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35 Years On, Why I've Never Lost That Loving Feeling For 'Top Gun'

I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that the film I’d been most looking forward to seeing on a big screen post-vax was the extraordinarily belated sequel “ Top Gun: Maverick ,” which after three decades of anticipation and two years of release date delays had finally been scheduled to open this coming Fourth of July weekend. After all, what could be a more symbolically appropriate way to rally back from quarantine than an Independence Day IMAX screening of a gaudy, all-American extravaganza that takes place in an alternate universe where the Navy lets 58-year-old men fly fighter jets? Alas, citing concerns with international vaccine rollouts, Paramount moved the movie once again, this time to the week before Thanksgiving — as if anyone wants to watch people play beach volleyball in November.

In the meantime we’ll have to make do with the original, I guess. That’s right, “Top Gun” is roaring back to your local AMC theaters this weekend to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the film’s release, as well as something called “ Top Gun Day ,” which is one of those meaningless memetic holidays people invent as an excuse to talk about stuff they like on the internet. (Hilariously enough, “Top Gun Day” falls a few days before the film’s actual May 16 release date because the guys who came up with it made a typo on their merchandise designs.) Remastered in Dolby Vision and Atmos for this reissue, the 1986 movie was also recently made available in a new 4K UltraHD Blu-ray edition, which of course I ran out and bought right away because I find “Top Gun” to be politically repellant, logically incomprehensible and aesthetically irresistible. It’s a big, dumb movie that was probably bad for the world, and it’s also totally awesome.

Released six months after Rocky Balboa won the Cold War by defeating Ivan Drago in the ring, “Top Gun” offered an even more ecstatic escape into triumphalist, Reagan-era revisionism, removing all the blood, death and despair from combat — replaced by backlit beefcake shots and rah-rah aspirational recruiting mottos about being the best of the best. These clean-cut, freshly scrubbed flyboys weren’t haunted war criminals like John Rambo , they’re upbeat athletes aspiring to excellence. “Top Gun” might be framed around the military, but it’s a sports movie through and through. The screenwriters even invented a fake trophy competition and added a locker room to the Navy’s elite Fighter Weapons School as a way of reassuring audiences that all this war stuff is just fun and games.

Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer were hot off of “Flashdance” and “Beverly Hills Cop,” but their stroke of genius here was hiring brash British ad man Tony Scott to direct. A Royal College of Art graduate who’d crashed and burned in Hollywood a few years earlier with his inscrutably esoteric lesbian vampire movie “The Hunger,” Scott scored the “Top Gun” gig thanks to a car commercial he’d helmed in which a jet plane races a Saab. The kind of blustery, larger-than-life figure one rarely finds in the film industry anymore, Tony Scott was almost always attired in short shorts and a safari vest, puffing on a cigar beneath an omnipresent pink baseball cap. Few filmmakers from the era were so adept at exulting in their own ridiculousness, which made him the ideal director for “Top Gun.”

Scott supposedly threw a book of Bruce Weber photographs onto Bruckheimer’s desk and announced that’s what the movie was going to look like. To call “Top Gun” over-stylized would be an egregious understatement, as every angle is finessed with smoke machines and soft gel lights to a degree of giddy absurdity. Witness instructor Kelly McGillis’ entrance into the cadets’ class, filmed low and from behind to show off her seamed stockings and stiletto pumps. The Navy made their actual academy classrooms available for filming, but of course, Scott found them dreadfully boring and instead staged the lessons in a sunlit hangar in front of an F-15 and a gargantuan American flag. (I love the lonely chalkboard shunted off to the side.) Also, her lipstick.

Every scene of “Top Gun” is shot and cut like a commercial — all shimmering sunsets and golden magic hours with cool motorcycles and vintage cars. People wear heavy leather bomber jackets in the San Diego summer simply because they look so great in them. Everyone in this movie is always glistening for some reason, and any given frame could be put on a poster. Characters speak almost exclusively in catch-phrases and slogans they repeat back to each other later for applause cues and the soundtrack is wall-to-wall chart toppers and classic oldies. (Note the mercenary brilliance of the monologue during which Maverick talks about his mother’s favorite song, never mentioning the title nor the artist to give the filmmakers maximum leeway when negotiating the movie's music rights.) “Top Gun” looks and sounds like the longest advertisement you’ve ever seen, but what exactly is it supposed to be selling?

The Navy famously set up recruiting tables in theater lobbies, no doubt enlisting an entire generation of cadets disappointed to discover that their classes were taught indoors and never by Kelly McGillis. It’s an aesthetically jingoistic film according to the flattering photography of flags and uniforms, with still unparalleled aerial footage of these majestic silver phallic symbols whizzing around at the speed of sound. Yet the screenplay is clear as mud when it comes to cryptically exonerating Maverick’s deceased dad for I think maybe bombing Cambodia, and nobody’s ever been really sure if it ends with our boys starting World War III. “Top Gun” clearly hasn’t the slightest interest in — nor any ideas about — the problematic geopolitics it keeps stumbling over, because the movie is really just selling swagger, sunglasses and speed. Well, all those things and also Tom Cruise, who in the span of these 109 minutes went from a promising young dork dancing in his underwear in “Risky Business” to an instant American icon.

I’ve always considered Cruise one of our most underrated actors, but between us, he’s not very good in “Top Gun.” He still hadn’t learned how to modulate his voice yet and falls back on that jerky smirk far too often, especially in the chemistry-free scenes he spends sexually harassing Kelly McGillis. Of course, none of this matters because Scott and cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball frame and light Tom Cruise as a modern-day deity, embodying all the cocky aspirations of America’s recently restored confidence whenever he's putting on a pair of aviators. His physicality is extraordinary, a diminutive god among taller, lesser men. Characters are constantly telling Maverick how amazing he is, and even when Maverick isn’t in a scene people only talk about Maverick. I saw “Top Gun” in the theater when I was 11 years old — one of the neighborhood kids and I were thwarted in our efforts to sneak into Sylvester Stallone’s grisly vigilante cop movie “Cobra” so we had to settle for this PG alternative — and even though the film hadn’t been our first choice for that particular afternoon, when it was over we both wanted to be Maverick.

“Top Gun” didn’t have a massive opening the way blockbusters do today, and it actually got clobbered that Memorial Day weekend by competitors “Cobra” and “Poltergeist II: The Other Side.” But the movie stuck around all summer, thanks to repeat viewings and rapturous word of mouth, not to mention a smash soundtrack album that kept cranking out hits. The film’s Oscar-winning love theme “ Take My Breath Away ” remains composer Giorgio Moroder's towering masterpiece, with Berlin vocalist Terri Nunn cooing over billowy synth bubbles that make the world feel like it’s moving in dreamy slow-motion every time you hear it. 1980s soundtrack staple Kenny Loggins was a last-minute replacement for the group Toto on the Moroder-penned kickoff track “ Danger Zone ,” and the singer later confessed that his bizarre enunciation of the title’s two words was a feeble attempt to mimic the inimitable accent of his musical hero, Tina Turner. (This is one of those things that once you notice, you will never be able to unhear it. You're welcome.) Even Harold Faltermeyer’s instrumental “ Top Gun Anthem ” got radio airplay, as this summer movie lingered in the box office top 10 until almost Thanksgiving, when it finally began to fade from theaters, presumably because nobody wants to watch people play beach volleyball in November.

Ah yes, about that volleyball scene. Every generation thinks they’re the first to discover the hilarious homoeroticism of “Top Gun,” a subject dissected at amusing length by Quentin Tarantino in the otherwise forgotten 1994 rom-com “Sleep With Me.” It’s no stretch to say that Cruise has considerably less chemistry with Kelly McGillis than he does with flyboy rival Val Kilmer, the two literally snapping at each other half-naked in their fictitious locker room. (When I spoke to Kilmer before the Boston Film Festival screening of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" back in 2005, he laughed and acknowledged "it was recently pointed out to me that I'm really f---ing gay in that movie." Then he jokingly accused Tom Cruise of intentionally sabotaging all the volleyball shots in which Val looked hotter.) During an amusing archival interview during one of the new Blu-ray’s generous supplements, Scott admits he “had no vision” for the volleyball game, which was requested by the producers to once again emphasize that this was a sports movie and not a war film. So Scott shrugged and “slicked the boys up with baby oil "and "shot it like a softcore porno.”

