Tom Cruise to Test His Stunt Skills at Olympics

Tom Cruise has been spotted taking in swimming and women's gymnastics events at the Paris Olympics, per the Hollywood Reporter. But he's not simply an observer. The 62-year-old actor known for his stunt work will play a role in the closing ceremony on Aug. 11 when he'll pass the torch to the next Summer Games host city: Los Angeles. According to Vulture, Cruise will rappel from the top of the Stade de France stadium, grab the Olympic flag, then whisk it to LA "through the power of movie magic." He will reportedly be shown flying to LA and skydiving above the Hollywood sign in a prerecorded clip, TMZ reports.

Paparazzi got footage of Cruise at the Hollywood sign on March 16. Though he wasn't spotted falling from the air, he was seen climbing the structure and passing a flag to a cyclist. At the time, "no one had a clue this was related to the Olympics," per TMZ. Cruise reportedly approached the International Olympic Committee about doing the stunts to bridge the Paris and Los Angeles Games, rather than the other way around. He's "long been a supporter of the Olympic games" and previously carried the Olympic torch through Los Angeles as part of a global relay ahead of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, People reports. (More Tom Cruise stories.)