Tom Cruise is knowns for pushing himself beyond his limits to make the most exciting action movies possible. So far, we’ve seen him climb the world’s tallest building, leap out o planes, and put his body through the trauma of G-force for Top Gun 2.
One of Cruise’s greatest records however was his six-minute free dive while making Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Now in case, you’re unaware free diving is when you dive underwater without any diving gear, and those who’ve mastered the art can supposedly stay underwater for as long as 25 minutes.
Still, holding your breath for six minutes is no mean feat, and most actors would struggle to repeat it, unless they’re Kate Winslet. Yes, it turns out that while making the science fiction movie Avatar 2, Winslet broke Cruise’s record by a whole seven minutes and 15 seconds.
She spoke about the achievement at a press conference for Avatar 2 attended by The Digital Fix, although she wasn’t sure exactly how long Cruise had gone underwater.
“People keep going on about [me] smashing Tom Cruise’s record, which people are saying is six minutes something,” she explained before saying to James Cameron (who was a bit grumpy about having his own freediving record beaten by Winslet). “How do we know that you [James] have not actually beaten Tom Cruise as well?”
We don’t have to take Kate Winslet’s word for it, either. Her husband snuck on to set that day to record her diving and got the whole thing on tape.
“I actually have a video of when I surfaced from that breath hold, and I, the only reason I have it is because my husband snuck in,” Winslet explained. “And I knew that day that Kirk had said to me, ‘we’re going to go for another one today, Kate,’ and I said to Ned, ‘look, please don’t come because I just don’t want you like videoing and I’ll just feel all pressure-y and whatever. Just please don’t be there.’ He snuck in, and I have the video of me surfacing, saying, ‘Am I dead, am I dead, have I died?’ And then going, ‘what was it?’ Straight away, I wanted to know my time. And I couldn’t believe that it was seven-fifteen.”
Oh, and in case you were wondering if Cameron managed to beat Cruise? He did, and Winslet says is six minutes and 30 seconds, which gives him half a minute on the star. Do you know what this means, Tom? You’re gonna have to make an entire spy movie underwater now.
Avatar 2 hits theatres on December 16, 2022. If you want to know more about Avatar 2, you can read our Avatar 2 review here, or we have a guide to the Avatar 2 cast for you to enjoy.