None of this went unremarked upon at the time. Critic J. Hoberman’s Village Voice review was titled “Phallus in Wonderland,” and he drew angry letters from regular readers after writing, “the screen is so packed with streamlined planes and heat-seeking missiles, wagging forefingers and upright thumbs that, had Freud lived to see it, he might be excused for thinking ‘Top Gun’ an avant-garde representation of Saturday night at the Saint Marks Baths.” (Well, the movie was designed to look like a book of Bruce Weber photographs, after all.) At an early screening for midwestern exhibitors, it was sheepishly suggested that maybe they should beef up the hetero love story a little bit?

So two new scenes were hastily shot scant days before the release, while the film was already being mixed. In that bit with Maverick and McGillis in the elevator, the actress is wearing a baseball cap because it was now months later and her hair no longer matched the character’s. Meanwhile, Cruise’s coiffure is all slicked down and soaking wet because by then he was busy shooting Scorsese’s “The Color of Money,” for which he’d grown out a formidable pompadour. Scott was savvy enough to know we’d never stop to ask why Maverick might be stepping into a crowded elevator after just getting out of the shower, much as he knew we wouldn’t care about these characters’ mismatched haircuts and bad wigs during their later sex scene that, to preserve a PG rating, was restricted to the memorably acrobatic intertwining of backlit tongues. (“We only had time to set up one light,” cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball sighs defensively on the DVD.)

Ever-underrated, Tony Scott went on to helm meathead masterpieces like “The Last Boy Scout,” “True Romance,” “Crimson Tide” and his fantastic final film, “Unstoppable.” Scott was for so long a lowbrow pariah in critical circles, it’s been enormously gratifying in recent years to watch young writers latching onto his work, citing Scott’s formal innovations as the trailblazer in a school that’s come to be called “vulgar auteurism.” His big brother Ridley might have been more respectable and won Oscars for his visionary science-fiction pictures and humorless historical epics, but I always preferred Tony’s lowbrow laughs and his sense of what fun, silly things these big blockbusters could be. (To my knowledge, he's still the only director who has his entire filmography engraved upon his headstone .)

One of my dearest moviegoing memories was watching “Top Gun” at the Somerville Theatre’s 70mm festival back in 2017 , with a six-track magnetic soundtrack that shook the bloody walls and a loud, rowdy crowd that was the exact, perfect level of drunk for the occasion. Everybody was halfway between mocking the movie and adoring it — applauding every iconically absurd line. Seen up close and so massively large, there’s no mistaking “Top Gun” is the work of a disgruntled British art student having a bit of a laugh about all this admittedly awesome American nonsense. What makes the film so much fun is that you’re invited to share it with him.

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Sean Burns Film Critic Sean Burns is a film critic for The ARTery.

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You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers

Songfacts®:

