For many, the original “Top Gun,” released in 1986, is the epitome of macho, jingoistic action films. More than 30 years later, it’s apparent that the film is so full of machismo that it actually almost borders on parody. Alas, it’s a classic, especially in the filmographies of Tom Cruise and director Tony Scott. And as Hollywood is wont to do, a sequel is coming later this summer, with a new helmer and a batch of new recruits joining Cruise in the Danger Zone.
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In a new interview with EW, director Joseph Kosinski, who previously worked with Cruise on the sci-fi film “Oblivion,” talked up his recent collaboration with the actor and what how the action icon brought some of that realness to the stunts in “Top Gun: Maverick” that he’s known for in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise. Yes, Tom Cruise got to play like a real fighter pilot.
“The experience is thrilling but very physically grueling,” Kosinski said. “The maneuvers that we were putting them through to tell this story were not something that you can just jump in and do. They all had to go through months of aerial training. We put them through a training course that Tom actually designed himself. He’s a licensed aerobatic pilot, and he was thrown into the deep end when he did the first ‘Top Gun’ without any training.”
He continued, “So he knew that they would need to kind of work up to that level. So they started in Cessnas and then worked their way up aerobatic airplanes then into small single-engine jets before they were in the Super Hornet. Occasionally it made some of the actors sick and that even happens to experienced fighter pilots.”
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Kosinski said that Cruise “got to fulfill every kind of aviation dream that he had,” while working on the new film.
And since ‘Maverick’ isn’t just a sequel to the 1986 film but also the first film in a potential new franchise for Paramount Pictures. Thus, there are plenty of new recruits hoping to be the new Maverick, Goose, and Iceman. That includes actors Jay Ellis, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, and Danny Ramirez.
However, leading the way is Miles Teller, playing the deceased Goose’s son, with the callsign Rooster. And it’s this relationship that the director says is the linchpin to the entire film.
“The relationship between Maverick and Rooster really forms the emotional core and spine of the film,” Kosinski said. “It was really one of the key reasons Tom felt like that now this is the time to go back and do this.”
Is the world ready for a trip back to the Danger Zone? Will there be shirtless volleyball? We’ll find out when “Top Gun: Maverick” arrives in theaters on June 26. You can see new pictures of all the new recruits below.
