For decades now, Tom Cruise has been taking audiences to giddy heights in his pursuit of blockbuster excellence – often literally. And while later Mission: Impossible films saw him scale the Burf Khalifa, cling to planes mid-flight, and Halo jump through the night sky, his love affair with dangerous dangling goes all the way back to the John Woo-helmed Mission: Impossible 2. The 2000 sequel begins with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt hanging loose in a dizzying Utah free-climb, a jaw-dropping stunt that quickly became the film’s most iconic scene.

In the new issue of Empire, Cruise talks us through an iconic moment from every Mission movie so far, packed with stories on his greatest feats – from the Langley dangle in the Brian de Palma original, to the Rogue Nation aircraft hanger, to the Fiat 500 chase in Dead Reckoning. Here’s an exclusive extract, with Cruise looking back on that legendary Mission: Impossible 2 opener.