Tom Cruise Discusses TOP GUN: MAVERICK and Teases an Epic Aerial Sequence
As you all know, Tom Cruise loves to push the limits on the stunts and action sequences in the films that he makes. When Top Gun: Maverick actually went into production with Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) directing, I knew that this team of talent was going to deliver something special.
In a recent interview with Empire, Cruise talked about the journey to getting the Top Gun sequel in development and teased an epic aerial sequence that will be unlike anything we’ve seen before and ever see again.
“We just started talking, and I realized that there were things that we could accomplish cinematically. And I started getting excited about this big challenge of, ‘How do we do it?’ So I said to Jerry, ‘I’ll do it if…’ meaning, I’m not going to do the CGI stuff.”
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer went on to talk about putting the film’s co-stars in F-18’s for the g-force-heavy action sequences. They were put through training so that they could get these shot that they couldn’t get in the original film.
“What’s different about this movie is that [in Top Gun] we put the actors in the F-14s and we couldn’t use one frame of it, except some stuff on Tom, because they all threw up. It’s hysterical to see their eyes roll back in their heads. So everything was done on a gimbal. But in this movie, Tom wanted to make sure the actors could actually be in the F-18s.”
It must have been so freakin’ awesome to train in F-18s! I’ve wanted to fly jets ever since I was a kid, so I can’t help but be a little jealous. Cruise went on to share that he made his intentions to pursue practical jet fighter scenes clear to Paramount Studios before the shoot began, and he also teases that epic aerial sequence:
“I said to the studio, ‘You don’t know how hard this movie’s going to be. No-one’s ever done this before,’” the star laughs. “There’s never been an aerial sequence shot this way. I don’t know if there ever will be again, to be honest.”
I can’t wait to see this flick! The movie also stars Miles Teller as Goose's son, Val Kilmer, Glen Powell, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, and Lewis Pullman. Here’s the new synopsis that was previously released:
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”
Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
Top Gun: Maverick is supposed to be released on June 26th, 2020. But, there’s a good chance that release day will be pushed back.