One of multiple actors to reunite for the upcoming sequel, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One and Top Gun: Maverick star Greg Tarzan Davis recalls the lessons he’s learned from Tom Cruise. Davis previously starred in the 2022 Cruise sequel as LT Javy “Coyote” Machado, one of the young pilot candidates the eponymous pilot is tasked with training for the special upcoming mission. Davis is set to appear in both Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning parts as Degas, partner to Shea Whigham’s Jasper and part of the mysterious group known as “The Community”.
In honor of the movie’s upcoming release, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with Greg Tarzan Davis to discuss Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. When reflecting on his time reuniting with Cruise after co-starring in Top Gun: Maverick, the actor opened up about the lessons he’s learned from the action genre vet, namely in being dedicated to a movie’s stunt work. See what Davis shared below:
[I learned about] being competent in what you’re doing with the stunts. Because obviously, every film he does, he’s doing his own stunts and encourages other actors to do them. Flying in the F-18s was about the competency of being able to do it as if you were really flying F-18s all your life or something. Taking that mindset and the training aspect that he built up for us in Top Gun and applying that to Mission: Impossible made it a seamless transition in a way. But at the same time, you can’t get used to doing all of these freaking stunts! But it gets easier-ish.
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Davis’ discussion of Cruise’s commitment to performing his stunts may not come as much of a surprise given it’s become both a running joke and trend for the actor’s career over the past decade. Though some of his earlier movies, including the first two Mission: Impossible installments, saw him tackle some of his own stunts, his increase in stardom in the action genre has seen him become far more dedicated to doing so.
While this may be a humorous talking point for many audiences at this point, wondering how he could possibly top himself, it’s this dedication that has led to his further popularity. The Mission: Impossible movies have not only finally found proper footing in their storytelling and character development, but have consistently raised the bar with their large-scale stunts, leading up to Dead Reckoning Part One’s cliff-jumping and train-roof fighting sequences, and garnering increasingly greater box office returns and critical reception.
Even outside of the Ethan Hunt-fronted franchise, Top Gun: Maverick proved to be one of the biggest surprise hits of 2022, with Cruise’s drive to have it released exclusively in theaters finally paying off to become his highest-grossing movie to date, as well as his best-reviewed. With early Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One box office projections putting it at $90 million domestically in its opening weekend, soaring past Fallout’s $61.2 million opening, it will be interesting to see if Cruise’s action dedication can continue his theatrical success streak.