Three years ago Tom Cruise had decided to launch a new generation of charismatic and sporty pilots for Top Gun: Maverick, the highly anticipated sequel (released in Italian cinemas on 25 May, ed). After scouring the Hollywood of young actors, he found his team of him: Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Monica Barbaro (who plays the series’ first female pilot) and Miles Teller.
Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski wanted real stunts with cameras that resumed real flight patterns, so the star oversaw the training he wished he had in 1986. “In the hands of everyone else, Top Gun it’s a CGI film, ”says Powell,“ only Tom puts real actors on real planes ”. “The planes were flown by real pilots, but the cast was in the cockpit so long they had to make do at times:” I peed on the plane a couple of times, “Ellis says. “Me most of the time,” says Pullman. The actors trained for three months on a variety of aircraft. “Tom went first,” Ellis says, “and then we had to go up and try to keep up with what he had just done.”
Fans of the immortal beach volleyball match scene Top Gun original will be relieved to know that our new heroes find time to play football shirtless on the sand. The younger actors trained and skipped carbohydrates for months to prepare and hydrated at the last minute to get their muscles fired. “Eventually they took the baby oil out of me,” says Powell. After dark, the cast celebrated with chicken wings, potato croquettes and beer, but then knew they had to re-shoot the scene: “We were blown away,” Ellis says with a laugh.
Viewers around the world will thank them.
HAIR, CAILE NOBLE (BARBARO); MAKEUP, KATE LEE; MANICURE, ALEX JACHNO; Grooming, KRISTEN SHAW (PULLMAN, RAMIREZ), SYDNEY SOLLOD (ELLIS, POWELL); SCENOGRAPHY, COLIN PHELAN. PRODUCED ON SITE BY LOLA PRODUCTION. VISIT VF.COM/CREDITS FOR DETAILS.
Source: Vanity Fair
