Tom Cruise has just released some impressive South Island video, where New Zealand scenery provides a stunning backdrop to his newly acquired helicopter flying skills.
Cruise, 55, spent two years training to become a helicopter pilot, just so that he could perform his own stunts for the new Mission Impossible film.
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Cruise told the Graham Norton Show earlier this year that "the helicopter sequence is just incredibly exhilarating and very dangerous. So there's really only one country that would allow us to do it.
That country was New Zealand.
Cruise and the film crew spent five weeks in Otago and Southland last winter, shooting some impressive scenes for the movie Fallout.
That was after two years hard work getting his helicopter pilot's license and training for the aerial sequence.
"Flying a helicopter takes a lot of skill. To put someone like Tom into a situation like this is almost impossible to imagine," says Aerial Coordinator March Wolff.
Special camera rigs were designed to showcase Cruise - starring as agent Ethan Hunt - flying the helicopter solo. No CGI was needed here.
The scariest part for the production team was a 360 degree downward spiral barrel roll. It's a dangerous stunt many pilots wouldn't attempt, and apparently took a lot of skill and practice to pull off.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout is set to hit cinemas here in early August.
Newshub.
