Two-wheeled chases, climbing skyscrapers with your bare hands, fights of all kinds: stunts are part of the DNA of Impossible mission and the final installment of the franchise — Dead Reckoning, part 1 — lived up to our expectations with a completely crazy cliff jump. A stunt that would not have fit with the identity of Impossible mission without the funky glasses worn by the actor. Because let’s be honest: Tom Cruise has accustomed us to looks that are totally badass.
With a budget of $291 million, a film like Dead Reckoning, part 1 leaves nothing to chance. Between the motorcycle choreographies and the design of the equipment, every detail counts. And obviously, the production of the blockbuster did not go looking for Tom Cruise’s glasses at Decathlon: it called on the pros, namely Oakley, an American brand founded in 1975 to equip athletes.
The pair designed for the film in question is of rare simplicity: it is transparent, minimal, almost invisible. A result that required a lot of work as Nick Garfias, vice president of design at Oakley, explains: “The glasses had to be safe, practical, efficient and on top of that, they had to fit the identity of Tom’s character. Cruise in the movie. We therefore needed a thin frame, in a single block and light, both visually and in terms of weight”.
This is not the first time that the actor has collaborated with the Oakley brand. He had worked with her on other Impossible mission, and in particular on the Romeo glasses worn in the second part of the franchise. Nick Garfias explains that the film’s props designer, David Cheesman (whom he calls his “partner in crime”), and Oakley’s in-house team played a central role in the process of creating Ethan Hunt’s new glasses: the hero of Impossible mission needed an “impossible” pair suited to the “impossible” missions he was going to accomplish.
