Domhnall Gleeson learned not to needle Tom Cruise mid-air the hard way. It remains his favorite Cruise story from making American Made, one that ended with the whole cabin rattled.
The Joke Domhnall Gleeson Made While Tom Cruise Was Flying
Cruise flew the planes himself throughout the film, at one point taking the controls on a small aircraft and pulling a maneuver where the plane briefly drops and seems to float. Gleeson was riding along when it happened, and director Doug Liman nudged him to say something in the moment.
“He did a thing where you can drop the plane and you kind of float for a second. Doug Liman gave me a nudge and I said, ‘Tom, that was a bit like wussy or something,'” he recalled on Hits Radio podcast.
Cruise did not respond with words. He simply did the drop again, harder, and this time it rattled the whole cabin.
“The next time he dropped it, Doug hit the ceiling. It was insane. Never called him a wuss again.”
Gleeson was quick to add that the comment was never meant as a real jab, just a joke aimed at a stunt that had already left him stunned.
“I wasn’t calling him a wuss in that moment to be clear. But his ability piloting that thing was incredible. That was pretty Tom Cruise.”
Gleeson has told versions of the story before as one of his go-to sets from American Made, and it fits a pattern with Cruise, who is known for handling his own flying and driving stunts across his films. The moment stuck with Gleeson less as a story about Cruise proving a point and more as a reminder of just how seriously the actor takes the physical side of his work.
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