Tom Cruise continues to defy death — and all expectations — with his daredevil stunts.

During a Masterclass event at Cannes on Wednesday, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie was joined in conversation by Cruise, who was making a surprise appearance ahead of Wednesday night’s festival premiere of Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning. During the panel, McQuarrie revealed some truly terrifying details from the film.

“When you watch Tom tonight, there’s a moment where he’s in an airplane,” McQuarrie said. “He’s in a biplane, completely alone at the controls, and his biplane suffers some damage. Spoiler, there’s tension in this scene.”

Cruise essentially was acting as the crew from that plane, McQuarrie explained, because at 10,000 feet above the African landscape, he was alone up there. “Tom is lighting the shot by how he’s positioning the plane and its relationship to the sun, and he’s operating focus just off-camera.