• According to BMI music publishing, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" was played on American radio and television more times than any other song in the 20th century. It got over 8 million plays from the time it was released until 2000. Note that this includes all versions of the song, not just The Righteous Brothers'.
• The husband-and-wife songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil wrote this song at the request of Phil Spector, who was looking for a hit for an act he had just signed to his Philles label: The Righteous Brothers. Before signing with Spector, the duo had some minor hits on the Moonglow label, including "Little Latin Lupe Lu" (#49) and "My Babe" (#75). Mann and Weil listened to these songs to get a feel for their sound, and decided to write them a ballad. Inspired by " Baby I Need Your Loving " by The Four Tops, they came up with this song about a desperate attempt to rekindle a lost love. The title "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" was just a placeholder until they could think of something better, but Spector thought it was great so they went with it. With most of the song written, Mann and Weil completed the song at Spector's house, where Phil worked with them to compose the famous bridge ("Baaaby... I need your love..."). The song was the first Righteous Brothers release on Philles, and it shot to #1, giving both the duo and the songwriting team of Mann & Weil their first #1 hit. It was Spector's third #1 as a producer: he had previously hit the top spot with " To Know Him Is To Love Him " by The Teddy Bears and " He's A Rebel " by The Crystals.
• Phil Spector produced this song using his famous "Wall of Sound" recording technique. Spector got a songwriting credit on the track, as he usually demanded one around this time and had the clout to get it. Cynthia Weil has said that Spector never really wrote, but instead "inspired" songs.
• Bill Medley recalls spending about eight hours working with Spector on the vocal for this song. It was a tedious process, since they had to record over previous takes in order to put down a new one. Also, Spector was very particular about the performances. Medley produced some of The Righteous Brothers' album cuts, and typically spent about 30 minutes working on the vocals.
• Phil Spector was determined to make this his finest production to date, and wanted it to be better than anything released by current top producers like Berry Gordy, George Martin, Andrew Loog Oldham and Brian Wilson. He chose the Righteous Brothers for their tremendous vocal talents, and enlisted his old Jazz guitar idol Barney Kessel to play on the song. Other musicians to play on the track included Los Angeles session pros Carol Kaye (acoustic guitar), Earl Palmer (drums) and Ray Pohlman (bass). Cher, who did a lot of work with Spector early in her career, can also be heard on background vocals near the end of the song. Spector was the first major West Coast producer to make the musicians wear headphones, so when they heard the song, they heard it with all the processing he added, which in this case meant a lot of echo. This got the musicians out of their comfort zones and made them work together to get a sound that gelled. It took more time to record this way, but Spector didn't mind: while a typical 3-hour session would produce about four songs, Spector would spend an entire session working on one track, leaving a few minutes at the end to record a throwaway B-side jam.
• In our interview with Bill Medley , he said that when Mann and Weil played them a demo of this song, he and his bandmate Bobby Hatfield thought, "Wow, what a good song for the Everly Brothers," since the version they heard was sung in a higher register. Said Medley: "They were singing it a lot higher than we did, so they kept lowering it and lowering it and lowering it, and Phil slowed it down to that great beat that it was. I remember being in the studio with Phil and we weren't used to working that hard on songs [laughs]. But we were smart enough to know every time he asked us to do it again, that it was getting better."
• The opening line, "You never close your eyes any more when I kiss your lips," was inspired by the Paris Sisters song "I Love How You Love Me," which begins, "I love how your eyes close whenever you kiss me."
• Spector put the time on the single as 3:05 so that radio stations would play it. The actual length is 3:50, but stations at the time rarely played songs much longer than 3 minutes. It took radio station program directors a while to figure out why their playlists were running long, but by then the song was a hit. Billy Joel, who inducted The Righteous Brothers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, makes a sly reference to this in his song " The Entertainer " when he sings, "If you're gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05."
• Phil Spector put a tremendous amount of effort (and about $35,000) into this production, but the final product was so unusual that he began to wonder if he had a hit. Seeking a second, third and fourth opinion, he played the song for the following people: 1) The song's co-writer Barry Mann, who was convinced the song was recorded at the wrong speed. Spector called his engineer Larry Levine to confirm that it was supposed to sound that way. 2) His publisher Don Kirshner, who Spector respected for his musical opinion. Kirshner thought it was great, but suggested changing the title to "Bring Back That Lovin' Feelin'." 3) The popular New York disc jockey Murray the K. Spector confided in Murray that the song was almost four minutes long (despite the label saying it was 3:05), and wanted to make sure he would play it. Murray thought the song was fantastic, but suggested moving the bass line in the middle to the beginning. Spector heard all three opinions as criticism, and got very nervous. "The co-writer, the co-publisher and the number-one disc jockey in America all killed me," Spector said in a 2003 interview with Telegraph Magazine . "I didn't sleep for a week when that record came out. I was so sick, I got a spastic colon; I had an ulcer."
• This song got a boost when The Righteous Brothers performed it on the variety show Shindig! , which launched in 1964 a few months before this song was released. Medley and Hatfield were regulars on the show, always eliciting screams from the many young girls in the audience. Appearances on the show gave them national exposure, which combined with the release of this song, made them sudden superstars. "It would be like being on American Idol every week," Medley told us. "Then recording 'Lovin' Feelin',' it had a dramatic change in our life, and it was very fast. We went from 1 to 60 in a heartbeat."
• This was used in the 1986 movie Top Gun in a scene where Tom Cruise sings it to woo Kelly McGillis. When Cruise traveled to Asia, he was often asked to sing it by fans.
• When the song's writers Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil sang this for The Righteous Brothers, low-voiced Bill Medley loved it, but Bobby Hatfield was puzzled, as the duo typically shared lead vocals and he was relegated to a minor part in this song. Hatfield asked, "What do I do while he's singing the entire first verse?" Phil Spector replied, "You can go directly to the bank." According to Spector, The Righteous Brothers didn't even want to record the song, as they fancied themselves more in the realm of rock and doo-wop.
• Phil Spector bought out the remaining two-and-a-half years of the Righteous Brothers' contract with Moonglow Records (with whom they had regional hits "Little Latin Lupe Lu" - later covered by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels - "Koko Joe," and "My Babe") so he could sign them. When this song became a hit, Moonglow released a lot of their old Righteous Brothers material to capitalize on the demand.
• Some of the artists who covered this include Elvis, Dionne Warwick, Hall and Oates, and Neil Diamond, among others. Warwick's version hit #16 in 1969, Hall and Oates' hot streak began when their remake hit #12 in 1980 (they followed with the #1 "Kiss on My List" and #5 "You Make My Dreams." That LP, Voices, also had the original version of "Everytime You Go Away," later made into a #1 hit by Paul Young). Hall And Oates eventually replaced The Righteous Brothers as the #1 selling duo of all time.
• This is the only song to enter the UK Top 10 Three different times. It did it in 1965, and again when it was re-released in 1969 and 1990. The 1990 re-release was prompted by the rekindled success of "Unchained Melody," which itself hit #1 after being used in the movie Ghost . The re-release of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" peaked at #3.
• In Rolling Stone magazine, Bill Medley recalled, "We had no idea if it would be a hit. It was too slow, too long, and right in the middle of The Beatles and the British Invasion." The following is from the Rolling Stone 's Top 500 songs: "Spector was conducting the musicians for a Ronettes show in San Francisco when he decided to sign the Righteous Brothers, who were on the bill. He then asked Mann and Weil to come up with a hit for them. Bill Medley's impossibly deep intro was the first thing that grabbed listeners. 'When Phil played it for me over the phone,' Mann recalled, 'I said, "Phil, you have it on the wrong speed!"'
• The Rolling Stones' manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, took out ads in the British trade papers saying that the Righteous Brothers' version was the greatest record ever made.
• In the UK, a version by Cilla Black was released just ahead of The Righteous Brothers' version. Both songs charted the same week, with Black's at #2 and The Righteous Brothers' at #3. The next week, The Righteous Brothers' version went to #1, giving Phil Spector his first #1 UK hit.
• In 2003, The Righteous Brothers played this to open the ceremonies when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was odd timing, as Phil Spector was arrested on murder charges just a month before the ceremony.
• Before he became a successful Country/Pop recording artist, Glen Campbell was one of about 50 Los Angeles session musicians who played on many hits of the '60s. Phil Spector used him as a guitarist on several of his productions, most famously on this song. In a 2011 interview with UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph , Campbell was asked how he found working with the contentious producer. "He was a strange guy. You've probably heard that. This guy came up, one of them hillbilly singers, and asked [Spector], 'what are you on, man?' And he said, 'Decca.' Hah hah! I think he probably was doing some kind of drug. I don't know. But he knew the musicians that he wanted to play on the records. And everything that he did was really, really good."
• Supergroup The Firm did a version for their 1985 self titled album. It was vocalist Paul Rodgers who chose to cover it after guitarist Jimmy Page asked him what one song in the world would he like to record. Rodgers recalled to Uncut magazine: "I'd always wondered if I could sing it, because it took two singers, to manage the octaves on it. It was a completely off the wall cover for us."
• More songs from The Righteous Brothers
• More songs covered by Elvis Presley
• More songs written by Barry Mann and/or Cynthia Weil
• More songs thought to be too long to get radio play
• More songs that were hits for more than one artist
• More songs about heartache
• More songs used in Top Gun
• More songs produced by Phil Spector
• More songs used in movies
• More songs covered by the Glee cast
• More songs that start with vocals
• More songs from 1964
• Lyrics to You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
• The Righteous Brothers Artistfacts

