Tom Cruise has “tantrums” if he doesn’t do his own stunts

Tom Cruise has always made it a point in interviews to bring up the fact that he does all his own stunts because he’s totally fit and heroic. He’s performed nearly every stunt in his Mission Impossible movies and a bunch of others that I’m too lazy to IMDB because I’m not a Cruise fan, but needless to say, he’s a bit of a daredevil. Apparently so much so that he throws “tantrums” on sets if the director prefers to use a stunt double.

From Page Six:

It all begs the question — with millions upon millions of box-office dollars on the line, how on earth does one of the world’s biggest movie stars get the insurance to tempt death?

“He stomps his feet and fights for it and tells [the studio] that basically if they don’t [let him], he’s not going to do the movie,” laughs Wade Eastwood, the movie’s stunt coordinator and Cruise’s friend. “When he wants to do something cool, he’ll fight to the death in order to do it.”

Brian Kingman, the managing director for Gallagher Entertainment, which insures studio films, says that safeguards and qualifications make it possible for big stars to do their own stunts — if someone’s willing to pay.

“I mean, if you’ve got enough time, talent and money, anything is insurable,” he says. “All insurers want to know is that things are done safely and any risk is a reasonable one.”

Brad Bird, who directed the last “Mission,” has said that Cruise’s role as a producer on his films gives him the leverage to do it all.

But most action stars don’t get the chance to do their own stunts because they don’t have the power to make it happen.

“You’ve got a lot of actors that get close, like the Hugh Jackmans of the world and the Daniel Craigs — but Tom Cruise and Jackie Chan are the only two I know that do a hundred percent of it themselves,” says Eastwood.

Apparently this really doesn’t matter to anyone else – most stars just don’t want to do their own stunts. I can’t really hate on Tom for wanting to. It’s dangerous, sure, but if you’re a thrill-seeker, of course you’re going to want to perform these insane, impossible feats. I’d shit myself and wouldn’t hesitate to bring in a stunt double, but to each his own. The tantrums are a bit corny, but we are talking about Tom Cruise here.