Director shares wild Tom Cruise stunt pic for star's 60th birthday

MI director Christopher McQuarrie shared a photo of Tom Cruise in honour of his 60th birthday. Photo / Supplied

He's a blockbuster legend for a reason.

Tom Cruise turned 60 today, and in honour of the milestone, Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie shared a rare photo of the US actor performing a truly insane stunt.

In the image, Cruise can be seen dangling from an airborne red biplane with very little – if any – assistance.

MI director Christopher McQuarrie shared a photo of Tom Cruise in honour of his 60th birthday. Photo / Supplied

While McQuarrie didn't detail where the photo was taken, it's most likely to have been during filming for the upcoming seventh Mission: Impossible movie, Dead Reckoning Part One, the penultimate film in the franchise scheduled for a 2023 release.

Cruise, meanwhile, spent his birthday at the F1 Grand Prix in the UK, where he was pictured chatting with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and Lewis Hamilton's family.

Tom Cruise is in the building! 😎 pic.twitter.com/IRsanE1q49

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) July 3, 2022

Cruise is renowned for executing the majority of stunts in his movies, though they don't always go off without a hitch.

The actor made headlines when he was injured on the set of Mission Impossible 6 in 2017, with leaked video footage showing his death-defying leap onto a rooftop go horribly wrong.

Cruise was seen slamming into a building, hanging mid-air in his harness before pulling himself up onto the roof and stumbling towards crew members.

Just a few months later, he was back on-set in London shooting stunts again.

Cruise was recently asked at the Cannes Film Festival why he chooses to forgo a stunt actor, reportedly responding: "No one asked Gene Kelly, 'Why do you dance?'"

Appreciation for Cruise, who has been working in Hollywood since the early 80s, is at a fever pitch after the huge success of the long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

This has been a long time coming. #TopGun pic.twitter.com/qlaXZRIPNt

— Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) April 18, 2022