Tom Cruise compares himself to Gene Kelly as he explains why he does stunts

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Tom Cruise has given a great answer to the question of why he does all his own dangerous stunts.

During a lively, live Q&A event at Cannes Film Festival, French journalist and Cruise superfan Didier Allouch asked the Top Gun: Maverick star: “You are a family man with children! Why do it?”

To which Cruise replied, via The Guardian: “Would you ASK GENE KELLY WHY HE DOES ALL HIS OWN DANCING?”

Cruise has become as famous for his stunts as Singin’ in the Rain star Kelly. Last year, Cruise was spotted filming one of the stunts for Mission: Impossible 8. He was photographed climbing out of a plane’s cockpit and onto its wing while 2,000 feet in the air.

For Top Gun: Maverick – in which Cruise is reprising his role as naval aviator Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell more than 30 years after the original iconic 1986 film – Cruise was determined to make the flying sequences as real as possible, meaning he was actually filmed inside F-18 fighter jets, while literally piloting them.

Elsewhere in the Q&A, Cruise talked about the fact that he would never have let Top Gun: Maverick go straight to streaming.

The sequel has already received rave reviews from critics, with many of them calling it the “best film of the year”.

Read The Independent’s review here.

Top Gun: Maverick will be released in cinemas on 24 May.