John Carpenter was offered the chance to helm the original Top Gun, but the director’s sardonic proposal for the long-awaited sequel Top Gun 2 proves he was never particularly interested in the job. Released in 1986, the original Top Gun is a beloved action film and was a blockbuster success upon arrival in cinemas, with the Tom Cruise vehicle eventually spawning a sequel in the form of the much-anticipated Top Gun: Maverick. The Last Boy Scout's Tony Scott helmed the original and gave the movie both its propulsive pace and beautiful blue and orange-tinged look that would go on to define the genre's dominant visual aesthetic for decades.
However, action cinema legend Scott wasn’t the first director the studio approached about directing Top Gun, with some bizarre and unexpected filmmaking legends being offered the gig before he signed on. Horror icon John Carpenter was offered the opportunity to make Top Gun, and he considered the project at least long enough to read the entire script.
Carpenter turned down the movie citing the unrealistic climax, saying in an interview about the heroes fighting the Russians: “There’d be World War III. Stop that.” When he was asked years later about how he would direct a hypothetical Top Gun 2, Carpenter’s responses were in line with the director's dry sense of humor. They also prove for certain Carpenter had no interest in engaging further with the Top Gun franchise, as he told Entertainment.ie about his take on a follow-up:
I don't know. There's nothing I could do with that movie. I have no idea. It's strange... It's such a weird movie. It is so strange. I don't know. They'd all be naked. They'd all be naked in the jets.
Long after Tarantino waxed poetic about the homoerotic subtext of Top Gun, Carpenter gleefully joked about making the hidden meanings more explicit in his vision for a sequel. Given his dismissal of both the movie and a potential follow-up, it seems strange Carpenter was even considered for Top Gun in the first place, but the helmer does have an impressive history in action cinema. Although he is best known for his contributions to the horror genre such as The Thing or slasher movie Halloween, Carpenter wasn’t a completely left-field choice to helm Top Gun.
He cut his teeth with the tense siege thriller Assault On Precinct 13, proving he could mine effective tension out of a small budget and limited cast. His later Escape From New York further solidified Carpenter’s action credentials, making Top Gun a reasonable next movie circa the early '80s. Fortunately, like potential Maverick actor Matthew Modine, Carpenter’s personal views ensured the job went to Scott and Top Gun's place in film history was accidentally secured in the process.
