A camera operator who worked on the movie "Cocktail" (1988) said that Tom Cruise saved his co-star Elisabeth Shue by preventing her from walking into a rotating helicopter blade.
Bill Bennett, who is now a television and commercial cinematographer, first shared the story in a private Facebook group. which is dedicated to anecdotes on the sets of movies and TV shows.
In a post, Bennett said the production was filming an aerial scene from a helicopter. After each take, the helicopter would briefly land, and Cruise and Shue would drop by to view the footage and receive notes from the director.
Since the helicopter was only on the ground for a few moments, Bennett said the pilot was keeping the tail rotor running at the rear. Said area was off-limits because the blades appeared invisible as they rotated.
"If you entered it, they would kill you instantly," he said.
However, on one occasion when Cruise and Shue finished watching the recordings of her, the actress "came out of nowhere, running to the back of the helicopter."
“Tom is a pilot, qualified in both airplanes and helicopters and instantly he saw the danger. He lunged for her, but he could only grab her legs, and he knocked her to the ground,” Bennett said.
"He spun her around, dragging her at the same time, and we could see the momentary anger on her face as she screamed, 'Why did you do that?'" he added.
Bennett continued: “But at that moment he pointed towards the tail rotor a couple of meters away, yelling at it that he almost died. At that moment, she turned white, he pushed her toward the front of the helicopter and they drove away.
“We were all (…) quite moved by what almost happened, but there was nothing to say. Tom, in that instant, really saved his life,” he recounted.
Insider reached out to Shue's representatives for comment on the matter.
Bennett said that in 1987 when the incident occurred, "mandatory security meetings were not commonly held."
“If the movie was filmed today, there would have been a very formal safety meeting that would take place before the helicopter arrived, discussing all the dangers of working around it,” she explained.
The Sun also reported that this story was discovered by writer Mike Timm. He sent it to "Mission Impossible" director Christopher McQuarrie, who confirmed the story with Cruise.
This isn't the first time Cruise has saved a person's life on a movie set. Last week, it was reported that the “Top Gun” actor rescued a cameraman who slipped off a moving train carriage while filming “Mission Impossible 7” in the UK.
