Tom Cruise, cast bring stunts to life in 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation'

NEW YORK (WABC) -- You might think you've seen it all when it comes to movies, but what about an A-list actor clinging to the side of a plane?

It was a stunt Tom Cruise pulled off for the latest Mission Impossible film, and the plane was actually flying.

At the age of 53, Cruise is more determined than ever before to do his own stunts. He doesn't believe in faking action scenes with special effects, and watching his new movie is reminiscent of the old slogan "He makes money the old-fashioned way. He earns it."

The stunt that starts "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" had more than seven million hits on YouTube before the movie even opened in theaters.

"It was terrifying and exhilarating," Cruise said. "I mean, we'd spent so much time preparing it, and we started going down the runway, and it was like 'oh, blank, blank.' And you know it was alright, but I ended up doing it eight times.

And it scared his co-stars each and every time.

"There was a sense of hushed terror on set that day, because there was like, is Tom going to make it to the end of today?" actor Simon Pegg said. "We didn't know."

"This is basically what a 'Mission' film is," actress Rebecca Ferguson said. "You put yourself in the extreme of the extreme, and overcome it."

Ferguson had to overcome her own fear of heights. So when did she know she could do it?

"When we jumped and I didn't die," she said.

"He's very good at what he does," actor Jeremy Renner said. "He's also a fearless guy and a big risk taker, but he won't ever do it where his life is in danger. You know he won't do that."

Risk and reward were the talk of the red carpet at the U.S. premiere of the film in Times Square, where a few lucky fans got some face time with the stars, who seemed the none the worse for wear.

"This is amazing right?" Renner said. "C'mon, this is fantastic, unless you're trying to drive through Time Square. Then it's terrible for you."

Renner said his fast driving was enough to make Cruise nervous while they were filming a chase sequence, and once, when he was behind the wheel, he caught Cruise hanging on for dear life in the passenger seat.