Comments: 17

• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny On this day in 1965 {January 28th} a covered version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by Cilla Black peaked at #2 {for 1 week} on United Kingdom's Official Top 50 Singles* chart, for the week it was at #2, the #1 record for that week was "Go Now" by the Moody Blues... Also at the same time, the record in the #3 position was the original version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers... Cilla's version peaked at #15 on the Australian Kent Music Report chart... Between 1963 and 1993 the Liverpool, England native had twenty-one records on the UK Singles chart, eleven made the Top 10 with two reaching #1, "Anyone Who Had A Heart" for three weeks in February of 1964 and "You're My World" for four weeks in May of 1964... One of her twenty-one charted records was a duet with Dusty Springfield, "Heart and Soul", which reached #75 in 1993... Cilla Black, born Priscilla Maria Veronica White, passed away at the age of 72 on August 1st, 2015... May she R.I.P. * And from the 'For What It's Worth' department, the remainder of the UK Top 50 Singles Top 10 on January 28th, 1965: At #4. "Yeh Yeh" by Georgie Fame #5. "Come Tomorrow" by Manfred Mann #6. "Tired of Waiting For You" by the Kinks #7. "Terry" by Twinkle #8. "Girl Don't Come" by Sandie Shaw #9. "Ferry Cross The Mersey" by Gerry and the Pacemakers #10. "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" by the Sounds Orchestral
• Cee Gee Dee from Big D, Texas, Usa Phil Spector died on January 16, 2021, during this madness called Covid 19 and, of course, in California prison for murder. It has been a strange time for my wife and me. We have had our differences, but nothing remotely close like we have had since March 17, 2020. Every word I say becomes a potential bomb in this age of severe intolerance. Bottom line, we two will be a couple 40 years in the fall of 2021. Anyway, I went to a Youtube version of this tune, featuring a very young Bill Medley and a still living Bobby Hatfield, January 17, 2021. I had never listened to the lyrics so closely. I cried. I shouted, I danced. I jumped up like I was at a freakin' tent revival. I realize why so many love this song. It tells the truth about Love that dies, that becomes lost and cold, the peters out into nothingness. Amen to all who created this masterpiece in the mid-1960s, when I was a punk kid. Warts and all, and you had them, Phil Spector, rest in the Almighty's peace. Ronnie Spector, thanks for holding on to that surname in this time of intense struggle.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny On January 24, 1981, Dionne Warwick performed "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" on the weekly syndicated television program, 'Solid Gold'... Twelve years earlier on September 14th, 1969 her covered version entered Billboard's Top 100 chart at position #90, seven weeks later it would peak at #16 {for 1 week} and it spent ten weeks on the Top 100... It reached #10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart... Between 1962 and 1998 the East Orange, NJ native had fifty-five Top 100 hits, eleven make the Top 10 with two* reaching #1, "Then Came You" with the Spinners in 1974 and "That's What Friends Are For" with Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder in 1986... Dionne Wareick, born Marie Dionne Warrick, celebrated her 77th birthday last month on December 12th {2017}... * She just missed having a third #1 record when "(Theme from) The Valley of the Dolls" peaked at #2 {for 4 weeks} in 1967, and the first 3 weeks it was at #2, the #1 record was "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat and for the fourth week it was "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding.
• Babbling Babette from Tulsa Ok What a song & recording!! When it was first on AM radioplay, I loved it. What a big sound and big vocals. Then I read in "Song Hits" magazine about the Righteous Brothers & their producer Phil Spector. I recall in school other kids talked of Spector & his other productions for the Crystals, Bob B. Soxx, & Ronettes. The Wall of Sound was going "full tilt" on that record!! I was ten yrs. old back then & still recall that the Righteous Brothers were on TV quite a lot. They were full-fledged superstars, even with the British Invasion going on.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny Concerning the BMI* music publishing statement from above; the rest of the Top 10 Most Played Songs of the 20th Century were: #2. "Never My Love" #3. "Yesterday" #4. "Stand By Me" #5. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" #6. "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" #7. "Mrs. Robinson" #8. "Baby, I Need Your Loving" #9. "Rhythm of the Rain," #10. "Georgia On My Mind" * BMI stands for Broadcast Music Incorporated
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny On January 13th 1965, the Righteous Brothers performed "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" on the ABC-TV program 'Shindig!'... At the time the song was at #5 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and eighteen days later on January 31st, 1965 it peaked at #1 {for 2 weeks} and spent 16 weeks on the Top 100... And on the day it reached #1 on the Top 100 chart it peaked at #3 {for 3 weeks} on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart... Between 1963 and 1974 the 'not really' brothers had twenty-one Top 100 records; six made the Top 10 with two reaching #1, their other #1 record was "(You're My) Soul & Inspiration", it reached the top spot for three weeks on April 3rd, 1966... R.I.P. Robert Lee 'Bobby' Hatfield {1940 - 2003} and William Thomas 'Bill' Medley will celebrate his 75th birthday come next September 19th {2015}.
• Charls from Simi Valley,ca., Ca Loved this song when i was in the Army (1965-1968) and still do today. This woud hve been great if it was a fw yeas earlyer.
• Jean from Owensboro, Ky Bill Medley has often shared that when Mann, Weil,and Spector first demo'd the song for them, it had been written in a higher key, with Spector and Mann singing it with high twin harmonies. Medley said, "that's a great song for the Everly Brothers, but why are you giving it to us?" Spector insisted they keep trying new vocal arrangements until the song became something completely different than what had been originally imagined--it became darker, more adult, and utilized the full range of Medley and Hatfield's vocal power more provocatively. Vanity Fair Magazine called it "the most erotic duet between men on record." And they're right--the Hall&Oates version sounds like a nursery rhyme compared to this.
• Roman from Barrie, On Saw them several months before Bobby died and they sounded as good as the original albums and 45's. Yes, Phil Spector threw everything, including the kitchen sink into his "wall of sound' on this one.
• Bill from Dallas, Tx The vast majority of Spector's wall of sound productions were created in such a way that they sounded better in mono. They were mixed for play on 1960s AM radio. Although most of Spector's hits were released in stereo versions for lp lovers stereo wasn't a factor for radio play until the early 70s and the increasing popularity of FM radio.
• Teresa from Mechelen, Belgium When you listen to this song, you feel a lot of love and you like to have a hug...... yeah I understand, I feel it too. I have the same feeling when I listen to another song written by Barry Mann "Sometimes when we touch". All these beautiful lovesongs make me so weak, so soft.
• Pete from Nowra, Australia like Long John Baldry and Kathie McDonalds version better.......they really belt it out, and whenever i hear it .i dunno , i feel a lotta love in the room..can i have a hug ?? please ....someone???
• Steve from Fenton, Mo The lyrics to this song are incredible....they say so much with so few words. A great record.
• Teresa from Mechelen, Belgium This song is written by Phil Spector, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann; a beautiful song with a great "Wall of Sound". Phil Spector, you are just perfect.
• Dee from Indianapolis, In I grew up knowing the Hall and Oats version and loving it. I still think it's a great version to this day. I'm thankful the Righteous Brothers wrote it, but I'm not a fan of their version.
• Vince from Phoenix, Az The Zeinth of Phil Spector's studio majestry. There is a reason this song has gotten more airtime than any other. A percussive masterpiece. This is the biggest the wall of sound ever became. Sonny & Cher are background singers for this and Glen Campbell was the rythym guitarist. It still gives me goosebumps everytime I hearit. If there is a heaven, this is what God has on the radio.
• Teresa from Mechelen, Belgium A very beautiful song of Phil Spector, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann with a great "Wall of Sound", a song that last forever.

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Inside Tom Cruise's Super Secretive Love Life

Tom Cruise is renowned for being one of the most welcoming and warm movie stars out there. As per the  BBC , he regularly turns up hours early for premieres so he can spend time with his adoring public. Shaking hands, chatting, signing autographs, and posing for selfies. Few other A-listers are as open and kind as Cruise is when it comes to meeting and greeting their fans.

However, when he's "off duty," Cruise is notoriously guarded. He values his privacy and keeps a tight circle comprised of trusted friends and immediate family. Cruise made an uncharacteristic privacy exception during his last marriage — which was a PDA-packed, TMI-sharing tabloid cringe-fest. But since that ended in a blindsiding divorce in 2012 , his walls are firmly back up.

These days, Cruise devotes his time to his kids, career, and the Church of Scientology. According to People , Cruise bid farewell to La La Land in 2016, selling his Hollywood homes and purchasing an apartment in Clearwater, Florida. The swanky penthouse pad is just around the corner from Scientology's international HQ. The move means Cruise can now devote more time to his bromance with the church's controversial leader, David Miscavige. However, it doesn't mean Cruise has lost that loving feeling. He's just keeping his romantic life on the down-low, as he always had before leaping around like a lunatic on Oprah Winfrey's sofa. Buckle up Goose, it's time to buzz the tower — we're swooping inside Tom Cruise's super secretive love life.

The high school sweetheart

Before Tom Cruise, the movie star, there was Tom Mapother, the high school senior. It would be another four years before the 18-year-old stripped down to tighty-whities and slid his way into superstardom. However, the crooked grin and easy charm were already evident. Diane Cox noticed both when she first met Cruise at their 1979 high school prom. "I came out of the bathroom and with a bottle of booze and a huge grin, he was waiting there," Cox told The Washington Post . "He's not a tall guy, but he had this big a**, and he was super charming," she continued.

It was the start of an intense two-year-long relationship, with the couple making out whenever, wherever, and as often as possible. "Whenever we could, we'd have sex." Cox shared. "We would have used my dad's car if my parents weren't around. We once used his parents' garage."

As Cruise started auditioning for roles, they began spending more and more time apart. However, absence didn't make the heart grow fonder, and before long, the green-eyed monster reared its head. "He got very jealous, very overprotective," Cox told The Post. "The intensity of the whole personality of Tom really put me off," she admitted. They eventually split after Cruise discovered Cox was seeing somebody else. Cox said she bumped into Cruise at a party two years after "Risky Business" had launched his career. "He said to me, 'I'm going to take Hollywood by the a**,'" she shared.

The Hollywood hook-up dishes

Tom Mapother kept his love life secretive even before he became the world-famous film star, Tom Cruise. Despite dumping his high school sweetheart for seeing somebody behind his back, it appears Cruise was also sowing his wild oats during their relationship. While living in Los Angeles as a struggling actor, Cruise regularly enjoyed a Hollywood hook-up, courtesy of Melissa Gilbert. The "Little House on the Prairie" star spilled the Tom Cruise tea during an appearance on Bravo's " Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen ."

Gilbert laughed and then dished when asked if there was "any truth at all" to the rumor that she once dated Cruise. "That is true," she admitted. "Actually, when I dated him, he was Tom Mapother still. It was when he first moved to Los Angeles, and I think I was 16." If Gilbert was 16 at the time, then it would have been 1980, and Cruise would have been one year into his two-year-long relationship with Diane Cox.

