Tom Cruise accepted an MTV Movie & TV Award for Top Gun: Maverick while flying a plane. The sequel premiered in 2022 and was a commercial success, breaking several box office records during its theatrical run. It follows Pete "Maverick" Mitchell who returns to Top Gun and is tasked with training young graduates for a mission to destroy an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant. Cruise is known for performing his own stunts, and a licensed pilot himself, he actually flew a P-51 Mustang in Top Gun: Maverick.For his work on the film, Cruise won Best Performance in a Movie at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards, and thanked his fans while flying the plane used in Top Gun: Maverick.

He tells audiences, "I love entertaining you," as his golden popcorn trophy sits behind him. He then encourages viewers to check out Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One before saying "you have a wonderful summer" and flying away.

Tom Cruise Has A History Of Performing Wild Stunts

Tom Cruise in Top Gun Maverick in an action shot in a plane cockpit, wearing a helmet and oxygen mask

That same aircraft seen in Cruise's acceptance video appears towards the end of Top Gun: Maverick, when his character flies off with Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly). For most of his career, Cruise carried out his own stunts and portrayed realistic action on-screen, and while he was unable to operate other planes in the film, including the Super Hornet, he did get to pilot his P-51 Mustang in the final sequence. To achieve some of the movie's memorable flying scenes, Cruise was involved in coordinating stunts and planning how they would look as well.

When it comes to Cruise's past projects, especially the Mission: Impossible films, he has performed a number of stunts that appear just as wild as flying a plane. In Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the actor scaled one of the tallest buildings in the world, the Burj Khalifa, and in Rogue Nation, he was strapped to the outside of an aircraft as it took off. With the next installment on the way, Cruise has already teased one of the more dangerous stunts he has taken on, involving a motorcycle jump.

It seems like Cruise will not be giving up stunts, but that is part of what makes audiences so excited about his movies. His performance, along with his dedication to action, in Top Gun: Maverick was particularly well-received. Given how memorable his latest award acceptance was, Cruise's audience will look forward to whatever projects he does next.

Source: Movie & TV Awards/Twitter