Following a historic box office run, Top Gun: Maverick has finally arrived on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD, and we were recently able to sit down with one of the film's stars, Lewis Pullman (Bad Times at the El Royale; Outer Range), to talk about his fan-favorite role as Lieutenant Robert Floyd, a.k.a. Bob.
He walks me through working with the legendary Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One), crafting his instantly memorable character, the incredibly intense training regime he and his fellow castmates underwent to prepare for this film, and what he learned through the film being repeatedly delayed to ensure a proper theatrical launch.
Plus, he also tells me the incredible advice he received from his father Bill Pullman (Independence Day; The Equalizer), following the film's blockbuster success.
Check out the full video interview below and please remember to SUBSCRIBE to our channel!
ROHAN: Considering your father was in Independence Day and you're in Top Gun: Maverick, have you had that conversation with him about what is the ultimate Fourth of July movie?
LEWIS: We haven’t. We're not competitive in nature, so we were just glad that there's space for both films to exist and flourish. He has warned me - not warned me - but been like, movies like these that have such a strong imprint on society - he's like, I go anywhere, and everyone's like, ‘Can you give me the speech? Gave me the Independence Day speech, please, just a piece of it!,” And he was like, so you're gonna get some version of that, and I think now my new version of that, is people want to know what BOB stands for.
ROHAN: Speaking of your callsign BOB, when you first read for the character, what did that callsign mean to you? How did you go about developing this character?
LEWIS: I mean, I just went and did the audition, and did it how what I thought Bob might be or, just my version of BOB and, then we started having more conversations after that, and I think Tom and McQ, and Joe's main notes on BOB was, he is kind of soft spoken when he's got his feet on the ground, but when he's up in the sky, that's where he really flourishes, and that's where - he can kick ass up there. So, finding that contrast of like, you don't have to be boisterous or cocky, in order to really take control and be really good at your job.
And I love that, I love being able to represent that because I think getting to meet a lot of these TOPGUN pilots, they come in all variations. They're all incredibly, some of the funniest people I know, I've ever gotten to meet, they have some of the best stories, and a lot of them are incredibly modest, they're not like peacocks walking around. There is that in every realm, and that's a great thing, and that's a cool, badass thing to see, but also to be able to represent the other side of things where there are that that modesty and not needing to prove that he's a badass all the time, and just like in his work, and in his actions prove that.
ROHAN: You're part of this huge ensemble cast of rising stars, and you all got to be part of this amazing film, but because of the pandemic, you had to sit on this buried treasure of a film for 2-3 years, give or take. What was that whole experience like for you and your castmates?
LEWIS: Yeah, yeah, it's been a long, long run. I think of a lot of like false horizons, of getting really excited about it, and then realizing that it's not the time. So, I think we all kind of just garnered this patience and this trust that Tom and Joe and Jerry were going to release it when it was the right time, and they know best.
So, at first, it was a little disappointing, and then it was like, I could have waited another couple years because I know we're sitting on, as you said, this little goldmine, and so, it would be a shame and a disservice to release it in a way that that didn't best do it justice, and so after seeing the movie in a theater, I was like, ‘This cannot come out on streaming, this is why they're waiting.’ I see why they're just sitting in the bushes waiting for the right moment to pounce, and it was really smart how they did it, but it was kind of like we were all in it together, and we were all like it will come out and it'll be great when it does.
In some ways, it was kind of good for me because it was like there's enough mystery and kind of mythology around the film that it was helpful for me and my career, enough just having been a part of something that people were excited about, and also, you do kind of go through moments where you're like, ‘Well maybe I'm just a fan of it because I love all the people involved and I love the experience and who knows, maybe it won't be such a connect?’
But, when it came out, and it was just like a complete - it was like hitting a bullet with a bullet, that's what Tom was always saying, this movie if we do it right it will be like hitting a bullet with a bullet, that’s the amount of precision that we have to have and care and taking all these variables into account, the wind, the weight of the bullet, all these things, as long as we take them all into account and we apply them like this, we will succeed and he was damn right and that's why you don't question Tom Cruise when he has a vision for something.
ROHAN: You got this amazing opportunity to work with Tom Cruise at a very early stage in your career. What did you learn from him that you plan to take with you as you move forward into this next phase?