Cohen pushed Gilbert for more details, pointing out that Cher had once claimed Cruise was "one of the best lovers she'd ever had." "I did not have sex with him," Gilbert insisted. "We made out, but, honestly, there was no sex." Cohen continued to push through, asking about Cruise's kissing skills. "He was a good kisser," Gilbert conceded. "But you know, he was just like a struggling, starving actor, and I was working. I actually bought him his first set of dishes."

The Risky Business dance disaster

Back in 1983, Tom Cruise may have had the moves like Jagger onscreen, but he failed to make the cut when it came to busting-a-move off-camera. In fact, Cruise was unable to seal a dating deal thanks to his disastrous dance floor performance. Heather Locklear gave the lowdown on her cringe-worthy night out with Tom Cruise — and his dirty dancing debacle — during a 2013 " Chelsea Lately " interview.

After insisting "it wasn't really a date," Locklear spilled on the evening she spent with Cruise. She said that after they'd finished a joint audition, they ended up hitting the town together because the actor didn't really know anybody in Los Angeles. "So we went out, and we went dancing," Locklear explained. However, she claimed that it all started to go rapidly downhill after Cruise decided to re-enact his infamous "Risky Business" semi-naked dance scene.

"You know, er, Risky Business where he does that dance in his underwear and does the splits? We were dancing in a club, and he went into that," Locklear said. "You just kind of stand there, and you don't know what to do. Do you dance around him? Do you? So, I was like, I'll just sit down," she later shared. So was her night out with Cruise really just a one date (not really a date) wonder, Handler asked. "I think so," Locklear replied hesitantly.

The call girl co-star coupling

The release of the iconic teen flick "Risky Business" in 1983 propelled Tom Cruise to fame. It wasn't just his movie career that was started, though. The film also sparked a two-year-plus passionate relationship with Cruise's costar, Rebecca De Mornay.

De Mornay, 23, played a call girl who honed 19-year-old Cruise's bedroom skills — then helped turn his parents' house into a brothel while they were away on vacay. Their onscreen chemistry was electric, but they didn't start dating until after filming wrapped — thanks to De Mornay's boyfriend, Harry Dean Stanton, being on set. But Cruise didn't waste any time moping around. The actor's bedroom was like an Atlantic City fairground, with a stream of teenage girls outside, waiting their turn. "I found three or four young girls — late teens, I suspect — lined up in the hall outside of Tom's room," Curtis Armstrong, who worked on the movie , wrote in his book, " Revenge of the Nerd ." "Tom's door opened, and another girl came out, adjusting her hair and taking off down the hall, while the first girl in line slipped into Tom's room," he later claimed.

Cruise still had his eye on the prize, though, and he finally got De Mornay — quite an achievement given her initial impression of him. "I thought he was very annoying when we first started," she told Celebrity Page . "He was extremely annoying. But he came to grow on me because we wound up together for two-and-a-half years."

The older woman

As far as unexpected Hollywood couplings go, you can file  Tom Cruise and Cher  under B for bizarre. The  Daily Mail reports that the unlikely lovers met at Sean Penn and Madonna's wedding in 1985. At the time, 22-year-old Cruise was just two years into his career, but 38-year-old Cher was already a hugely successful superstar. According to The Washington Post , things took a romantic turn after seeing each other a second time, at a White House function two months later.

Cher told the Daily Mail there was an immediate spark, but they "didn't go out till way later." However, once they started dating, things turned pretty serious, pretty quick. "Is it true [you dated] Tom Cruise? ... How much of a date was that?" Oprah Winfrey asked during the " Oprah, Cher, Tina " 2008 TV special. "Oh, that was a long date. I lived in his apartment. So that was long," Cher said. "You know what? He was so wonderful, and I was so crazy about him, and he was so different. He was a shy boy; he didn't have any money."

She dished more during a "Truth or Cher" game on " Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen " in 2013. After being asked, "Who was your all-time best lover?" Cher played coy, explaining that she'd been lucky enough to have "had just the greatest lovers ever." Cohen pushed further. "Where did Tom Cruise rank on that list?" He asked. "He was in the top five," Cher admitted.

The marriage of enlightenment

Mimi Rogers drastically changed Tom Cruise's life course forever after introducing him to Scientology. Cruise told Rolling Stone in June 1986 that he'd met Rogers at a dinner party a year previously. "She was dating a friend, and, uh, I thought she was extremely bright," he admitted. In May 1987, the two married in a super-secret ceremony. People  reported that "the wedding was very small, intimate and beautiful" and that Emilio Estevez acted as best man.

It wasn't Mimi's first time down the aisle. According to The Telegraph , she'd previously married Jim Rogers, a Scientology counselor. The union was short-lived, though, and they divorced when she moved to Hollywood. However, Mimi didn't break her strong ties with Scientology . As per The Hollywood Reporter , Mimi was raised in the church. Her father was one of sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard's "original disciples."

Cruise admitted that Mimi introduced him to the controversial religion but insisted that he joined on his own accord. Tom Cruise went on to develop an intense, long-term relationship with Scientology . But his marriage didn't fare as well — the couple split in January 1990. Mimi blamed the break-up on Cruise's religious zeal and sexual reluctance. "Tom was seriously thinking of becoming a monk," she told Playboy (via E! ). "At least for that period of time, it looked as though marriage wouldn't fit into his overall spiritual need. And he thought he had to be celibate to maintain the purity of his instrument."

The Days of Thunder are torn asunder

When "Days of Thunder" started filming in 1989, Tom Cruise instantly sparked with Nicole Kidman, despite being married to his first wife, Mimi Rogers. Kidman was equally dazzled by her handsome leading man. "He basically swept me off my feet. I fell madly, passionately in love," she told Vanity Fair .

In December 1990, Kidman became the second Mrs. Cruise. For a while, Cruise and Kidman were Hollywood's golden couple. They adopted a couple of kids and starred in two more movies together, "Far and Away" and "Eyes Wide Shut." However, by February 2001, it was all over. Cruise filed for divorce after 10 years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences," per Entertainment Weekly .

Neither has ever publicly spoken about the reason for their split, but the finger's been pointed at Scientology. Kidman was raised Catholic, and she ultimately refused to join Cruise's beloved church. "I was introduced to it by him, and I explored it," she told Vanity Fair. "But I'm not a Scientologist." According to The Daily Beast , David Miscavige was concerned Kidman was enticing Cruise away from the fold. So, the Scientology leader ordered that she be "gotten rid of," a former church executive alleged. "She became, in the eyes of Scientologists, a 'Suppressive Person,'" Mike Rinder claimed. "And a Suppressive Person in Scientology is a person who's at the best to be utterly and completely disconnected from, and the worst, if you're a Suppressive Person like me ... to be utterly destroyed. Tom had to disconnect from her."

When The Cruise met Cruz

Proving that the best way to get over somebody is to get under somebody else, Tom Cruise wasted no time moving on from his second failed attempt at marital bliss. Cruise was still with Nicole Kidman when he met Penélope Cruz on the "Vanilla Sky" set. But, they insist they didn't become involved until after his divorce in 2001. "I've never fallen in love with someone I'm working with," Cruz claimed (via The Telegraph ). "It's always been afterwards. If something becomes friendship, then maybe months later it becomes something else."

The ink on his divorce papers was barely dry when Cruise and Cruz made their couple's debut at the "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" premiere. Their combined star power dazzled the red carpet, and Cruz loved that her new boo was basking in the spotlight with her. "He came and shared it with me," Cruz told " Good Morning America ." "It was special for me that he wanted to share it with me that way." They dated for three years before splitting in January 2004. "The relationship just ran its course and they decided not to be girlfriend and boyfriend anymore," a source told People .

However, once again, speculation was rife that Scientology was behind the break-up. According to Vanity Fair , Cruz had managed to land on David Miscavige's hit list. He allegedly branded her a "dilettante" for refusing to ditch Buddhism and embrace Scientology.

