Jake Johnson feared death performing The Mummy stunts

Actor Jake Johnson was terrified he would die performing daredevil stunts alongside Tom Cruise for their new The Mummy movie.

Tom is known for tackling high-flying action scenes for his blockbuster projects, but the stunt work was all new for Jake, and he was convinced the sequences, which were often performed without safety nets, would result in his death.

The New Girl star reveals it was "really fun" to work with Tom, but he had no idea how risky the shoot would be.

"He is the scariest guy I've ever worked with," Jake shared of his superstar colleague. "He does everything. Every stunt we do, every time we're jumping off buildings, there's no pads, we're just jumping off buildings.

"We jump off a three-storey building that collapses (in The Mummy), and there's no wires, and I kept being like, 'Tom, this is terrifying!' and he's like, 'It's great! Let's do it!'. I'm like, 'We could die,' (and he said), 'I know - don't!' For real!"

Jake admits he was well aware of Tom's reputation as a daredevil before he was even offered a part in The Mummy reboot, but he wanted to witness it all first-hand to see if the industry rumors were true.

"When the opportunity came up (to work on The Mummy), I jumped at it, because I always wanted to see what it was like to do a Tom Cruise movie, more than an action movie," Jake explained on breakfast show Today.

"It's like, I'd heard about Tom Cruise and his stunts and how he does things, and I was dying to try it. What was nice is that he's the real deal. Everything you read about him is real thing. He's also a blast to work with and he's passionate and cares, and this was a dream experience."

But to earn his place alongside Tom, Jake had to undergo a rigorous training schedule in the lead up to the shoot.

"We trained for about four-and-a-half months, because we knew what we were gonna get into, so he (Cruise) puts you through it," he said. "He has a gym he calls the Pain Cave... (where you do) terrible squats and jumping on boxes and you just work and you work so you can do those (stunt) scenes with him, because he does that five days a week, non-stop."

The Mummy revamp, which also stars Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, and Sofia Boutella, is set for release this week (begs05Jun17).