Turns out, Top Gun: Maverick shooting was a mess, and Tom Cruise is a pretty strict teacher. The revival of the 1986 movie, came with a lot of trials, it was reported that the co-actors, well except for Cruise all turned sick while filming. On top of that, the Top Gun veteran also had designed a strict regime for his co-stars that condensed two years of air training into three months. All in all, acting wasn’t the only thing that was required them to do, the role also came with many many many side quests that required the actors’ attention.
Although the film turned out to be a super hit, the actors had to overcome some terrible times, to get through and make the film do what it did at the box office.
Top Gun: Maverick actors had to graduate from Tom Cruise’s flight school first
Tom Cruise‘s extreme loyalty and commitment to the Top Gun movie franchise proved to be extremely tough for his co-stars. It was reported that the actor, Cruise prepared an extensive training program for his co-stars to test their capability and help them settle into a life of risk. The actors had to graduate from Cruise’s grilling flying school training to get their roles. Lewis Pullman, one of the Top Gun: Maverick actors said in an interview with Total Film Magazine,
“Tom had personally designed a training regimen that would basically condense two years of flight training into three months—and it was all done in a way that Tom had wished he’d had for himself on the original Top Gun.”
The training included the actors learning how to fly in single-engine Cessnas before they were allowed to fly in the more advanced EA-300 and L-39 aerobatic planes, which can handle a greater number of G-forces, to get a better understanding of what it is like to be inside an F-18.
Although the co-stars had to survive the grilling training session, they are grateful to Tom Cruise for providing them with such an opportunity. The actor himself also made sure his co-stars were prepared for every curve ball that is presented to them since that wasn’t the case when he first started.
Many actors threw up and got severely ill during the shoot
With a scanty budget, archaic 1980s technology, a raw cast, and fresh studio leadership, filming eventually shifted to an L.A. location. The producer of the film Jerry Bruckheimer soon realized what he had gotten into. The cast got terribly sick during shooting inside the aircraft, since playing pretend skill professionals does not really make them skilled professionals. The producer stated,
“Their heads were down, and when they got their heads up, their eyes were rolling back,—It was terrible. They were all sick.”
He then stated, why he wasn’t interested to make the sequel to the movie,
“Originally, I wasn’t interested in doing a sequel,—[at least not until technology and his castmates could]put the audience inside that F-18.”
Therefore making the blockbuster sequel come to life wasn’t as easy and fun a process as it seemed, but the team is happy their struggles and sacrifices were recognized by the audiences. The film is now available to stream on Paramount to enjoy.
Source: Total Film magazine and IMDb