The relationship audition winner

Tom Cruise's love life had hit a low in 2004, with two divorces and several failed relationships under his belt. So, Scientology reportedly stepped in to play cupid and land him the perfect partner. According to Vanity Fair , Shelly Miscavige was tasked with finding Cruise, "a drop-dead-beautiful true believer to share his life."

Marc Headley, a former Scientology film studio exec, alleges an "audition process" was created. He claims he watched multiple "three-to-four-minute audition videotapes" of young female Scientologists but that none were judged to be good enough. They eventually struck gold in October, though, when Nazanin Boniadi, a 25-year-old second-generation church member, was deemed to be the perfect match.

Boniadi reportedly had no clue she was being groomed to be Cruise's next squeeze. She was allegedly told she'd "been selected for a very hush-hush mission" that would "make the world a better place." According to Vanity Fair, after a month of "procedures," Boniadi dumped her boyfriend and signed a "confidentiality agreement." She was then allegedly flown to New York where she'd finally learn her fate. Cruise immediately launched an intense wooing offensive that resulted in Boniadi falling "head over heels in love." She reportedly moved into his house, even sleeping with him, before being unceremoniously dumped in January 2005 for no apparent reason. Boniadi was then allegedly dispatched to Scientology's Mecca for "counseling" to help her understand why she just wasn't good enough to make the Cruise cut.

The one that got away

Fresh off his Scientology matchmaking experiment gone wrong, Tom Cruise decided to reclaim his romantic destiny. It wasn't long before a stunning 33-year-old actor caught his eye. Sofía Vergara was still waiting for her big break in Hollywood when she received a call from Will Smith, inviting her to a pre-Oscars party. When she arrived, Cruise was waiting, and he quickly made his move.

As per Andrew Morton's book, "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography" (via  New York Post ), Cruise immediately went on the charm offensive. He bombarded Vergara with "phone calls, flowers, and chocolates," and she was suitably impressed. However, things took a downward turn after Cruise suggested a trip to the Scientology Center. The couple was met by David Miscavige and a barrage of questions. According to Morton, Vergara was being vetted to see if she was a suitable Mrs. Cruise III.

However, a friend of Vergara's said that there was no way the devout Catholic would turn her back on her faith. "She was fundamentally terrified of Scientology," the source told Morton. "She sincerely believed that she would be struck down by God and burn in hell if she joined." And, so, another one bit the dust. Vergara has kept schtum about her brush with Cruise. The Daily Beast pointed out that not much is known about her and Cruise. "Let's keep it that way!" Vergara said. "I don't want to talk about that!"

The Disney romance turned Grimm's fairytale

Growing up in Ohio, Katie Holmes' wall was littered with Tom Cruise posters. In 2004, Holmes admitted to Seventeen magazine (via The Hollywood Reporter ) that she'd dreamed about marrying her celeb crush one day. Oh, girl! Be careful what you wish for.

Holmes' dream started becoming a reality in 2005. She met with Cruise under the guise of auditioning for "Mission: Impossible 3," but that was just a ruse. The starstruck Holmes was easy pickings for Cruise, who turned on the charm and swept her off her feet. It seemed like a fairytale romance. Cruise and Holmes jetted worldwide — living a life of luxury, wining and dining in all the fanciest restaurants, and hobnobbing with the elite. Holmes even took Cruise's infamous Oprah Winfrey cray-cray "couch-jumping"  cringe-fest in her stride.

She converted to Scientology, and after just eight weeks of dating, they were engaged. "Today is a magnificent day for me, I'm engaged to a magnificent woman," Cruise announced, per  People . Four months later, the newly dubbed "TomKat" were expecting a baby. Holmes gave birth in April 2006 (via  Today ). By November, they were married. However, in 2012, it quickly went from a Disney dream to a Grimm's fairytale after Holmes shocked the world — and her husband — by filing for divorce. "I don't have any fear now, I don't have a lot of rules for myself, and I don't take myself that seriously," she told People about life post-TomKat.

The 'perfect' Scientology princess

After being blindsided by his third divorce, Tom Cruise must have been feeling down. But, when it came to looking for love, the actor definitely wasn't out. To help in his eternal quest to find the "one," Cruise turned to Scientology again. And, the church seemingly came up trumps with Yolanda Pecoraro.

According to The National Enquirer (via Radar ), the 27-year-old Latinx aspiring actor was a devout, second-generation Scientologist who'd been studying the religion since she was 13. "[Yolanda is a] Scientology princess, perfect for Tom," a source said. They claimed that Cruise had even been splashing out some serious cash for Pecoraro to "attend expensive Scientology courses at the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood." They pointed out there was one hindrance to Cruise finally achieving true love though — Pecoraro's live-in boyfriend. But, where there's a will, there's a way, and David Miscavige has a reputation for overcoming inconvenient hurdles.

Cruise and Pecoraro already had history. In his tell-all, " Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography ," Andrew Morton claims Cruise and Pecoraro first met back in 2004 in Spain. Morton alleges the couple actually dated briefly. There's even a photo of them posing together at a soccer match with David and Victoria Beckham. Sadly, however, as history would appear to show, it wasn't meant to be — and Cruise was, once again, back on the market.

The successful ending to Tom Cruise's mission impossible?

A lesser man might have thrown in the towel by now if they had a relationship batting average as low as Tom Cruise. However, this hopeless romantic's lust for love hasn't dampened one bit. Cruise was back in the dating saddle yet again in the summer of 2021 — cozying up to "Mission: Impossible 7" co-star, Hayley Atwell.

As per Page Six , Cruise and Atwell were snapped together as they headed to the women's singles final at Wimbledon on July 10. The actors had been working on the latest installment of the action franchise since shooting began in September 2020. The movie's multiple international filming locations combined with a world pandemic had made for a stressful two years. So, it's no surprise tempers started boiling over. The Sun obtained audio of Cruise unleashing an F-bomb-filled rant about lax adherence to onset social distancing rules.

However, it appeared that when it came to his leading lady, Tom Cruise was, true to form, all smiles and charm. A source told The Sun that the couple immediately bonded and just grew stronger after working together during COVID-19. "Lockdown, and all the difficulties that came with it, brought them even closer, and they've become fairly inseparable," the source said. "They've been meeting up after hours, and she's been to his London pad. They get on brilliantly, and both seem very happy." Hopefully, for Cruise's sake, David Miscavige is just as ecstatic.

The Pain and Glory of Top Gun Nostalgia

Thirty-six years later, we haven’t lost that loving feeling. But why?

Nobody should drive while listening to “Danger Zone,” the 1986 Kenny Loggins hit from Top Gun . If you’re behind the wheel and the song comes on, your foot is pretty much required to press the gas, and you’re also somehow suddenly wearing aviators even if you’ve never owned aviators in your life. The power of Top Gun is that loving it isn’t even about watching it. And that’s true of the new film, Top Gun: Maverick , too. Until it’s not.

Thinking about the original Top Gun is weirdly more important than seeing the movie. This makes the release of Top Gun: Maverick, a strange moment for nostalgia. Deep down, we know our love of the flick about fighter pilots has less to do with the movie and more with our feelings about the movie, so should we embrace the sequel or fear it will, as the saying goes, ruin our childhoods?

The existence of the new Top Gun is a little like if somebody told you David Hasselhoff was making a big-screen sequel to Knight Rider . You’d be like, “Oh hell yeah, love that car and leather jacket and theme song. Bring it on!” But then, you’d actually watch an episode of Knight Rider and realize it’s way more fun to think about how rad it was than to devote your time to the experience of watching it. In fairness to the Tony Scott masterpiece — the original 1986 Top Gun — is much better than a random episode of Knight Rider , but the emotional relationship an entire generation has with this movie is similar. We haven’t dissected Top Gun like Ghostbusters or Star Wars . We’ve mostly just pumped our fists at the memory of thinking it was the most awesome thing ever. It’s the ThunderCats of live-action ‘80s cinema nostalgia; the hazy memory is oddly better than the real thing.

