The director knew how to sell Tom Cruise on aTop Gunsequel: Maverick is still Maverick.
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Despite making pretty big movies,Top Gun: Maverickdirector Joseph Kosinski could probably be considered a cult filmmaker.
Now youre approaching a character that was hugely important to his career.
Youve got Jerry Bruckheimer, who, with Don Simpson, was the driving force behind the first film.
Youve got Christopher McQuarrie, who works closely with Cruise.
And I felt that pressure.
This all started almost exactly five years ago.
Jerry Bruckheimer sent me an early draft they were working on and wanted my thoughts.
I pitched him my take.
He liked it and said, Youve got to pitch this to Tom directly.
What I didnt realize was Tom did not want to make anotherTop Gun.
I got a hint of it when Tom called me after I landed.
He said, Joe, thank you for coming out.
No matter what happens, itll be great to see you regardless.
And I was like,Oh, wait, he doesnt want to do this.
But because I had made a film with him before, I knew I had to grab him emotionally.
So I opened with the idea that this is a rite-of-passage story like the first film.
The first film is a drama, even though its wrapped in this glossy action film.
And as soon as I said that, I could see the wheels in his head start to turn.
Hes on the cutting edge of aviation, pushing the envelope as always.
Hes alone at the beginning of this film.
Then I talked about shooting practically, and obviously Toms 100 percent in for all that.
And then the title.
I said we cant call itTop Gun 2.
Weve got to call itTop Gun: Maverick a character story.
And it wasboom, green light.
So it was your idea to make it about the relationship with Rooster?Yeah.
That was not in there.
The relationship in that movie is a very paternal one with Josh Brolins character.
So I showed Tom a picture of Miles because Miles has blond hair in that film.
And I think Id Photoshopped a mustache on him.
Im like, I just worked with this kid.
We still went through the audition process, and Miles won the role on his own.
Id worked with Jennifer Connelly as well onOnly the Brave.
And she had somehow never done a movie with Tom.
Seeing Jennifer Connelly with Tom Cruise onscreen, it felt like two Generation-X icons finally coming together.I know.
Its amazing that they had never crossed paths.
I think Jennifer grew up friends with Mia Sara in high school, which blows my mind.
And Mia madeLegendwith Tom Cruise.
Theres a lot of that in the movie.
Having Ed Harris play Admiral Cain, youve got John Glenn fromThe Right Stuffchewing out Maverick.
It just has to be that person.
And the film definitely taps into that.
Most notably, the forces on their bodies when theyre pulling gs.
But figuring out how to get cameras into a military aircraft was a huge hurdle technically and logistically.
Also its one thing to get Tom Cruise in a jet, but what about all these other actors?
So getting all the pilots prepped to be able to do these sequences was a lot of work.
What were the logistics of shooting the plane scenes?
As I understand, they were operating the cameras themselves?Well, they werent operating them.
The cameras were fixed.
Different compositions, different lenses, all wired to one switch that turned them all on and off.
Weather, safety, terrain, light placement.
It was very tedious it would bore you to tears.
Theyd sit in their positions, and Id walk them through the day.
This line, youre going to look to the right, youre going to say, Break right.
That kind of stuff.
Its just, again,very tedious.
Wed rehearse for an hour until it was muscle memory.
They would go up, fly for an hour, do the footage, come back.
Wed load the cards into a monitor; wed all watch it together.
Very high pressure for the actor.
And every time they did something wrong, give them a note.
When they did something right, wed cheer for them.
When they threw up, wed cheer.
It was a great team-building environment.
And wed send them up again in the afternoon.
It felt like we did that for months until we had all the shots we needed.
Did we get it?
The beauty is theyre wearing masks; if we had to rewrite a line in post, very forgiving.
Theres something about the spaces in all your films, and this one is no different.
The only place you might fly fighter jets ten feet above the ground is in those military-controlled areas.
Also, that Dark Star sequence was shot in an area that is top secret.
Youre not even allowed to go there.
And I was like, Well, what is that?
And they were like, Dont ask.
And Im like, Well, it looks like it could be really right for this sequence.
Because Im doing a sequence about a top-secret aircraft.
And theyre like, Well, theres no surprise that youre interested in that particular building.
But I did convince them, and we did shoot there.
Because thats not what the movie is about.
Its a competition film.
Its a movie about friendship and sacrifice and all the same things the first film was.
So that was very intentional.
Obviously, we made this movie in 2018, and the world changes.
But we focused on what aTop Gunmovie is its more of a sports film than a war movie.
So there are definitely some similarities there.
But the mission of this film actually came straight from the Navy.