LEWIS: Yeah, one thing I learned about him was from a very early age, in his career, he took it upon himself to self educate, on all facets of filmmaking, every part of the process. So, he would spend months in the editing room of movies that he had worked on, or days, like shadowing sound guys, so he knows a lot about every single department, and he did that, so that he can expedite certain conversations and understand how to help others help him self, so that makes the whole.
It makes for a very fluid collaborative experience, so there's no - you have a common language, and that gets you over that hump of trying to learn the basics of what somebody's trying to explain to you, so that you can know what to do best and help them, and so that is pretty incredible to see how that works. He can hop from every lilypad of production and communicate really soundly, and, on top of that, he doesn't like wasting time.
He's like, ‘We all are here to make the best movie possible, and so how can we cut out the fat of certain parts of this process that can feel like maybe they're necessary, but they only feel that way, because we've been doing it that way for so long.’
So, he kind of is always questioning whether there's a newer, faster, better, more succinct way to do something. He's just always developing and growing. He's not complacent in his career. He's like trying to make his next movie better and more exciting and more entertaining, and more dynamic than the last, and that's really inspiring to see because he could just sit on his laurels and be like, ‘I've kicked ass in every movie I've ever done, and I don't have anything left to prove, but he's only picking up steam.
ROHAN: Acting and flying - especially as a TOPGUN pilot - are two very different skill sets. Can you tell me more about that adjustment period where you're trying to learn how to balance the two parts, under the most intense of circumstances?
LEWIS: Yeah, it was really insular experience, because there's no monitors up there. When we go up there, there's no feed that's going into the monitor, and Joe is watching it and can give us notes. He can't walk in and say try it more like this. So, you're kind of up on your own there, but Joe and Tom would put us through these rehearsals beforehand, where we are basically in a room full of all the department heads and doing a briefing before each flight, and we would have to really rigorously rehearse what we're going to do and do it as if how we think exactly how we think we're going to do it, so that they could give us the notes down there, but yeah, there's stuff, on a more technical level, like your face is how you're communicating whatever your character is going through and your face is completely deformed when you're going under so many Gs.
You look like you're aging like 20 years in two seconds, and so to figure out how to - first of all, that's part of what makes the movie cool is when you're watching those flight sequences, you're like, wow, that's not CGI. Their face is actually being pulled, their skin is being pulled off of their skull. They're pulling so many G's. So, not to lean into that, but then also, there's a certain point where Tom was like, ‘I need to see more straining. We've now trained guys so well, that you guys have to lean into it, let the Gs hit you a little more, so that it's communicating. Otherwise, it's like, why are we doing this?’ So, there was a part where we were kind of learning on the go, because it hadn't really been done before.
So, we were like, okay, we have to really let loose or go overly aggressive when we're doing our G maneuvers, or hit maneuvers, and then even things like the weapons systems officer, me and Danny's role, Danny Ramirez, we were the weapon systems officers, which is like, there's actually a lot of pivoting in there, and you put your hand up on the canopy, and you twist and it's kind of like, because you're trying to look behind you, and so, you're really fighting the G's in a different kind of way, but Tom was like, ‘I need you guys to fill up the frame more so that these frames aren't as stagnant, it's more dynamic.
So, like, really put your hands up there and it’s a lot of movements, so it's like this frenetic experience, and so those are things where it's like, I can't really apply those lessons to any other circumstances. In some ways, they're very specific to this environment and what was asked of us, but yeah, it was a learning experience and a half.
Check out our exclusive interviews with director Joseph Kosinski and actor Glen Powell (Hangman) below:
In our review, we said, "Top Gun: Maverick is the must-see cinematic experience of the year! Packed with jaw-dropping aerial sequences, thrilling edge-of-your-seat moments, genuine heart, epic romance, huge stakes, and one of the absolute best performances of Tom Cruise's legendary career, this is the theatrical experience you've been waiting for."
Tom Cruise headlines the feature as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, with original co-star Val Kilmer returning as Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. The iconic pair are joined by an all-star supporting cast consisting of Jennifer Connelly as Penny Benjamin, Miles Teller as Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, 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 is now play in theaters worldwide!
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 TOPGUN 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.