Tom Cruise apologises to couple for disrupting their hike with death-defying stunt

The action star was reportedly filming a stunt for the upcoming film Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning

Tom Cruise stunned a British couple on a hike when the star paraglided off a cliff while filming a stunt for the upcoming Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning movie.

Husband and wife Jason and Sarah Haygarth were taking their usual hike through the Lake District in the UK with their dog, Edward, when they suddenly heard helicopters flying above them. In an interview with Extra, the couple explained how they were walking up a hill when they saw the helicopter coming up a ravine and dropping people off at the top of the hill.

“We were like, this didn’t seem right,” Jason said. “When we came to the peak, we got stopped by what must have been a production team member, saying, ‘You can’t go. We’re going to land the helicopter off the top.’”

Once the helicopter had landed, the couple were allowed to continue their hike. When they turned a corner, Sarah said they noticed a man “strapping himself into a paraglider” who just happened to be Tom Cruise himself.

“I could tell it was him straight away,” she said. “By the time we got there, people were talking about Mission: Impossible was being filmed, but I was expecting a stunt double.”

Cruise, 60, chatted with the couple before he took flight in his parachute. “Sorry, guys, I know we spoiled your walk with the noise,’” Jason said Cruise told them. Sarah added, “And then he said, ‘I like your dog.’”

“We asked, ‘What are you doing?’ Then he said, ‘I’m going to jump off,’” Jason recalled. “I was like, ‘You’re going to do what?’ He said, ‘I’m going to jump off.’”

The couple then filmed Cruise as he ran towards the edge of the cliff and jumped off into the ravine. The Sun shared footage of the action star filming the stunt for the next Mission: Impossible installment.

“Just before he jumped off, he said, ‘See ya! Hopefully this goes well,’” Jason added. “We said, ‘Good luck, Tom.’”

The Top Gun: Maverick star is famous for performing his own stunts. For the seventh Mission: Impossible film, Cruise reportedly trained for an entire year to perfect a stunt in which he performs a motorbike jump off a cliff into a valley in Norway. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning will be released in theaters 14 July 2023.