Most parents who have young kids right now were probably like five-years-old when Top Gun hit theaters. This means it is very much not a movie you actually saw in 1986 but rather heard about from your cool older cousin or younger uncle. By the time you saw it on VHS, you loved it without knowing why. To paraphrase LCD Soundsystem, Top Gun nostalgia, for a lot of us is borrowed nostalgia.

The first Top Gun is something we think of as timeless because it’s somehow always been an old badass ‘80s movie. Even at the time, it was retro on purpose. The soundtrack kind of proves this to be true: With apologies to Berlin, Cheap Trick, and Gloria Estefan, outside of “Danger Zone,” there’s not a single song there that is remotely cool now. Do you know what song isn’t on the actual soundtrack record? That’s right, it’s the Righteous Brothers' “You’ve Lost that Lovin Feeling” which, in the movie, is famously sung by Goose (Anthony Edwards) and Maverick (Tom Cruise) in a bar while they are (arguably) harassing Charlie (Kelly McGillis).

The track is from 1965, which is a little like Marty McFly singing “Johnny B. Goode,” in Back to the Future . Eighties movies were never really about the ‘80s, but instead, weird nostalgia for a made-up era that didn’t yet exist. Which, is arguable, the era we think about now.

In the new film, Top Gun: Maverick , Tom Cruise’s love interest from the first film, Charlie does not appear, while Tom Cruise, of course, looks basically exactly as he did 36 years ago. McGillis has had a few things to say about that fact publicly, noting that she wasn’t asked to appear in the movie, at all. “I look age-appropriate for what my age is, and that is not what that whole scene is about,” she said . Meg Ryan, who played Goose’s wife Carole, is not in the new movie either. Essentially, Maverick drives home the idea that these movies pretty much are what the other Kenny Loggins Top Gun song says they’re about: playing with the boys. While Monica Barbaro is introduced as a new young, female pilot, the story of Maverick isn’t about growing older and moving on. It’s essentially about what you think it’s about: trying to hold onto the glory days for just a little bit longer.

And it’s here where Maverick differs a bit from the first Top Gun . Like many Hollywood blockbusters, it’s a bit literal. The plot is about the plot but perhaps doesn’t suggest a deeper story. Paradoxically though, Maverick is probably more fun to watch than Top Gun , because the action is freaking amazing, and unlike its progenitor, it’s actually more focused on showing you cool scenes of people flying planes really fast through the danger zone. Basically, because the dogfighting scenes in Maverick are so badass, the Top Gun franchise has finally become, what we always thought it was.

In 1986, Top Gun was about guys hanging out, getting ready to fly planes, talking about flying planes, or thinking about flying planes. Now, those fantasies have been crammed into a new movie, about an old pilot. Twenty years from now, both of these Top Guns will blend into one, creating a dream-like world we can wander into while indulging supersonic fantasies. The danger zone doesn’t exist. The danger zone isn’t real. The danger zone isn't about the danger zone. And that’s how we like it.

Top Gun: Maverick is out in wide release in theaters on May 27, 2022. It’s playing in limited release now.

Top Gun (1986)

Tom cruise: maverick.

• Photos (117)
• Quotes (59)

Photos 

Quotes 

Iceman : You! You are still dangerous. But you can be my wingman any time.

Maverick : Bullshit! You can be mine.

Maverick : I feel the need...

Maverick , Goose : ...the need for speed!

Charlie : Excuse me, Lieutenant. Is there something wrong?

Maverick : Yes ma'am, the data on the MiG is inaccurate.

Charlie : How's that, Lieutenant?

Maverick : Well, I just happened to see a MiG-28...

Goose : We!

Maverick : ...do a... Sorry, Goose. *We* happened to see a MiG-28 do a 4G negative dive.

Charlie : Where did you see this?

Maverick : Uh, that's classified.

Charlie : It's what?

Maverick : It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Charlie : Lieutenant, I have Top Secret clearance. The Pentagon sees to it that I know more than you.

Maverick : Well, ma'am, it doesn't seem so in this case, now, does it?

Charlie : So, Lieutenant, where exactly were you?

Maverick : Well, we...

Goose : Thank you.

Maverick : Started up on a 6, when he pulled from the clouds, and then I moved in above him.

Charlie : Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him?

Maverick : Because I was inverted.

Iceman : [coughs]  Bullshit.

Goose : No, he was, man. It was a really great move. He was inverted.

Charlie : You were in a 4G inverted dive with a MiG-28?

Maverick : Yes, ma'am.

Charlie : At what range?

Maverick : About two meters?

Goose : Well, it's actually about one and a half, I think. It was one and a half. I've got a great Polaroid of it, and he's right there, must be one and a half.

Maverick : Was a nice picture.

Goose : Thanks.

Charlie : Eh, Lieutenant, what were you doing there?

Goose : Communicating.

Maverick : Communicating. Keeping up foreign relations. I was, you know, giving him the bird.

Goose : You know, the finger.

[holds up his middle finger to demonstrate] 

Charlie : Yes, I know the finger, Goose.

Goose : I'm sorry. I hate it when it does that. I'm sorry. Excuse me.

Charlie : So you're the one?

Maverick : Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.

Air Boss Johnson : Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.

Stinger : They gave you your choice of duty, son. Anything, anywhere. Do you believe that shit? Where do you think you wanna go?

Maverick : I thought of being an instructor, sir.

Stinger : Top Gun?

Maverick : Yes, sir.

Stinger : God help us.

[last lines] 

Charlie : Hello, Pete Mitchell. I heard the best of the best were going to be back here, so uh...

Maverick : This could be complicated. You know on the first one I crashed and burned.

Charlie : And the second?

Maverick : I don't know, but uh, it's looking good so far.

Charlie : [Maverick and Goose have just successfully serenaded Charlie with their rendition of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling."]  I love that song! I've never seen that approach. How long have you two been doing this act?

Maverick : Oh, I don't know, since uh...

Charlie : Puberty?

Maverick : Right, puberty.

Stinger : For five weeks, you're gonna fly against the best fighter pilots in the world. You were number two, Cougar was number one. Cougar lost it, turned in his wings. You guys are number one. But you remember one thing. You screw up just this much, you'll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong.

Maverick : Yes, sir!

Goose : Hey, hey, Slider. Thought you wanted to be a pilot, man what happened?

Slider : Goose, you're such a dickhead. Whose butt did you kiss to get in here anyway?

Goose : The list is long, but distinguished.

Slider : Yeah, well so is my Johnson.

Goose : So you're flying with Iceman, huh?

Slider : It's Mr. Iceman to you.

Iceman : Hey, Mother Goose, how's it going?

Goose : Good, Tom. This is Pete Mitchell. Tom Kazansky.

Iceman : Congratulations on Top Gun.

Maverick : Thank you.

Iceman : Sorry to hear about Cougar. He and I were like brothers in flight school. He was a good man.

Maverick : Still is a good man.

Iceman : Yeah, that's what I meant.

Iceman : You need any help?

Maverick : With what?

Iceman : You figured it out yet?

Maverick : What's that?

Iceman : Who's the best pilot.

Maverick : You know, I think I can figure that one out on my own.

Iceman : I heard that about you. You like to work alone.

Slider : Mav, you must've sold under a lucky star, huh? I mean, first the MiG, and then you guys slide into Cougar's spot.

Goose : We didn't slide into Cougar's spot. It was ours, okay?

Slider : Yeah, well, some pilots wait their whole career just to see a MiG up close. Guess you guys are lucky and famous, huh?

Iceman : No, you mean notorious. See you later.

Maverick : You can count on it.

Charlie : Listen, can I ask you a personal question?

Maverick : That depends.

Charlie : Are you a good pilot?

Maverick : I can hold my own.

