Tom Cruise has been making action flicks quite interesting in the industry due to his spectacular action sequences, which are not easy to crack! However, this whole action-star journey took years of patience and hard work with the star initially started getting recognition from Top Gun. But to imagine his iconic Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s role in someone else’s hands is difficult for fans.
Given the iconic portrayal of Cruise as his character, it would be surprising for fans to know that he was not the first choice for the role. It belonged to The Dark Knight Rises star, Matthew Modine who declined the role.
Matthew Modine Rejected The Lead Role in Top Gun
The 64-year-old actor, Matthew Modine in an interview with Salon opened up about being offered to play the role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in 1986’s hit film, Top Gun. However, he passed down the role as he didn’t agree with the film’s politics.
Given the immense success the film brought to Tom Cruise, who ended by bagging the role, Salon asked the former whether he regretted turning down the offer now. It was a massive success in the film industry as well as for the lead star whose life got completely changed due to this.
But he stated at the time,
“Not at all. Not for one second. Cruise said that he felt that ‘Top Gun’ was a movie about individualism and personal strength. I just thought the movie was jingoistic.”
While he was keen on not endorsing militarism among people, it grossed over $357 million worldwide. Not just Modine but the Mission: Impossible actor also has a history with how he ended up in the film.
How Tom Cruise Ended Up Working in Top Gun?
Back in a 2016 EW interview for the 30th-anniversary release of the commercially successful project, Cruise reflected on being offered the main lead in the film in 1983. At the time, he was working with 1986 film director, Tony Scott’s brother on Legend.
“I was off in London working with Ridley Scott … And I remember I didn’t address ‘Top Gun’ during that time period, I was focused on shooting ‘Legend.'”
While Ridley Scott’s directorial couldn’t manage to impress the critics, he recalled how his film director set him up with Tony Scott.
“Ridley said, you know, you gotta meet my brother. And he’s gonna direct this film, ‘Top Gun.'”
The film “aligned with things that I love: movies and aviation.” The rest is history as he pulled off another interesting character. He was seen reprising his role in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick which grossed $1.496 billion worldwide.
The Top Gun series is available on Paramount+.
Source: Salon
