The experience of filming the upcoming and highly anticipated Top Gun: Maverick was an unreal experience for Tom Cruise. Cruise first starred in the original Top Gun back in 1986, making his return to the role of Naval fighter pilot Maverick a big deal for all involved.
The original Top Gun, directed by the late Tony Scott, was not only a major hit for Cruise, but it also played a substantial role in kicking off his status as an A-list Hollywood star. The film was Cruise’s eighth, but it marked his initial shift toward more action-based fare. Today, the 58-year-old is widely known for his death-defying stunt work—in particular his role as Ethan Hunt in the wildly successful Mission: Impossible franchise. However, it’s hard not to feel that Top Gun showed Cruise that adrenaline-fueled performances suited his personality. It took four years after the release of Top Gun for Cruise to provide the next dose of heart-racing action, but the arrival of 1990’s Days of Thunder (also directed by Scott) proved to be yet another hit for the star. Now with the return of Maverick set for next summer, Cruise has been able to relive (and in some cases intensify) the experience of making a Top Gun film.
What it must be like to return to a film series nearly thirty years after the first installment is something that most people will never get the chance to experience. Though it’s not too difficult to imagine that it must be quite exciting for Cruise, finding out what he thinks about it all is something that fans are sure to be curious about. Fortunately, Jon Hamm, who co-stars in the upcoming sequel, briefly spoke about exactly this in a recent interview with Men’s Journal. Aside from stating that Cruise appeared to be having “the time of his life” working on Maverick, the former Mad Men star said:
My first day on set, I said to Tom, “This has to be just surreal for you. Like you’re literally in the same hangar, 30 years later. In nearly the same costume. What’s that like?” And he goes, “Man, it’s unreal. How cool is this?”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone by this point that Cruise would be entirely enthusiastic about a film role, but a return to the role of Maverick is a particularly unique moment in the star’s career. This time around, Cruise has far more experience with taking on high risk and high adrenaline stunts. Back when he was filming the first Top Gun, being in the fighter jets caused him to be sick, as the experience was completely new to him. This time around, Cruise has of course put in a significant amount of flight time, as have his co-stars. Fans can likely expect a much more extreme take on what the first film offered.
It will be interesting to see just how well the sequel performs when it is released in the summer of 2021. Hopefully, by then, the COVID-19 pandemic will be a thing of the past and fans will be able to experience the film’s thrilling action on the big screen. And of course, given that Cruise loved making Top Gun: Maverick, if the film proves to be a hit, fans will surely be looking forward to the possibility of a third Top Gun at some point.
Source: Men’s Journal
