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Talk about playing with fire! Tom Cruise just earned a Guinness World Record for the most burning parachute jumps, and it’s as wild as it sounds.
For a stunt in the upcoming “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Cruise jumped out of a helicopter, deployed a fuel-soaked parachute, lit it on fire, and then cut it away after a few seconds to deploy a backup chute. He did this a mind-boggling sixteen times, sometimes even while operating a 50-pound camera rig.
The jumps had to be initiated from at least 7,500 feet for the stunt to qualify. Cruise was awarded the official record on June 4.
Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday praised Cruise’s commitment to authenticity, calling him a true “action hero.” This isn’t Cruise’s first rodeo with death-defying stunts; he’s hung from a plane, driven a motorcycle off a cliff, and scaled the Burj Khalifa, all in the name of entertainment. His dedication to practical stunts is well-documented, with a stunt coordinator from “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” noting that audiences can spot a fake, further emphasizing Cruise’s commitment to realism.
This is actually Cruise’s second Guinness World Record. He also holds the record for most consecutive $100 million-grossing films at the box office, with an impressive eleven films achieving this feat.