The one thing they said that we didnt include was, And you do it at night.
Then it was a matter of saying, Okay, how do we break this mission into training sequences?
And then, of course, every training sequence is a disaster.
So this is more complicated thanOnly the Brave, I think, in terms of the specifics.
And Chris was like, No, this is not the time to be realistic.
Youre just sitting back and watching them do it or not do it, which is fun.
I want to ask about the beach-football scene.Of course!
There would not be an interview that would be complete without a question about that.
A lot of pressure for me.
I was shocked you even attempted it.
Is there going to be beach volleyball?
Always the first question.
How do we do it?
It hints at what happens in Coffin Corner at the end of the movie.
And Cyclone coming in and not understanding what Mavericks motivations are.
And then it scratches that itch that you have in aTop Gunmovie.
I had a blast shooting it.
We just went out and had fun in San Diego in October on the beach at magic hour.
I wanted to ensure I was getting those shots that would be worthy of aTop Gunmovie.
For them, it was very stressful preparing for that day.
But it was shot far enough into the movie that the camaraderie you see was genuine.
Think about that temptation.
He couldve made it in 1987.
Tom is a movie star holding on to making these movies in a way that they arent made anymore.
And what Val was going through in real life, too, had a profound impact on Tom.
I dont think he had seen Val much in recent years.
It was a really emotional day.
I remember sitting next to Jerry and watching Tom give that performance.
He feels like a ghost.Absolutely.
you’ve got the option to feel it in Toms performance that the end is coming.
Maverick confronting the end hangs over the entire film because he is willing to die for Rooster.
Theyve both been damaged by Gooses death.
And you feel for both of them.
Youre just hoping they can find some common ground and resolve it.
Because they finally, at that moment, become father and son.
I think its Roosters gesture when he holds up his arms with that baffled look.
Thats him doing what he does best.
Im just glad it worked out.
Because when you put actors together, you just never know what the chemistry is going to be.
Youve worked with Miles Teller in three movies now, including the upcomingSpiderhead.Three extremely different performances.
And inOnly the Brave, I thought he was a revelation.
His performance as Donut felt so out of his comfort zone pale, weak, broken, humiliated.
Its public knowledge that he was in a really bad car accident.
And hes able to play damaged in a way that feels very authentic.
And the survivors guilt is also something I think Miles struggles with because hes lost some friends to accidents.
So Miles was actually accessing some real emotions when playing that role.
But there are elements of that in the character.
But Miles I think is one of the most talented actors of his generation.
And with all three movies, I saw an opportunity for him to do something a little bit different.
And is being manipulated by this very charismatic alpha male played by Chris Hemsworth.
Thats a movie all about performance.
In the past, Hemsworth has really shined in his cameos and bit parts in comedies.
I love how darkly funny he is.
I love how verbal the role is.
I love the fact that this is a damaged character at its heart.
He was looking for a challenge.
His monologues are long.
So for him to play a sociopath whos as charming as he is, he put everything into it.
I had to prep the movie in quarantine.
I was in a small hotel room with a scale model of the entire Spiderhead.
Remember when Jack Nicholsons staring at the maze inThe Shining?
By day ten, that was me, just standing over it and seeing things move.
So a lot of the way I shot the film I put together while in quarantine with the model.
And again, a very Joseph Kosinski location a desolate, off-grid, monumental but empty space.I know!
Now that Ive made five movies, Im probably very close to having the parody video.
Theres just no way I can do those spaces anymore.
InTron: Legacy, where did the idea come from to make it a night world?
The original is set in that flat, dark space of video games in the 1980s.
But inTron: Legacy, it becomes night, and we see the clouds and the sky.
And theTronaesthetic that we remember from 1982 became more and more photo-real as the processing power increased.
But it was very much that kind of black, glassy aesthetic.
What happened to theTron: Legacysequel?I got so close.
I got close in 2015, and Disney pulled the plug on it.
I hadnt built anything, but I had the whole movie storyboarded and written.
But it was a different Disney by 2015.
When I madeTron: Legacy, they didnt own Marvel; they didnt ownStar Wars.
We were the play for fantasy and science fiction.
But remember, the firstTronwas not a hit when it came out.
Its a cult classic.
And ifTron: Legacys becoming the same thing, I couldnt be more thrilled.
It seems like an obvious idea now: Of course, those guys are perfect forTron: Legacy.
I mean, I just cant believe they said yes.
I dont think that movie would get made today.
But Thomas and Guy-Manuel just were so ready.
Theyre filmmakers, they love cinema, and they crushed it.
It was everything Id hoped for.
