Tom Cruise risked life for a selfie

Hollywood hunk Tom Cruise nearly killed himself trying to take a selfie while hanging 2,000 from a helicopter while filming 'The Mummy'.

The 53-year-old actor terrified his co-stars and the crew when he hung out of a helicopter - which was 2,000ft above the Namibian desert - and took a candid photo of himself during a break from filming.

Co-star Courtney B. Vance recalled: "They told everyone, 'Don't take any pictures'. We get up in the helicopter and he's like, 'Wanna take some pictures?' He's funny. He was hanging out of the helicopter, taking selfies and pictures of us. Crazy!"

Speaking to USA Today on the black carpet at the New York premiere on Tuesday, Tom added: "I just really wanted a different kind of a shot.

"So I had my seat belt just loose enough to hang out. It was fun."

And co-star Annabelle Wallis, 32, who plays his love-interest in the movie, said the actor kept taking her phone to take pictures in "dangerous situations" and she was terrified something could go badly wrong.

She said: "He loved taking my phone and hanging out of things in dangerous situations taking pictures of himself.

"I'd look for my phone and be like 'oh my God, he's going to kill himself doing that'."

'The Mummy' director Alex Kurtzman, 43, admitted he was surprised by Tom's sense of humour and said the actor loves to play jokes on his co-stars.

He said: "He's very serious and very intense, but what people don't know is that he really does like to play jokes.

"There were moments when we were shooting in an underwater tank and he and Annabelle kept dunking each other in the water.

"And I kept looking at him like 'This is not the image people have of Tom'."

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