TOP GUN: MAVERICK Behind the Scenes Video Shows Off New Camera Tech Built for the Film

A new behind-the-scenes video for Top Gun: Maverick has been released, and it shows off some new camera technology that was created for the film to be able to shoot from inside of the cockpit of the fighter jets. Director Joseph Kosinski talks about the camera, which is called Rialto, that was specifically made for this movie. It allowed the filmmakers to place six cameras in a fighter jet. Two cameras facing forward, and four of them focused on the actor.

When asked about the importance of technology to him, Kosinski explained:

“I went to school for engineering. I thought I was going to be an aerospace engineer. Technology was something I always had a handle on but for me, it starts with the story, and then it’s figuring out what tools are out there or what tools do we have to invent to tell this story the right way. On Top Gun: Maverick, it was all about, how do we get movie cameras inside an F-18 Super Hornet with Tom Cruise?”

It’s pretty cool and fascinating to learn about this new camera tech and see how it’s utilized. One other interesting thing that was revealed in the interview was that Kosinski and his crew built a replica of the cockpit on the ground and that was used for rehearsals. So, when the actors were up in the air going 600mph and pulling four G’s they knew exactly what they need to do.

Kosinski said that some days they would work a 16-hour day and only walk away with 40 seconds of footage.

Top Gun: Maverick stars Tom Cruise, who is reprising his role from the original film, and he will be joined by Miles Teller as Goose's son, Val Kilmer, Glen Powell, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, and Lewis Pullman. Here’s the 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.

We can expect to see some wicked awesome aerial sequences in the film. Cruise previously teased, “There’s never been an aerial sequence shot this way. I don’t know if there ever will be again, to be honest.”

The movie will hit theaters on December 23rd, 2020.