Top Gun: Maverick

Feel the need... The need for speed.

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About the movie :

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Top Gun: Maverick Movie Cast and Crew :

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Top Gun: Maverick Budget & Box Office Details :

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Top Gun: Maverick Review :

A thrilling blockbuster praised for aerial action, emotional nostalgia, and Tom Cruise's performance. Holds a 96% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and A+ CinemaScore.

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Top Gun: Maverick Awards & Nominations :

Nominated for 6 Oscars including Best Picture; won Best Sound; named Best Film of 2022 by Rotten Tomatoes.

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Top Gun: Maverick OTT Details :

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Lesser known facts :

Tom Cruise’s Personal Aviation Influence:

Tom Cruise, an avid pilot with multiple ratings, including for his own P-51 Mustang, pushed for the inclusion of his personal aircraft in the film’s final scene. This wasn’t just a stylistic choice; Cruise insisted on flying it himself to capture authentic footage, a detail he briefly mentioned in a Cannes Film Festival interview but wasn’t widely promoted due to its personal nature.

 

Unplanned Shack Roof Incident:

During the filming of a low-flying sequence with the Darkstar mockup, the jet’s flyby accidentally lifted the roof off a shack near Ed Harris’s character. The production had only one chance to shoot this, as the Darkstar was a non-flying prop, and the unintended effect was kept in the final cut for its dramatic impact, a lucky accident not often highlighted.

 

Val Kilmer’s AI Voice Recreation:

To accommodate Val Kilmer’s limited speaking ability due to throat cancer, the filmmakers used AI technology from Sonatic to recreate his voice for Iceman’s brief speaking lines, relying on archival recordings. This process was emotionally significant for Kilmer, who called it an “incredibly special gift,” but the technical complexity was downplayed in most promotional materials.

 

Navy’s Script Vetoes:

The U.S. Navy, which provided extensive support, including access to the USS Abraham Lincoln and F/A-18 Super Hornets, vetoed several script elements to maintain a positive image. For instance, a proposed scene involving a pilot’s court-martial was scrapped to avoid depicting internal Navy conflict, a detail mentioned in production notes but not widely publicized.

 

Miles Teller’s Jet Fuel Scare:

During filming, Miles Teller discovered trace amounts of jet fuel in his bloodstream after intense F/A-18 flights, a health concern he shared with Tom Cruise. Cruise’s quip, “Yeah, I was born with it,” became an anecdote Teller recounted in interviews, but it didn’t gain much traction beyond niche outlets.

 

Inspiration from WWII Pilot Bruce Carr:

The climactic sequence where Maverick and Rooster steal an enemy jet was inspired by a real WWII incident involving Colonel Bruce Ward Carr, who stole a German Focke-Wulf 190 from a Luftwaffe airfield in 1944 to escape. While not officially confirmed by the filmmakers, this connection was noted by aviation enthusiasts on X, adding historical depth to the scene.

 

Actors as Their Own Crew:

The new actors, including Miles Teller and Glen Powell, were trained to operate cameras, adjust lighting, and touch up their own makeup in the F/A-18 cockpits due to the tight space and lack of crew access during flights. This self-sufficiency, part of Tom Cruise’s three-month aviation training program, was a logistical challenge rarely emphasized in press coverage.

 

Lewis Hamilton’s Missed Opportunity:

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, a friend of Tom Cruise, was offered a role as a fighter pilot but declined due to his racing commitments. This casting tidbit, revealed in a 2022 interview, was overshadowed by the film’s focus on its main stars and never made it into major promotional narratives.

 

Over 800 Hours of Aerial Footage:

The production shot over 800 hours of aerial footage, equivalent to three times the runtime of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, to capture the film’s realistic dogfights. Director Joseph Kosinski’s “more is more” approach was mentioned in trade reports but not widely discussed, as the focus remained on the final 2,400 visual effects shots, many of which enhanced practical footage.

 

Subtle Bob Hoover Homage:

The character Bob Floyd, call sign “BOB,” played by Lewis Pullman, is a subtle nod to legendary pilot Bob Hoover, whose WWII escape in a stolen German plane partially inspired the film’s climax. The character’s glasses and unassuming demeanor mirror Hoover’s, a detail spotted by aviation fans but not officially acknowledged by the filmmakers.

 

Notes:

Top Gun: Maverick follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), a test pilot tasked with training a group of Top Gun graduates, including Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of his late friend Goose, for a high-stakes mission. The film grossed $1.496 billion worldwide against a $170 million budget, earning a 96% critics’ score and 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

It was released on May 27, 2022, after multiple delays due to the pandemic, with a theatrical run bolstered by Cruise’s insistence on avoiding a straight-to-streaming release on Paramount+.

 

The film received six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Sound, with additional contributions from composers Hans Zimmer, Harold Faltermeyer, and Lady Gaga’s song “Hold My Hand.”

 

 

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