Tom Cruise on why he tries to out-stunt himself with every Mission: Impossible

With every new Mission: Impossible movie that gets released, you can rest assured that there will be at least one death-defying stunt performed by adrenaline junkie Tom Cruise.

In Ghost Protocol, he scaled the Burj Khalifa, in Rogue Nation he held on to the side of a place while it took off, while back in the day in Mission: Impossible 2 he climbed the rockface of Dead Horse Point in Utah.

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Even before the release of Dead Reckoning Part One, several stunt vignettes went viral including a motorcycle stunt off a cliff as well as a thrilling car chase through the streets of Rome.

But, why does the A-lister feel the need to try and continually outdo himself?

"I just know what we try to do with these films, and actually all of my movies," he told Collider.

"You know, I remember as an audience member, which I am first and foremost, and as a filmmaker, I make my movies for audiences, but I like a wide range of cinema, so I’ve always wanted to challenge myself in a wide range of genres and styles to understand each one. I’d go into it and study each one as I was making it and test my abilities.

"As a producer, in terms of how I produce the film, how I can better prepare my cast, my crew for the adventure that we’re embarking on. So those are the things that I think about. I’m constantly challenging myself. I’m both a student every single day, I’m constantly studying, and also a teacher because I’m constantly having to kind of work with people to go, 'This is movies for me and for us,' and to also bring their voices into our film."

It makes you wonder what Cruise has in store for Dead Reckoning Part Two...

Mission: Impossible cast gets worried about Cruise's stunts

Simon Pegg, who has been part of the series since Mission: Impossible 3 as the character of Benji Dunn, admits his heart is in his mouth like the rest of us when he sees Tom become an adrenaline junkie.

"You know, I'm lucky because Benji just kind of stays behind the computer and he does his thing," he told Deadline.

"Tom is jumping off cliffs on a motorbike, you know, he's hanging off trains – it's genuinely dangerous stuff.

"There's always a sense that, you know, one day, something might go wrong... we might lose Tom, you know. Anytime there's a big stunt, we all have that sense of, you know, fear, but he always pulls it off."