On May 5, 2006 Paramount pictures released their summer blockbuster movie "Mission Impossible III" staring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and directed by JJ Abrams. Some of Dive Xtras's signature products, the X-Scooter, Deluxe Swivel Camera Mount and Standard Light/Camera Mount, were selected to be used in this movie, which is full of high tech gadgets and toys.
The X-Scooter (an underwater scooter or more commonly known as D.P.V. ) was one of the many movies' "cool" arsenal of toys and gadgets. Tom and the director JJ spent months researching underwater scuba scooters to be used in the key scenes where Ving Rhames rides a scooter under Vatican and rescues Tom from a prison located below. Ving is towing bags of rescue (extra) scuba equipment into these tunnels and they (Tom and Ving) scooter back out through the maze.
The X-Scooter was selected over other scooters such as Gavin and Silent Submersion due to its super lightweight and ultra-high thrust capabilities. Dive Xtras was also capable of providing a Deluxe Camera mount and standard light mount which were easily attached to the X-Scooter. The 360ยบ swivel camera mount was needed for scenes shot of Ving navigating the passageways, and the standard mount allowed the director to put twin 10W HID's on the X-Scooter. Other underwater scooters in the running were the See Doo and Oceanic Mako but neither had the thrust capable of pulling the diver and extra rescue gear as capably as the X.
The scenes using the X-Scooter were shot in Rome, L.A. and China. Dive Xtras staff, Andrew Georgitsis and Ben Mcgeever were fortunate enough to join a shoot as technical support staff on the set in L.A. last August. It was quite an honor and experience to see the product of their engineering be used in this high bdget movie. It was also exciting for them to witness how easy and quickly the stunt men and actors adapted to using these lightweight scooters, and finally, just how much fun a movie set can really be. Stay tuned for more products coming to a Movie near you. |
