If you watched the Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday, you’ll know that the show concluded with a taste of Hollywood.

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In anticipation of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, Tom Cruise dropped in — literally — to help deliver the Olympic flag from Paris to the US.

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In classic Tom Cruise style, he began on the roof of the Stade de France, where he flashed a casual look at the camera —and took a selfie — before leaping right into the stadium, where the live closing ceremony was already taking place.

Twitter: @TomCruise

After walking through a crowd of excited Olympians and taking a few selfies, he made his way onto the stage, grabbed the Olympic flag from Simone Biles, and hopped onto his motorbike, à la Maverick of Top Gun.

At this point, the broadcast transitioned into a pre-recorded segment tracking Tom’s stunt-filled journey to LA with the Olympic flag, which involved riding through the streets of Paris and jumping out of an aircraft — presumably just a casual Sunday for the Mission: Impossible star.

Arriving in LA, the 62-year-old did his signature movie-star run all the way up to the Hollywood sign, where he got to work giving the legendary landmark an Olympic makeover.

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Needless to say, Tom’s cameo was one of the most memorable moments of the ceremony — and certainly did well to get fans excited about welcoming the Summer Games to LA in four years.

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Now, having completed the mission, the mastermind behind the segment has lifted the lid on how it all came together over the course of many months.

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Speaking with the Hollywood Reporter, Ben Winston — the creative director and executive producer of the LA handover portion of the closing ceremony — revealed that the idea to get Tom involved came to him very early on in the planning process.

“My first meeting was January 2022 when I sat down with Casey Wasserman at LA28,” he began. “I haven’t been working on it since then, but I had the idea more like 20 months ago when they’d told me there’s this tradition of a 12-minute show that the next nation does in the closing ceremony.”

He continued: “Within the first five minutes, I was like, ‘Well, it would be the coolest thing if we snatched the flag, and we could get Tom Cruise to do it.’”

Funnily enough, Ben revealed that the idea to follow Tom’s journey from Paris to LA was actually inspired by a 2009 talk show bit starring Conan O’Brien.

“I liked the idea of doing the bulk of it in Los Angeles but with an amazing open in Paris,” Ben said, explaining that shooting in LA allowed him to “control all the elements a little bit more.”

“This is such a weird reference,” he continued, “but remember when Conan O’Brien started on The Tonight Show and moved from New York to Los Angeles? He did a really fun sketch going cross country. That has always stuck with me. So I was like, ‘How do Tom Cruise and all these incredible athletes take that flag from Paris to LA?’ It’s a weird inspiration.”

For most people, pitching such a big idea to a major movie star would be pretty daunting. But, luckily for Ben, he and Tom already had an established relationship. They worked together on various segments for The Late Late Show with James Corden, which Ben executive produced for the entirety of its run on CBS.

“He was the first pitch I had,” Ben recalled, confessing that if Tom had declined immediately, they’d have scrapped the concept altogether. “Who else is synonymous with action and an American hero? When we got Tom, I felt like the whole thing would work — so we went from there.”

Recalling the details of his pitch to Tom, Ben revealed that he initially suggested that they use a stand-in to jump from the roof of the stadium in Paris. But, as you might have guessed, the Top Gun star was adamant that he’d do the job himself.

“We developed a relationship these last few years. I think he always trusted us and James [Corden] to do high-quality stuff,” Ben said, referring to their previous collaborations.

“That first pitch included every element that you saw last night,” he continued. “Only, when I told him, it was a man in a balaclava who jumped from the roof of the stadium, Tom’s feedback was, ‘I love the idea, only we’re not doing a stuntman in a balaclava. I’m going to be the one who jumps off the roof, and I’m going to be the one who drives through Paris.’”

With their star on board, another big hurdle was how they would pre-film the segment months in advance without people catching on about Tom’s involvement in the Olympics. Notably, one of the ways they tried to prevent leaks was by using a plain white flag for the motorcycle portion of the shoot and adding the Olympic rings later.

“He always was holding a white flag,” Ben revealed. “So, whenever we were photographed with him, the press always said we were filming Mission Impossible.”

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Despite their best efforts, word eventually got out that Tom would have a starring role in the handover segment, with insiders speaking out about the pre-recorded shoot. Discussing this, Ben said he was “disappointed” by the leaks in the lead-up to the big day.

Well, leaks or no leaks, they certainly didn’t diminish the spectacle. All that’s left to say is bring on LA28!

You can read Ben’s full interview with the Hollywood Reporter here. And if you somehow haven’t yet seen Tom’s feature in the closing ceremony, here’s where you can watch it.

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