Where does international super spy Ethan Hunt go when he needs super performance eyewear?
(No. Not Q. That’s that other guy.)
When the mission seems impossible, he turns to the experts at Oakley.
Tom Cruise, who plays the fictional character Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible movies, teamed up with Oakley to design and produce the perfect eyewear for one of the most daring (not to mention dangerous) stunts ever attempted in the history of the franchise.
Cruise is well known for doing his own stunts during filming. (Check out this list of his 13 wildest stunts from just the Mission: Impossible films.) For Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which hits theaters today, Cruise pulled off arguably the most jaw-dropping stunt of his career. He drove a motorcycle off a Norwegian cliff and then base jumped to the valley below. To make sure he got the shot right, he then did it five (!) more times.
“I’ve wanted to do it since I was a little kid,” says Cruise in a video (see below) detailing what went into the stunt. “It all comes down to one thing: The audience.”
Cruise, the movie production team, and an array of experts spent months setting up the shot.
“There’s a lot going into this stunt, so Tom put together this master plan to coordinate all of these experts in each of particular disciplines involved to make this whole thing happen,” says director Christopher McQuarrie in the video.
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To wit:
- Cruise went through a year of base jump training and advanced skydiving training.
- He made upwards of 30 skydives a day.
- He totaled more than 500 skydives overall.
- He performed more than 13,000 motocross jumps.
“You train and drill every little aspect of this over and over and over and over again,” says Cruise.
He later added, as he flashed his trademark smile while heading out for another training session, “What do we say to each other? Don’t be careful. Be confident.”
Oakley and Tom Cruise collaborated to design and produce the perfect eyewear for his character, Ethan Hunt, ahead of one of the most dangerous stunts seen in the franchise. The result is the ECLP23.
PHOTO CREDIT: Oakley
Part of that confidence, no doubt, stemmed from his performance eyewear.
The Cruise/Oakley collaboration resulted in the ECLP23. The one-of-a-kind prototype eyewear was fitted to Cruise’s face perfectly. The eyewear features high speed protection, an expanded field of view, and zero gravity.
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You can see more product shots provided by Oakley below. Also, there are a few screenshots of Cruise wearing the frames during filming of the stunt.
Unfortunately, these specs aren’t for sale. However, you can see them in person. They will be on display throughout the summer at Oakley Headquarters at One Icon in Foothill Ranch, CA.
If you find a trek to SoCal an impossible mission, you can always see Cruise and his Oakley eyewear in action this weekend at your local movie house. The seventh installment in the franchise is expected to have a massive opening weekend. You can check out reviews here.
