Tom Cruise on the sets of Mission: Impossible 6. (Image courtesy: Christopher McQuarrie)
Highlights
- Tom Cruise broke his ankle while filming an action scene
- 'Shame he didn't break his face,' read one tweet
- The shoot of Mission: Impossible 6 has been halted
Tom Cruise's injury on the set of
Mission: Impossible 6 in London seems to have prompted very unsympathetic reactions on Twitter. The 55-year-old star, who famously does his own stunts, broke his ankle after slamming into a concrete wall in an action sequence gone wrong. The scene involved Tom Cruise leaping between buildings while attached to cables. He was actually meant to hit the wall but, as director Christopher McQuarrie told
Empire, "On the fourth try, he hit the building at a slightly different angle and he broke his ankle. He knew the instant that he hit the building that his ankle was broken. You can see it on his face."
None of this has moved Twitter, however. 'Shame he didn't break his face,' read one particularly hard-hearted tweet. Another was addressed to Brooke Shields, whom Tom Cruise criticised years ago for taking medication for post-partum depression. Several tweets referred disdainfully to Scientology, the controversial church of which the actor is the most famous member.
Tom Cruise's stunts in previous
Mission: Impossible films have also been absurdly dangerous - in film 5, he
hung off a plane in mid-air; in film 4, he climbed the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Footage from the botched
M:I 5 is available on social media.
Filming has been halted although director Christopher McQuarrie has confirmed that the release date of
Mission: Impossible 6 - July 27, 2018 - will not be affected. Tom Cruise has played Agent Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Missions Force since the first film released in 1996. Mr McQuarrie returns from film 5, as do actors Rebecca Ferguson and Alec Baldwin. Simon Pegg reprises the role he's played in several
M:I films and new additions to the cast include Angela Bassett and
Superman star Henry Cavill.