One of the world’s highest-paid American actors, Tom Cruise, is unstoppable as he continues to pull off some of the most dangerous action stunts in the history of cinema. He is globally recognized as the action-packed stuntman of his scenes, similar to the likes of Jackie Chan. Known to thoroughly comprehend the fundamental ideas that produce magical effects in a scene, Tom Cruise has repeatedly proven his craft in movie franchises like Mission Impossible, Jack Reacher, and Top Gun, a sequel of which was released earlier this year.
In the much-anticipated sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, the actors who played the pilots had to undergo real-life flight training before they could appear on-screen which arguably made Top Gun: Maverick a blockbusters at the box office. The sky-high stunts that were just as difficult to pull off as they were to see on the screen, were performed by aerial stunt coordinator Kevin LaRosa II, who shared his experience of creating fictional but realistic aerial sequences:
“The stunts looked real because there’s an airplane really behind the lens.” He further said, “VFX would do some amazing things and just re-skin it so you’re using the same textures and the same light.”
He also explained that the film’s cast and crew prepared before taking flight sessions, saying, “Being ready to fly isn’t just about being prepped with the mission. It’s about being physically prepped. Are we rested? you’ve got to be physically and mentally sharp, and then we do these incredible briefings.”
The film’s magnificent aerial sequences were shot using a Mach-10 experimental aircraft pushing beyond its limits, specially designed for the movie. Stars of Top Gun: Maverick described what it was like to fly in the cockpit ahead of the movie’s digital release on August 23.
In the following clip, we can clearly spot how the production team was terrified by the jet flying over their heads:
Tom Cruise shared his experience in the video, “It’s physically grueling being there, pulling those G’s.” He grunted, “It’s exhausting.”
Director Joseph Kosinski also explained that actors had faced up to 1,600 lbs of force, or 8G’s, in some of the stunts, and explained that it was “actually pulling the blood out of your brain” as the G-force level was so high.
“The things that we did up there, you can’t fake it on a soundstage,” Greg Tarzan Davis, who plays Lt. Javy ‘Coyote’ Machado in the movie, says, “You can’t fake the g-force distorting your face.”
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On the other hand, Costar Miles Teller maintained his focus on just staying composed during the action-packed scenes. Teller, 35, describes his experience, “There’s not too much acting going on,” further saying, “You’re just trying to not pass out, not puke.”
Top Gun: Maverick is available to stream Tuesday, August 23 with the 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD versions set to release on November 1 from Paramount Home Entertainment. The digital release also features more than 110 minutes of bonus content from the cast that show a glimpse of the intense flight training program.
