Tom Cruise Opens Up About ‘Top Gun 2’: ‘Big Challenge’

KEY POINTS

Tom Cruise revealed that it was difficult to make "Top Gun 2" at first because he did not have a story to tell
He also shared that everyone wanted him to make the sequel when he did not know how to do it
"Top Gun: Maverick" is scheduled to hit theaters on June 26, 2020

More than 30 years after the original “Top Gun” movie made its way to theaters, Tom Cruise is all set to enthrall the fans with the sequel to the cult-classic. Named “Top Gun: Maverick,” the movie will see Cruise donning the U.S. Navy costume and flying his fighter jet once again on the big screen.

Speaking in an interview with Empire, Cruise opened up about various details of the movie and shared how people kept on asking him to do a “Top Gun” sequel when he did not even have an idea on how to do it.

He further stated that he struggled to make a second movie at first because he did not have a story to tell this time.

“Everywhere I went, people would be like, ‘Do Top Gun’, I am like, ‘Guys, I do not know how to do it.’ I do not know what the story is. I do not make movies just to make movies. I was like, ‘Jerry (Bruckheimer, producer), it is never going to happen’. I honestly never thought I would make it,” Cruise said.

Just like the original film, the “Mission: Impossible Fallout” star did all the flying scenes himself and avoided using CGI since he wanted to make the movie cinematically authentic. Cruise also revealed that he was pretty excited about the movie and the challenges that came with it.

“We just started talking. And I realized that there were things that we could accomplish cinematically. And I started getting excited about this big challenge of, ‘How do we do it?’ So I said to Jerry, ‘I will do it if…’ meaning, I am not going to do the CGI stuff,” Cruise said.

“Top Gun: Maverick” will once again find Cruise playing ace Air Force pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. Plot details are unknown, but casting details may have revealed that the story will focus on Maverick interacting with a new generation of pilots. The rest of the cast includes Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, and Val Kilmer is reprising his role of “Iceman” from the original film.

The first “Top Gun” was directed by Tony Scott (“Man on Fire”) and grossed $356 million worldwide.

Helmed by Joseph Kosinski, “Top Gun: Maverick” is scheduled to hit theaters on June 26, 2020.