Tom Cruise Was Paid Less Than You Think for Olympic Stunt

The handoff of the Olympic flag from one host city to the next is an integral part of every Olympic closing ceremony. This year, Tom Cruise was a part of the festivities as he helped bring the flag from Paris to Los Angeles in high-flying Hollywood fashion. His payday for the stunt, however, wasn't as impressive. 

Entertainment executive and LA28 president and chairperson Casey Wasserman explained how the pre-filmed segment came together in a CNBC x Boardroom panel on Sept. 10. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wasserman revealed that Cruise jumped at the opportunity (no pun intended) to jump off the Stade de France in Paris. 

"We pitched on a Zoom, and the original idea was a person in the stadium as a stunt double," Wasserman detailed. "We’re like, 'Well, there’s no way we’re getting this. We’re going to get four hours of filming time. We’ll do the thing [in] L.A. with the Hollywood Sign, he’ll hand the thing off and he’s done. Maybe we’ll get the other stuff and the rest will be just a stunt double.'" 

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Cruise was thrilled about the idea but had one condition. "About five minutes into the presentation [Cruise] goes, 'I’m in. But I’m only doing it if I get to do everything,'" Wasserman recounted. 

On top of doing his own stunts, Cruise, as well as everyone else involved in the project, did it all for free.

It's not the only high-profile gig to famously not pay a single cent. Performers at the Super Bowl halftime show every year don't earn a penny for their work and are instead, like Cruise, paid in unmatched exposure to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

The Summer Olympics arrive in Los Angeles on July 14, 2028.