Mission Impossible: Mayor in Norway admits he secretly kept Tom Cruise’s stunt bikes

Mayor kept mangled motorbikes from death-defying cliff stunt in ‘Dead Reckoning’

A mayor in Norway, who was supposed to destroy motorbikes used in the latest Mission: Impossible movie, has admitted he set out on a cheeky mission of his own – to keep the bikes as mementos.

Mayor Jan Ove Tryggestad has been kept two of the mangled bikes secret for almost three years, after they were used in a death-defying stunt in Dead Reckoning that involved franchise star Tom Cruise riding a motorbike off a cliff, soaring off the bike and parachuting to the ground.

The stunt was filmed on the Helsetkopen mountain in Stranda in September 2020, and used a total of eight motorcycles.

Tryggestad was meant to destroy the bikes after the shoot, but he never did.

“A mayor in Stranda can’t always be the one who follows rules and regulations,” came his mischeivous explanation in an interview.

Cruise reprises the role of ace spy Ethan Hunt in the blockbuster sequel, which is out in cinemas now and also stars Hayley Atwell and Vanessa Kirby.

In a four-star review of the film for The Independent, critic Clarisse Loughrey mentioned the cliff stunt, writing: “The action sequences are consistently dynamic, and always adapted to their environment: a shoot-out in a sandstorm focuses on stealth and precision, while a Vespa chase down Rome’s many staircases is all cartoon chaos.

“It all culminates in an absolutely insane stunt in which Cruise drives a motorcycle off a cliff and then parachutes down onto a moving train.

“You will leave Dead Reckoning the same way you always do: wondering how Cruise could possibly outdo himself in the next one – until, inevitably, he does.”

Cruise and Atwell in ‘Mission Impossible’ (© 2023 Paramount Pictures.)

Speaking to The Independent about working with Cruise and director Chris McQuarrie in a recent interview, Atwell described creating her character – a master thief called Grace – as a genuinely collaborative process.

“Even the way they phrased it: ‘We’re looking for an actor to work with’ rather than ‘We’ve written this character’,’” she said.

“You go, ‘Your language is always giving me back power and agency. You want things for me and not from me?’ It’s beautiful parenting!”

She said that Cruise and McQuarrie like to “be surrounded by really strong, intelligent women”, adding that they “love seeing women thrive and be in their own power, so if I ever tried to play small or flirtatious, or play damsel, they would probably be like, ‘What are you doing? That’s not you!’”