Tom Cruise Deserves Best Stunts Award at the Oscars Commencing in 2028
David Leitch and Ryan Gosling have been advocating for the addition of the Best Stunt Design category to the
David Leitch and Ryan Gosling have been advocating for the addition of the Best Stunt Design category to the Oscars for years. It took three long decades for the Academy to realize that stunt performers, coordinators, and action designers are worthy of this award.
Yes, I am talking about the recently announced Oscar category for Best Stunts Design on its 100th edition in 2028 for the movies of the year 2027. But there is something sad about it.
I believe that Tom Cruise deserves Best Stunts award being the most worthy person, but since awards are to be granted in the year 2028, Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is releasing this year 2025.
And of course, the Best Stunts award will not be presented the next year 2026, which would make all his efforts for his latest movies go in vain. The rest of the outstanding stunts that he has been doing himself for the past 30 years deserve an honorary Oscar award.
I will explain why.
Tom Cruise’s dedication to stunt work
Tom Cruise is the top contender for the Best Stunts Design category recently announced by the Oscars Academy, according to The Guardian. After years of campaigning from within the industry, the Academy finally acknowledged it as an invaluable part of the industry.
Tom Cruise’s unmatched commitment to performing his own stunts is commendable, which makes him a leading candidate for this category. Despite not likely to be eligible for this award in 2028, as there is no film release in 2027, he should still be given the first honorary award for the said category.
Cruise’s hands-on approach to performing high-risk stunts since his early days in Risky Business (1983), Top Gun (1986), and The Firm (1993) cannot be ignored. Without relying on CGI or stunt doubles, he was the person himself behind the mind-boggling scenes at which our jaws have dropped several times.
He told an incident himself that he was only four years old when he first experienced his stunt work. As reported by First for Women, he had a doll that he threw in the air and it came down with a parachute. He was quite fascinated with it after which he took off his bedsheets and tied a rope. He revealed,
“I would tie a rope…and I climbed up to the eave, and I got up to the roof. I looked and my mother was in the kitchen- she had four kids- and I jumped off the roof.” [Source]
Cruise’s co-stars on his dedication to stunt work
Even his co-stars experienced their hearts skipping a beat during Tom Cruise’s death-defying stunts. During the shooting of Mission Impossible: Fallout, his co-star Simon Pegg, who played the role of IMF technician Benji Dunn, admitted that it was stressful working with Tom Cruise on a daily basis as they didn’t know they would see him again tomorrow, per Fandom Wire.
Similarly, according to BBC, his co-star in Top Gun sequel, Miles Teller, said Cruise is after everything that seems “impossible” as this is when “he gets to work”.
Why Tom Cruise deserves best stunts award? His notable stunts
The entire Mission Impossible franchise is on the shoulders of one and one man only: Tom Cruise. Let me dig deeper into its movies one by one to show you how and which stunts were a mad dash directly toward death.
Ghost Protocol (2011)
Scaling the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, was Tom Cruise’s craziest stunt ever! Don’t panic if I tell you it was without a harness. It was a defining moment in action cinematic history. Ethan Hunt never takes an easy route because in the fourth installment of the franchise, Hunt has to reach the 130th floor of the skyscraper and you know what happens next. A harness had to be used or even a dedicated stuntman was considered, but as you know how Cruise is, he stopped the director from doing so, cited Screen Rant. Multiple professionals and engineers were consulted beforehand. The scene had to be shot in IMAX, which means it needed to be done fast, within minutes. Again, it means Cruise needed to have strong breathing and extensive training before the actual scene was shot. It was a stunning feat but a logistical and a statistical nightmare.
Rogue Nation (2015)
Tom Cruise is insatiable when it comes to action sequences full of adrenaline rush and clinging to the side of an ascending Airbus A400M soaring 5,000 feet in the air was a death trap, as mentioned by Variety. He had to wear contact lenses to keep his eyes open in the extreme wind pressure. Cruise admitted that he likes to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
Fallout (2018)
His co-stars in this film divulged that they might age quicker after watching Cruise pull off the infamous HALO jump. It involved 106 jumps for two weeks to make it work from 25,000 feet. The planning and execution of the entire sequence took the filmmakers almost a year. It involved various tasks and practice stunts before the final day. Cruise had only three minutes during the sunset to give a perfect shot- again, in a very short time span, he had to deliver it perfectly, as stated by Fandom Wire.
