Were Tom Cruise's chase scenes real or fake? Real, according to BMW, which provided a slew of BMW M3s for the filming of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.
The high-speed chase through the narrow streets of Casablanca, Morocco were filmed with lead actor Tom Cruise at the wheel. Cruise, as we know, takes his driving seriously ever since he starred in the less-than-memorable “Days of Thunder.” While he didn’t use that role as a springboard into auto racing as a hobby like some other Hollywood greats—Paul Newman probably being the most successful—he can be very competitive when he gets the chance. If you ever saw his appearance on the BBC program Top Gear a couple of years ago, you know what we mean.
Wade Eastwood was the stunt coordinator for “Rogue Nation.” He claims that they did not use a stunt driver to film the M3 chase scene. “Everything you see is real,” said Eastwood. “It was all Tom.”
It took a fleet of M3s to complete filming. Most of the damaged cars were scrapped, but at least one survived and was put on display at BMW M.
BMW recently released this video as proof to answer the “real versus fake” question. Enjoy.—Scott Blazey
Take a look at the trailer for the movie if you’d like to see what the end results of those M3 stunts look like.
[Photos and video courtesy of BMW and BMW M.]
