(gunfire)

(groaning)

- From start to finish, how long did it take

to sort of plot and film the helicopter sequence

at the end of Mission Impossible: Fallout?

- Well, for me, I started in December of '16

and I finished in February of '18, so fourteen months.

But Wade was on it longer, I think.

Weren't you? - Yeah.

About a year and a half before.

About a year before that, we started sort of brainstorming

the ideas for the different action sequences.

Came up with what we'd like to do

with an aerial sequence so Tom could start

his training and get his actual private

and commercial pilot's license in a helicopter.

He already had fixed wing; he's an aviator already.

But he had to get his helicopter licenses

and get all those up to scratch.

Did some rough ideas of what we wanted to do with

the sequence and then needed to formulate the right team.

And Mark's worked on previous Missions

with Tom and was the obvious choice,

and the best choice, for the job.

Came on board and the rest is history.

We took Tom's flying to a new level

and came up with a sequence that could be,

you know, both subjective filmmaking and great storytelling.

- Well, you both worked on a lot,

not only Mission Impossible movies, but movies in general--

- We're together a lot. - Yeah.

- Is this the most difficult stunt

that either of you has done?

- It's the most difficult helicopter sequence,

yes, because of the challenge of it,

you know, and the fact that we wanted

to get an A-list actor in the cockpit,

flying on his own, which is unheard of--

- And make it exciting. - Right.

- You know, it's so easy.

Like, if you do a fight in the desert,

or a mountain, you know, it's these big,

vast landscapes that we're filming in,

but you're not strobing through things

and it's not that camera, handheld movement

that gives you all the action, the visceral images,

that you get in a lot of movies.

So, it could get boring very quickly,

so we had to come up with a way to make this sequence,

you know, dynamic, and subjective,

and really feel like Ethan's in jeopardy all the time.

- Get the audience in the cockpit with him,

so that you feel what he's going through.

- [Wade] And we couldn't do that

if we were cutting to a stunt pilot,

you know, it had to be Tom, and Tom wanted it to be Tom,

but, you know, it had to be Tom.

- I mean, he is obviously insane or heroic,

or a combination of the two, but,

I mean, when did you have to say,

like, we can't- when was the limit

of not allowing him to do something?

- I don't think there was a limit,

and I don't think he's insane.

I think he's just really well-prepared, he's devoted,

and he just loves doing these things.

- Yeah. - And--

- Yeah, he just generally loves it.

It's not an ego, he just generally loves it,

likes he's in a hangar or dad come and visit Mark

and the guys in the hangar and Tom walked up

to the one dad and recognized him.

He's got, like and old New York Yankees baseball cap on,

or he had one of the one, like,

you know, one of the hats on, the helicopter hats on,

and he's just cruising around, around the machine,

helping the guys and he just loves it.

He very passionate about it.

(techno whooshing)