Tom Cruise is planning to rappel into a stadium in Paris and then skydive from a plane onto the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.
No, this isn’t part of the plot from the next “Mission: Impossible” movie that Cruise is currently filming in Europe. It’s actually what Olympic organizers have planned for the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday, Aug. 11, according to a TMZ report.
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Cruise is expected to play a key role in the symbolic transition from Paris to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics with a grandiose stunt.
Either Cruise or a stunt double will rappel down from the top of the Stade de France and wind up on the stadium field holding an Olympic flag, according to TMZ. The closing ceremony broadcast will then cut to a previously recorded segment featuring Cruise flying from Paris to Los Angeles before skydiving from the plane to the Hollywood sign.
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The skydiving part was filmed in March, per TMZ, and photos emerged then of Cruise scaling the Hollywood sign. There was not, however, evidence of the 62-year-old film star leaping from an aircraft like his on-screen persona Ethan Hunt might.
Cruise attended gymnastics and swimming events over the first week of the Paris Games and, according to TMZ, he is the one who approached the IOC about participating in the closing ceremony ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics. In 2004, he helped carry the Olympic torch in Los Angeles as the torch made its way to Athens.
Details about the rest of the closing ceremony are still emerging, although traditional moments like the athletes’ parade and the handover of the Olympic flag to the Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee have already been announced. The official Olympics website last month provided a framework for what’s planned at this year’s closing ceremony.
“For the occasion, the Stade de France will be transformed into a gigantic concert hall. Featuring over a hundred performers, acrobats, dancers and circus artists, this visual spectacle will bear the signature of artistic director Thomas Jolly. An original soundtrack, new interpretations, musical performances and the participation of world-renowned singers will complete the picture. Part of the show will take place in the air, while the giant sets, costumes and spectacular lighting effects will take spectators on a journey through time, both past and future.”
But with the Olympics coming back to Tinseltown for the first time since 1984, Cruise is apparently ready to make this a full-fledged Hollywood production.
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