Dead Reckoning (2023)
Flying off a cliff and jumping off a motorcycle in mid-air is terrifying enough to even think of. It took him 13,000 practice jumps to finally execute it with finesse. He spoke to Men’s Journal about his bike that had no speedometer, and he had to do it all with his feel and sound. There needed to be a precise speed at the ramp, and every little detail was to be taken care of.
The Last Samurai (2003)
His other film stunts include a near-death experience during a horseback sword duel where his team thought his head would fly off in the air. He was inches away from his death when the stunt went wrong due to a malfunctioning animatronic horse, per KoiMoi.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
“It all had to be real”, the aerial stunt coordinator for Top Gun 2, Kevin La Rosa II, revealed to British GQ that they already had in mind that every aircraft sequence needed to be real. Tom Cruise learned all the flight dynamics and the daredevil stunts of moving the plane smoothly here and there in the air were effortlessly brilliant.
Here is the above-cited information in tabular form for you to have a better look:
| Movie | Stunt Description | Risk Level | Notable Details |
| Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) | Scaled the Burj Khalifa (130th floor) | 🔴 Extreme | No harness; required IMAX timing; involved months of training and engineering precision |
| Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) | Clung to side of Airbus A400M at 5,000 ft during takeoff | 🔴 Extreme | Cruise wore special contact lenses to resist wind; performed multiple takes at real altitude |
| Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) | HALO jump from 25,000 ft | 🔴 Extreme | 106 jumps over 2 weeks; only 3-minute shoot window at sunset; took a year of planning |
| MI – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) | Rode a motorbike off a cliff before parachuting mid-air | 🔴 Life-Threatening | 13,000 practice jumps; bike had no speedometer; done entirely by Cruise without body doubles |
| The Last Samurai (2003) | Sword fight on animatronic horse went wrong | 🟠 Dangerous | Almost killed due to a malfunction; saved by inches when co-star’s sword halted inches from his neck |
| Top Gun: Maverick (2022) | Real fighter jet sequences with Cruise piloting aircraft | 🟡 Very High | Learned flight dynamics; all plane stunts done practically with real G-forces; no CGI used |
| Edge of Tomorrow (2014) | Heavy exosuit combat scenes in real armor | 🟡 High | Wore 85-lb suit; trained to do quick movements and rolls; stunt-heavy choreography across combat scenes |
Impact on the film industry
The fans are also devastated by the fact that the award category would be live two years after The Final Reckoning is released. One of the fans posted, “well-deserved and long overdue…but it is so funny to introduce this the year after the Mission Impossible franchise ends”, by Cinema Blend.
Audiences get immersed in the scene with him as they are physically as well as emotionally invested in the scene alongside the actor. The close-up shots of Cruise’s face while the stunts were performed give a layer of realism and authenticity, which the audience has been loving for years- no matter if they are Baby Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, or anyone.
This approach has the industry thinking about the use of CGI and body doubles for stunts; the elevated experience that viewers get in the cinemas is now preferred over feeling detached in unrealistic CGI scenes.
This is the legitimate form of art where the iconic star has given us groundbreaking moments with meticulous planning and months of practice, ensuring to perform with high levels of skills, rehearsals, training, and finally, precision.
Hence, the Academy’s CEO, Bill Kramer acknowledged,
“Since the early days of cinema, stunt design has been an integral part of film-making…We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and dedication in reaching this momentous occasion.” [Source]
Wrapping Up…
I know any other actor who has been performing stunts, such as Keanu Reeves, Jason Statham, or Jackie Chen, has not had their career without breaking a bone or injuring their ankles, etc., why Tom Cruise deserves more for one reason only- he is the king of stunts!
Academy clarified that rules for nominations in this category are yet to be defined but still, the possibility of this award slipping away from Cruise’s hands is heart-breaking as his film is releasing two years before the Best Stunt Design Oscar would be handed over to someone.
However, take a closer look at the name of the category: “Best Stunts Design” award. Chad Stahelski- director, producer, and creative filmmaker of the John Wick franchise- pointed out an immensely notable point to Vulture that a stunt design is not about one person but a whole team. It would be trickier to decide as the award should come with integrity since a stunt design is a collaborative effort.
With that being said, acknowledging the evolving appreciation for stunt professionals in the industry has finally been heard. I do speculate, hope, and pray that Tom Cruise, somehow by any miracle, wins this award in 2028.
Do you think Tom Cruise is the right person to receive this award? If not, then who should it be? Let us know in the comments below.
