Tom Cruise's stunt during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics happened thanks to a couple of conditions set by the actor.
During a panel at the CNBC Game Plan Summit, Casey Wasserman, chairman of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, shared the backstory behind Cruise's stunt and how the actor came to agree to participate in the epic moment.
The original concept for the stunt did not include the "Top Gun" star participating in entire closing ceremony act, with the team wanting to opt for a stunt double due to perceived time constraints.
"The idea was the person in the stadium was a stunt double because we're like, 'Well, there's no way we're getting this much, we're going to get like four hours of filming time,'" he explained. "'We'll do the thing with the Hollywood sign, he'll hand the thing off and he's done. Maybe we'll get the other stuff, and the rest will be just a stunt double.'"
However, Cruise was not onboard with their exact plan.
Wasserman said that only a few minutes into the presentation of the idea, the actor agreed to participate, but only if he got to do everything himself with no stunt double.
"Every step of the way, he got more involved and more engaged," Wasserman said. "This is what you need to know about Tom Cruise. And by the way, he did it all for free. Everyone on that program, that 15 minutes, did it for free."
Wasserman also revealed the tight schedule the actor adhered to in order to film the stunt while he was in the middle of filming a new movie.
He shared that after Cruise finished filming a new "Mission: Impossible" movie in London around 6 o'clock local time, he flew to Los Angeles, where he arrived around 4 a.m.
"He filmed the scene where he pulls onto the military plane in LA. He does two jumps out of the thing -- he didn't like the first one though, so he did a second jump," Wasserman said. "Then he helicoptered from Palmdale to the Hollywood sign, filmed from 1 until 5, helicoptered to Burbank Airport and flew back to London at 6 o'clock."
Here's what to know about Tom Cruise's involvement during the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony.
The 2024 Paris Olympics ended with a last hurrah from Mr. "Mission: Impossible."
Tom Cruise brought his A-game to the Games' closing ceremony on Aug. 11 held at Stade de France, the country's largest stadium that held some of the Olympics' top events.
After H.E.R. concluded singing "The Star-Spangled Banner," the camera panned to Cruise, who was standing at the top of the stadium.
The action star then jumped off the roof and descended to the stadium floor. He walked through the sea of athletes to take the Olympic flag from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, representing the passing of the torch from the Paris Games to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Turning the closing ceremony into a film, Cruise hopped on his motorcycle and drove out of the stadium. He cruised down the streets of Paris before taking a mysterious phone call.
Suddenly, the ceremony cut to footage of Cruise skydiving into Los Angeles to usher in the next Summer Games. He passed on the flag before the camera zoomed out for the next big reveal. Cruise stood in front of the iconic Hollywood Sign that was altered to include the famous five Olympic rings.
Thomas Jolly, artistic director for the 2024 Paris Olympic ceremonies, told Olympics.com in July that the closing ceremony, titled "Records," will pay homage to how the Games once "disappeared," but were later restarted. The exact year of the Olympics' inception is not known but is often cited in written sources as 776 BC, according to Olympics.com. They were revived in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin, with the first Games of the modern era occurring in 1896 in Athens.
"We want to celebrate, but consciously," Jolly told Olympics.com. "This moment of celebration will also be an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the Olympic Games in our society. So I've designed a show in which the Olympic Games disappear once again, and someone comes along and founds them."
Team USA rounded out the Paris Olympics with the most medals of any nation, with 126 in total. China finished second with 91, followed by Great Britain with 65.
Among USA's Olympic champions are gymnast Simone Biles, who brought home three gold medals and a silver, swimmer Katie Ledecky, who took home four medals in total -- and became America's most decorated female Olympian of all time -- and sprinter Noah Lyles, who won gold in the men's 100 meter dash in a dramatic photo finish.