Tom Cruise is clearly seriously dedicated his craft. Not only did he shoot scenes for his upcoming film “The Mummy” on a low-gravity airplane known as a “vomit comet,” it was his idea in the first place.
Director Alex Kurtzman opened up about the action sequence during a recent event, reports Slash Film, and he had a lot to say about how they came to shoot scenes on one of the special planes, plus how it lived up to its unpleasant nickname.
Originally, Kurtzman intended to shoot the sequence in a more traditional way: using a rotisserie set, green-screen work, cables, and more. However, his film’s star had other ideas. Cruise made the case for the vomit comet, setting them up for a wild ride. As Kurtman explained, the plane brings you up, “basically with the G’s of a rocket going into space,” evens out briefly, and then free-falls for 22 seconds — only to do it all over again numerous times. That nickname makes sense now, doesn’t it?
“We had grips holding lights and puking while the shot was going on,” Kurtzman said. “I mean, it was the craziest experience ever and ultimately worth it.”
Parts of the scene did still have to be shot using a rotisserie set, but they filmed the rest in the vomit comet. That meant that Kurtman, Cruise, and the crew had to spend two days working aboard the plane, taking four trips up and going weightless 16 times a flight. Needless to say, they had to have a lot of barf bags on hand, but in the end, it all worked out.
[via: Slash Film]
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