Top Gun 2 director Joseph Kosinski just revealed a shocking behind-the-scenes scoop from the sets of the multi-million sequel. Top Gun: Maverick was one of 2022’s biggest blockbuster hits, returning with Tom Cruise’s titular character and introducing Miles Teller’s Rooster and Glenn Powell’s Hangman, 30 years after the original.
One of the critical choices that led to Top Gun 2’s success was how heavily it relied on actual stunts and practical effects and deviated from CGI to give the film a more authentic look with higher stakes. According to Kosinski, in an interview with Collider, one of these scenes almost stirred up trouble between the US Navy and other nations.
You can read his full quote below and how he details the scene that could have resulted in some real-life consequences:
I went to China Lake Naval Air Station, a Navy base out in the desert. I’m sure you drive near it when you drive up to Mammoth. It’s off to the right, and it encompasses a massive amount of desert out there. But I was doing a base tour, looking for a hangar for the Darkstar sequence. And they said, “You can take pictures as long as you don’t point your camera over there.”
I look over there, and there’s this really interesting-looking hangar with a tower, barbed wire, and a blue door. And I’m like, “What is that?” And they’re like, “Oh, don’t even think about it. You’re never going to be able to shoot over there. Don’t take a picture of it. Don’t even look at it.” I’m like, “Well can we drive by it if I don’t take a picture?” And they’re like, “Okay, fine. We can drive by, but you can’t take a picture.” So we go, and we drive by it, and I look at it, and it’s just perfect.
I mean, it looks like a top-secret hangar inside a top-secret base. And I’m like, “We have this sequence where we’ve got this secret airplane that they pull out at night, and it just looks like that’s the perfect spot for it.” And they said, “Well, it’s no surprise that you’re interested in that particular building.” So, I’m like, “Oh man, wow. It’d be great to shoot there. That’s too bad.”
So, a couple of days later, I got a call. And they’re like, “Okay if you tell us when you want to shoot there, we’ll take what’s in there, and we’ll move it out a few days before so you’ll have a building.” And we ended up getting to shoot at the top-secret hangar, and we really built Darkstar, and we put it in a hangar.
And when we pulled it out for the shoot, I was told that certain satellites owned by other countries actually moved in space to take pictures of it. I guess they could track that, which I thought was just amazing. If they could zoom in very close, they’d see Tom Cruise in the cockpit, which is pretty cool.
This BTS story only proves how up and beyond the cast and crew went to give the audience a realistic view of the naval pilot’s duties and the hard work that goes into it. The director’s story also highlights how far the actors went to commit to their roles and do justice to these heroic characters and their stories.
Top Gun: Maverick is now available to stream on Paramount+, and you can rent or buy it on Prime Video as well.
About Top Gun: Maverick
Top Gun: Maverick is a Paramount film (and sequel) starring Tom Cruise who reprises his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from the 1986 Top Gun. It is directed by Joseph Kosinski, with a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie and a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks.
Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer are part of the cast.
The film sees Maverick’s return to the US Navy pilots as he trains a new squad of aviators, preparing them for a dangerous mission. Upon release, the movie was a massive success and became the highest grossing film of Tom Cruise so far.
Source: Collider
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