# Rock-Climbing Stunts in M:I-2 -- What's the Catch?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-climbing-stunts-in-m-i-2-whats-the-catch/20817>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 29, 2000, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-climbing-stunts-in-m-i-2-whats-the-catch/20817 "2000-05-29T18:51:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JohnW77707](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@JohnW77707](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnW77707)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-climbing-stunts-in-m-i-2-whats-the-catch/20817/1 "2000-05-29T18:51:34Z")

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I have now read in two seperate news accounts that (to quote today’s): “Director John Woo was impressed with Cruise’s physical courage and commitment, citing the stunning rock-climbing sequence at the start of M:I-2 which features Cruise – not a stuntman – dangling 1,500 feet above a canyon and leaping from one cliff face to another in a near free fall.”

OK, I can believe that Cruise was up there (i.e., not a blue-screen background superimposed over a set shot). But the further implication – that he was there “without a net”, doomed to be mincemeat if he made a misstep – I can’t buy it. Can anybody explain/elaborate? Where’s the (no pun intended) catch?

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**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-climbing-stunts-in-m-i-2-whats-the-catch/20817/2 "2000-05-29T18:57:14Z")

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**wires.**

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-climbing-stunts-in-m-i-2-whats-the-catch/20817/3 "2000-05-29T19:01:29Z")

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Cruise had a safety harness attached, which was edited out in post-production. It still would have taken a lot of guts to make that jump.

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-climbing-stunts-in-m-i-2-whats-the-catch/20817/4 "2000-12-19T03:18:14Z")

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On the DVD, they also make the point that it really was a 15 foot vertical drop in that jump too. So even with a wire, it could’ve been landed badly with a broken ankle.

But the real point is that even stuntmen don’t do things that are **really** dangerous if they have any intelligence. They just do things that are riskier than you would normally let a very expensive actor do. So it’s somewhat unusual when the star does those same stunts himself.