Top Gun: Maverick director, Joseph Kosinski, has revealed that he believes he filmed over 800 hours of footage for the action-drama sequel. Kosinski joined the sequel to the Tom Cruise-led 1986 classic, Top Gun, in June 2017. The long-awaited sequel will finally debut in theaters on May 27, 2022, following numerous delays from its originally estimated July 2019 release date.
Following on from the original movie, Maverick will see Cruise's Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell reluctantly be brought in to train a new generation of Top Gun candidates ahead of a secretive specialized assignment, forcing him to consider his trajectory in life, as well as one of his greatest mistakes. Fans got a new glimpse at the sequel ahead of its release in the form of a new Top Gun: Maverick trailer at the end of March, giving a tease of the next chapter in Maverick's story alongside impressive aerial stunts, but the film's director has now teased the incredible amount of footage captured for the upcoming movie.
Speaking to EMPIRE, Kosinski and Cruise discussed the lengths the production took to make sure that they captured all the footage they might have required for Top Gun: Maverick. The director estimated that over 800 hours of footage was shot for the sequel, suggesting that the amount of footage captured surpassed the entirety of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Cruise explained that the impressive amount of footage shot was due to the film's complicated external aerial shooting and cockpit shots where actors required additional instructions, with the production wanting to make the most of their limited shooting time in the planes. Check out Kosinski and Cruise's responses below:
"Joseph Kosinski: Out of a 12- or 14-hour day, you might get 30 seconds of good footage,but it was so hard-earned. It just took a very long time to get it all. Months and months of aerial shooting. We shot as much footage as the three Lord Of The Rings movies combined. I think it was 800 hours of footage.
Tom Cruise: We had to teach the actors about lighting, about cinematography, about editing. I had to teach them how to turn the cameras on and off, and about camera angles and lenses. We didn’t have unlimited time in these jets. If they were going up for 20-30 minutes, I had to make sure that we got what we needed.”
Cruise helped develop a stunt program for Top Gun: Maverick's new cast members in order to help familiarize and prepare them for the film's aircraft sequences. Kosinski had revealed previously in a September 2021 interview that alongside Naval assistance when shooting the film's intense aerial stunts, the star had himself prepared a program that would prepare his co-stars to handle the incredible, overwhelming forces that they could potentially experience during flight. The cast's experience with flying inspired Glen Powell, who portrays the new character Lieutenant Hangman in the film, to further become invested in piloting, going as far as to earn a pilot's license for the role.
With Top Gun: Maverick boasting incredible practical aerial stunts over CGI effects for its aircraft sequences and dogfights, Kosinski and the crew were undoubtedly under an incredible amount of pressure during production. As well as having to follow up Cruise's 1986 classic, the director would have had to make sure that filming was conducted safely, all the while ensuring to make use of their time shooting with the aircraft efficiently. With such a large amount of footage shot for the film, however, many fans may wonder if they will get the opportunity to see any moments left out of the final cut, be it in the form of deleted scenes, featurettes, or documentaries on the film's eventual home release.
Source: EMPIRE
