Television producer Ben Winston has “developed a relationship” with Tom Cruise, which is how that 2024 Paris Olympics stunt came to fruition.
“I just pitched to him from start to finish. That first pitch included every element that you saw last night,” Winston, 42, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Monday, August 12. “Only, when I told him, it was a man in a balaclava who jumped from the roof of the stadium.”
Cruise’s feedback? He was going to be the one to perform the stunt by jumping “off the roof” and “drives through Paris.”
Winston knew that would be better.
“The only reason I pitched the balaclava is because it was the difference between a one-day shoot and a four-day shoot plus rehearsals,” the producer continued. Some of the Olympics stunt was filmed in March and while Cruise’s involvement leaked, the details stayed under wraps.
“When we were filming with Tom, he was never actually holding the Olympic flag. He always was holding a white flag,” Winton explained. “So, whenever we were photographed with him, the press always said we were filming Mission Impossible. Everyone wonders what was faked and what wasn’t. Interestingly, one of the only things that was faked was the flag.”
Rumors started to swirl about Cruise’s involvement ahead of the Sunday, August 11, closing ceremonies.
“I was disappointed that little things leaked over the last couple of weeks,” Winston admitted. “Suddenly, more and more people need to know what you’re doing when you’re rehearsing in the Stade de France and booking venues.”
Deal of the Day
Kyle Richards Loves This Travel Pouch That’s Just $9 on Amazon! View DealWinston and Cruise first met when the producer was working on The Late Late Show With James Corden. Throughout the talk show’s run from 2015 to 2023, Winston worked with Cruise on other stunts — and James Corden was included in all of them.
This time, however, Cordon was not present and Winston confirmed that Cruise did climb Los Angeles’ Hollywood sign.
“I did look at doing the Hollywood sign for real. We had engineers up there quite a long time, working out how we could do it. I decided against it because I wanted it to be a surprise,” Winston explained, noting that that the Olympic rings on the sign were fake. “In the end, I think we could have done it, but then in March, the whole world would have seen pictures of the Hollywood sign covered in the Olympic rings. So, we did it with CGI. The Tom bit is real. He was up there. He climbed up the sign.”
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