise pooh-poohed.
“‘I’m in, but I want to do the whole thing,’” Winston recalled Cruise saying.
There were a lot of elements to it, live and pretaped, including the concert, so it took a lot of work to come together. However, the hardest part was not spilling the beans.
He snapped a selfie, which he shared to his social media accounts.
“The secrecy was tricky, and there were lots of leaks, so it was a lot to live with for a year and a half, but I’m feeling very excited and proud,” Winston said.
Cruise has been filming Mission: Impossible 8 in London, so he had been working around that schedule. In March, he had to fly 11 hours to Los Angeles, shoot and then get right back to set.
When it was all said and done, Cruise seemed happy with how it worked. He shared a selfie from the roof of the stadium, writing, “Thank you, Paris! Now off to L.A.”
