As Paramount Pictures prepares for the world premiere of Top Gun: Maverick at CinemaCon at the end of this month, they've shared an awesome new poster for the highly-anticipated action sequel, featuring leading man Tom Cruise standing front-and-center.
Speaking with Empire for their latest issue, director Joe Kosinski revealed details on the intense shoot and how much raw footage they ultimately ended up getting by the end of the lengthy production schedule. “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.”
Cruise adds, “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.”
However, while many would assume the flying scenes and coordinating the actors would prove to be the film's biggest challenge, it was actually something about Cruise's wardrobe that proved to be the most contentious, “The biggest thing was the jacket. Tom was really struggling with the jacket. The jacket was a huge deal to a lot of people. Everybody was saying, ‘It’s a big part of who Maverick is!’ I thought, ‘I could barely describe the jacket to you.’ It’s not Indiana Jones’ hat. It’s not Superman’s cape. It’s an aviator jacket.”, says writer Christopher McQuarrie.
Surprisingly, Cruise was also reluctant to wear the jacket again, “I was like, ‘This is ridiculous. I’m not going to wear this!’, and a little confused about why it had to be part of the sequel. It was part of the legacy of the first one. How do you know what to leave out and what to add in?” Luckily, the creative team was able to find some common ground and found a specific reason for Maverick to wear his iconic jacket again. “We finally figured out how to put it in. It’s a lucky jacket.”
McQuarrie explains further: “Now, we have him open a closet and go into the back and pull the thing out and wear it for a special occasion. I said to Tom, ‘You wear the jacket, the jacket doesn’t wear you.’ Maverick is still Maverick, but he’s not stuck in the past.”
The upcoming action sequel will see Cruise finally step back into his career-defining role as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, and while it's been completed for nearly three years now, plot details have managed to remain relatively under wraps. As for what we do know, the recent trailer did reveal details on what - or who - will bring Maverick back to the academy to lead a new squadron of TOPGUN pilots.
In addition to the returning Cruise and Kilmer, the supporting cast consists of Miles Teller as Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, Jennifer Connelly as Penny Benjamin, Jon Hamm as Vice Admiral Cyclone, Glen Powell as Hangman, Lewis Pullman as Bob, Ed Harris as Rear Admiral, Monica Barbaro as Phoenix, Charles Parnell as Rear Admiral Warlock, Danny Ramirez as Fanboy, Manny Jacinto as Fritz, Bashir Salahuddin as Coleman, Jay Ellis as Payback, Jake Picking in an undisclosed role, Raymond Lee in an undisclosed role, Lyliana Wray as Amelia Benjamin, Jean Louisa Kelly as Carole Bradshaw, Greg Davis as Coyote, and Bob Stephenson in an undisclosed role.
Top Gun: Maverick jets into theaters on May 27, 2022!
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.