MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE AERIAL
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT We sit down with Dani Rose to discuss his role in bringing the Mission: Impossible franchise’s most audacious aerial stunts to life WORDS NICOLA FOLEY
T he Mission : Impossible films are famous for their daring stunts and innovative techniques – and behind many of the franchise’s most thrilling sequences is CineAero, a UK-based aerial filmmaking company led by owner Dani Rose. Over the last three films, Rose and his team have pushed boundaries to create bespoke solutions that capture Tom Cruise’s jaw-dropping stunts from all sorts of audacious angles. Rose’s introduction to the franchise came during Fallout ( MI6 ), for which he was brought on board as a drone pilot. One of his first major sequences was flying over the cliffs of Preikestolen in Norway, capturing the film’s final scene, and his first foray into custom work followed shortly after. “I was asked to modify and fly a drone that was used on- screen by Simon Pegg’s character. The production wanted a certain look for the aircraft, so we were given an off-the-shelf machine and retrofitted it with high-end flight electronics,” he recalls. “It had to be safe to fly in close proximity to the cast and crew – a challenge under pressure!” In 2023’s Dead Reckoning , the scope of work levelled up with the development of a lightweight multicamera array system for Tom Cruise’s motorbike jump. “It featured a custom wireless run/stop system and integrated tracking modules, so we could locate the rigs after the bikes landed in dangerous terrain. Because of
the risk of rockfalls, only mountain rescue teams were authorised to retrieve the kits, so the tracking was crucial,” Rose shares. Later in the film, he engineered a body- mounted dual-camera stabilisation system for the speed flying sequence, allowing two independently controlled camera systems – using both zooms and primes – to capture Cruise in mid-air. “It was built around professional skydiver and aerial sports expert Malachi Templeton,” says Rose. “We 3D scanned Malachi to design a carbon-fibre and aircraft-grade aluminium rig that maintained optimal balance and safety without compromising performance. We managed video, control and focus from a nearby helicopter – Malachi effectively became a flying camera platform, with two operators and two 1st ACs controlling the system remotely and a small ground support team. It was a world-first.” In the recently released The Final Reckoning , the bar was raised again, with Rose describing the film’s biplane sequence as the biggest challenge of his career. “I was approached with the brief that Tom and director Christopher McQuarrie wanted to ‘put cameras anywhere on the plane’. These were forties-era Boeing Stearmans, not built with modern cinematography in mind.” Working alongside DOP Fraser Taggart, stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood, the stunt team, pilots and engineers,
Rose’s team undertook a complete reengineering of the airframes. “We reinforced wings, created removable exoskeletal camera frames, vibration isolation and power systems for telemetry and camera control. Every camera build was unique to the aircraft it was mounted on, and each Stearman – being hand- built – had slightly different geometry, which made consistency a challenge. “Each airframe started with 34 sections to mount to, and we ended up with around 50 at the end of the shoot. Development was constant and always pushed the limits of aerial cinematography,” adds Rose. As with all of CineAero’s work, safety was a key priority – with all modifications deemed airworthy and approved by flight engineers. “That included new looms for power, telemetry, camera comms and monitoring systems across all four planes. Depending on the shot, we mounted between one and six cameras per aircraft, with up to 20 cameras and 40
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