Top Gun: Maverick was a monumental film for Tom Cruise as it brought back his iconic role of Pete Maverick in a sequel that managed to improve upon the original. The film became a huge success and the highest-grossing film in Cruise’s career. The film also saw Miles Teller, Glen Powell. Monica Barbaro and Danny Ramirez in key roles.
The latter played Fanboy in the film and he added to the charming camaraderie of Maverick’s team. However, it seems he was not the initial choice for the role and popular racer Lewis Hamilton was chosen for the role and turned it down. Ramirez recently took to social media to give a shoutout to Hamilton for leaving the space for him to take on the role.
Danny Ramirez Is Thankful to Lewis Hamilton For Turning Down Fanboy
Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick had a colorful bunch of characters that were a part of Maverick’s team. One of the rising stars who played a key contributor to the team was Danny Ramirez’s Fanboy, Payback’s Weapons System Officer. He was a great addition to the ensemble in addition to Miles Teller and Glen Powell.
However, he was not supposed to be in the film initially. Popular Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton recently revealed to GQ that the filmmakers approached him for a role in Top Gun: Maverick. Although he was interested in the film, he was concerned by his lack of acting experience and his prior commitments that would prevent him from fully dedicating himself to the film.
He regretted turning down the golden opportunity after he saw how great the film turned out. He told GQ,
“Firstly, I hadn’t even had, like, an acting lesson. And I don’t want to be the one that lets this movie down. And then secondly, I just really didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. I remember having to tell Joe and Tom—and it broke my heart. And then I regretted it, naturally, when they show me the movie and it’s: It could’ve been me!”
Ramirez recently took to X to reveal that director Joseph Kosinski told him that Hamilton was supposed to play Fanboy in the film. He thanked Hamilton for turning down the role. He wrote,
“When Joe Kosinski introduced us and said that Lewis’ role was gonna be Fanboy, I thanked him for saying no haha”
This revelation is surprising for fans of the film and it would have been interesting to see how Hamilton would have played the role. Nevertheless, he backed out of the role and Ramirez did a great job taking over as Fanboy in the film.
Top Gun Producer Does Not Know When Production Will Start on Top Gun 3
With the announcement of a third Top Gun film, fans have been wondering what the film will be about and when production will start. Franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer revealed that Tom Cruise is too busy with his prior movie commitments and does not know definitively when the film will start production.
While he stated that an idea has been developed for the film, he hopes that a great script comes forward and production starts in the foreseeable future. He told ScreenRant,
“We spent time with him. We have a story. Joe Kosinski had a wonderful story idea for it, and [Tom] said, ‘I really like that,’ so we’re developing it. But you never know when it’s going to get made because Tom is so busy. He’s doing ‘Mission: Impossible’ right now, he’s got a picture after it. Hopefully, we’ll get a screenplay that he loves, and we’ll be back in the air again.”
Cruise is currently shooting for the 8th Mission Impossible film and has other films that he has been announced to star in. He will lead the next film by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and is also committed to the first-ever film to be shot in outer space directed by Doug Liman. Considering all these, it will be quite a while till fans see a third Top Gun film.
