Tom Cruise Initially Didn't Want Top Gun Sequel; 'It Would've Been Irresponsible'

Although 1986's Top Gun was a huge hit, Tom Cruise was reluctant to star in a sequel to the film. He had a compelling reason for this.

news

Pamela Jakiel07 August 2023

Source: Top Gun: Maverick, Joseph Kosinski, Paramount Pictures, 2022.

Top Gun: Maverick hit movie screens in the summer of 2022 and instantly won the hearts of fans who were waiting for just such a sequel. However, not everyone knows that Tom Cruise, portraying an outstanding but unruly fighter jock, after the release and success of the 1986 film, did not want to shoot a sequel at all.

The star's reluctance to play in Top Gun 2 would explain why we had to wait more than three decades before it was made. However, the actor had a reason why he was not eager to return to the iconic role of Maverick. All because he feared that the movie would be a promotion of war and the US military, which he talked about in a 1990 interview (via Screen Rant).

"Some believe that Top Gun was a right-wing movie promoting the Navy. Many kids liked it. But I want kids to know that war doesn't look like that. Top Gun was just an amusement park ride, an entertaining movie with a PG-13 rating that doesn't show reality. That's why I didn't want to make Top Gun 2, Top Gun 3 or 4. That would have been irresponsible."

The military, which, among other things, provided the equipment that made the movie possible, indeed influenced the 1986 movie. The Navy had to accept the script, it also made some adjustments to it. The language used by the characters was toned down, and it was requested, among other things, that the location of the opening battle not be the airspace over Cuba, but international waters.

In the end, however, Tom Cruise changed his mind and decided to star in the sequel to the 1986 hit. What convinced him? Director Joseph Kosinski, who went to the actor to pitch his idea for the movie. When the star realized that it was Maverick and Rooster's relationship that would be the core of the plot, he decided to take part in the project.

More:Gran Turismo Like Top Gun? That's What Stranger Things Star Thinks

RELATED TOPICS: actors thrillers Tom Cruise Top Gun: Maverick

Pamela Jakiel

Finished film studies, graduate of the Faculty Individual Studies in the Humanities at the Jagiellonian University. Her master's thesis was about new spirituality in contemporary cinema. The editor of the Filmomaniak service since April 2023, supports the lead editor and the boss of all newspeople. She used to write for naEkranie. If she's not watching The Ninth Gate for the hundredth time, then she's reading books by Therese Bohman and Donna Tartt for the first time. She prefers gnosis over dread, dramas over horrors, Jung over Freud. She looks for symbolist paintings in museums. Runs long distances, and does even the longer ones on a gravel. Loves dachshunds.

Who's Ted Connelly played by Christopher Eccleston in True Detective Season 4?

Before becoming John Wick, Keanu Reeves made a bizarre report on teddy bears 39 years ago

Reacher Season 2 Ending Expained

Reacher Season 2 Ending Hints Book They'll Adapt for Season 3

The Brothers Sun starring Michelle Yeoh could be Netflix's new hit. The comedy-drama is getting good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes