Tom Cruise vows to keep making action movies until he’s 100: ‘I will never stop’

The latest Mission: Impossible might be Tom Cruise’s final reckoning with the franchise, but the action star is still decades away from slowing down.

Ahead of the film’s release on Friday, the 62-year-old Hollywood icon is making it clear that he has no intention of calling it quits when it comes to acting. In fact, he’s doubling down.

“I [previously] said I’m going to make movies into my 80s,” Cruise told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet for the film’s premiere in New York City on Sunday. “Actually, I’m going to make them into my 100s.”

He continued, “I will never stop. I will never stop doing action, I will never stop doing drama, comedy films — I’m excited.”

Thus far, Cruise hasn’t let age slow him down. The upcoming Mission: Impossible film — the eighth in the franchise — sees the actor taking his usual big swings when it comes to stunt work, including a lengthy scuba diving sequence and wing walking on a biplane. Fortunately, the actor, who famously does his own stunts, has a few traditions in place to keep himself safe.

“There’s a lot of pre-stunt rituals that keep me alive,” Cruise joked. “It depends on what I’m doing and the amount of preparation I have to do. A lot of thought goes into it, and they are very complex and very interesting.”

“There’s been so many levels of reward with the filmmakers that I’ve collaborated with, the crews, the people, the cultures that we’ve worked in,” he added of his 30 years leading the franchise. “Everything that I’ve learned and continue to learn about storytelling, about life, about leadership, about character, and every aspect of filmmaking.… It’s been exceptional, it really is exceptional.”

He added, “I feel very fortunate to be able to make the films that I make, and I love it. I love just making movies.”

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Originally titled Dead Reckoning Part Two, the eighth Mission: Impossible film is rumored to be Cruise’s last hurrah with the franchise. Completing the story set up in the previous entry, The Final Reckoning sees Ethan Hunt (Cruise) in possession of the key necessary to defeat the Entity, a mysterious, rogue A.I. cyberweapon. But first, Ethan must gather his team to find the sunken Russian submarine that houses its crucial source code.

The returning cohort includes Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, and Angela Bassett. They’ll be joined by newcomers Tramell Tillman, Hannah Waddingham, Nick Offerman, Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), Holt McCallany (Mindhunter), and Janet McTeer (Ozark).

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning hits theaters May 23.