Charlie : Great, then I won't have to worry about you making your living as a singer.

Maverick : I'm going to need a beer to put these flames out. Yo! Great Mav, real slick.

Maverick : Talk to me, Goose.

Maverick : [spots Charlie for the first time]  She's lost that loving feeling.

Goose : She's lo... No she hasn't.

Maverick : Yes, she has.

Goose : She's not lost that lo...

Maverick : Goose, she's lost it, man.

Goose : Come on!

Goose : [to himself]  Aw sh... I hate it when she does that.

Stinger : Maverick, you just did an incredibly brave thing. What you should have done was land your plane! You don't own that plane, the tax payers do! Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash. You've been busted, you lost your qualifications as section leader three times, put in hack twice by me, with a history of high speed passes over five air control towers, and one admiral's daughter!

Goose : Penny Benjamin?

[Maverick shrugs] 

Stinger : And you asshole, you're lucky to be here!

Goose : Thank you, sir.

Stinger : And let's not bullshit Maverick. Your family name ain't the best in the Navy. You need to be doing it better, and cleaner than the other guy. Now what is it with you?

Maverick : Just want to serve my country, be the best pilot in the Navy, sir.

Stinger : Don't screw around with me Maverick. You're a hell of an instinctive pilot. Maybe too good. I'd like to bust your butt but I can't. I got another problem here. I gotta send somebody from this squadron to Miramar. I gotta do something here, I still can't believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot! I'm gonna send you up against the best. You two characters are going to Top Gun.

Viper : Good morning, gentlemen, the temperature is 110 degrees.

Wolfman : Holy shit, it's Viper!

Goose : Viper's up here, great... oh shit...

Maverick : Great, he's probably saying, "Holy shit, it's Maverick and Goose."

Goose : Yeah, I'm sure he's saying that.

Charlie : I'll have what he's having. Hemlock, is it?

Maverick : Ice water.

Maverick : Jesus Christ, and you think I'm reckless? When I fly, I'll have you know that my crew and my plane come first.

Charlie : Well, I am going to finish my sentence, Lieutenant. My review of your flight performance was right on.

Maverick : Is that right?

Charlie : That is right, but I held something back. I see some real genius in your flying, Maverick, but I can't say that in there. I was afraid that everyone in the TACTS trailer would see right through me, and I just don't want anyone to know that I've fallen for you.

Viper : I flew with your old man. VF-51, the Oriskany. You're a lot like he was. Only better... and worse. He was a natural heroic son of a bitch that one.

Maverick : So he did do it right.

Viper : Yeah, he did it right... Is that why you fly the way you do? Trying to prove something? Yeah, your old man did it right. What I'm about to tell you is classified. It could end my career. We were in the worst dogfight I ever dreamed of. There were bogeys like fireflies all over the sky. His F-4 was hit, and he was wounded, but he could've made it back. He stayed in it, saved three planes before he bought it.

Maverick : How come I never heard that before?

Viper : Well, that's not something the State Department tells dependents when the battle occurred over the wrong line on some map.

Maverick : So you were there?

Viper : I was there. What's on your mind?

Maverick : My options, sir.

Viper : Simple. First you've acquired enough points to show up tomorrow and graduate with your Top Gun class, or you can quit. There'd be no disgrace. That spin was hell, it would've shook me up.

Maverick : So you think I should quit?

Viper : I didn't say that. The simple fact is you feel responsible for Goose and you have a confidence problem. Now I'm not gonna sit here and blow sunshine up your ass, Lieutenant. A good pilot is compelled to evaluate what's happened, so he can apply what he's learned. Up there, we gotta push it. That's our job. It's your option, Lieutenant. All yours.

Maverick : Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, sir, but thank you very much for your time.

Viper : No problem. Good luck.

Viper : How ya doin'?

Maverick : I'm all right.

Viper : Goose is dead.

Maverick : I know.

Viper : You fly jets long enough, something like this happens.

Maverick : He was my R.I.O., my responsibility.

Viper : My squadron, we lost 8 of 18 aircraft. 10 men. First one dies, you die too. But there will be others. You can count it. You gotta let him go. You gotta let him go.

Maverick : I think I'll go embarrass myself with Goose.

Iceman : You two really are cowboys.

Maverick : What's your problem, Kazansky?

Iceman : You're everyone's problem. That's because every time you go up in the air, you're unsafe. I don't like you because you're dangerous.

Maverick : That's right! Ice... man. I am dangerous.

Goose : No. No, Mav, this is not a good idea.

Maverick : Sorry, Goose, but it's time to buzz the tower.

[Charlie has just given Maverick her address while pretending to turn down his date offer] 

Slider : Crashed and burned! Huh, Mav?

Maverick : Slider...

[sniffs] 

Maverick : You stink!

Maverick : This is what I call a target-rich environment.

Goose : You live your life between your legs, Mav.

Maverick : Goose, even you could get laid in a place like this.

Goose : Hell, I'd be happy to just find a girl that would talk dirty to me.

Maverick : [to Cougar and Merlin while up in the air]  Any of you boys seen an aircraft-carrier around here?

[after the final dogfight] 

Maverick : Mustang, this is Maverick, requesting fly-by.

Air Boss Johnson : Negative, Ghost Rider. The Pattern is full.

Merlin : Uh, excuse me, something I should know about?

Air Boss Johnson : [gets his coffee]  Thank you.

[Maverick does a fly-by past the Enterprise, causing the Air Boss to spill his coffee] 

Air Boss Johnson : Goddamn that guy.

Charlie : The MiG has you in his gunsight. What were you thinking at this point?

Maverick : You don't have time to think up there. If you think, you're dead.

Charlie : Well, that's a big gamble with a $30 million plane, lieutenant.

Merlin : What are you doing? You're slowing down, you're slowing down!

Maverick : I'm bringing him in closer, Merlin.

Merlin : You're gonna do what?

Goose : It's the bottom of the 9th, the score is tied. It's time for the big one.

Iceman : You up for this one, Maverick?

Maverick : Just a walk in the park, Kazansky.

Maverick : That son of a bitch cut me off!

[Maverick is in a dogfight with a MiG and is down to one missile left] 

Merlin : This is it, Maverick!

Maverick : I'm gonna hit the brakes, he'll fly right by.

Merlin : Shit! He's gonna get a lock on us!

Maverick : [the MiG eventually gets a lock onto Maverick]  NOW!

[Maverick slams the breaks and the MiG passes by, then Maverick locks onto the MiG] 

Maverick : Got a good lock, firing.

[the MiG is then destroyed by the missile] 

Maverick : Whoo! Scratch four!

Radio Operator : Maverick, you're at 3/4 of a mile. Call the ball.

Maverick : Roger. Maverick has the ball.

[after Maverick decides not to shoot down Jester during a training exercise] 

Sundown : Hey, man, we could have had him. Hey, we could have had him, man!

Maverick : [grabs Sundown]  I will fire when I am goddamn good and ready! You got that?

[continues walking away] 

Viper : In case some of you are wondering who the best is, they are up here on this plaque.

[turns to Maverick] 

Viper : Do you think your name will be on that plaque?

Viper : That's pretty arrogant, considering the company you're in.

Viper : I like that in a pilot.

Viper : [after the first hop with Jester ends with Maverick shooting down Jester at the hard deck and Maverick doing a fly-by near a tower]  Gentlemen... You had a hell of a first day. The hard deck for this hop was 10,000 feet. You knew it, you broke it. You followed Commander Heatherly below after he lost sight of you and called no joy. Why?

Maverick : Sir! I had Commander Heatherly in my sights, he saw me move in for the kill. He then proceeded below the hard deck. We weren't below 10,000 for more than a few seconds. I had the shot, there was no danger, so I took it.

Viper : You took it... AND BROKE A MAJOR RULE OF ENGAGEMENT. Then you broke another one with that, uh, circus stunt fly-by.

[Viper sighs] 

Viper : Lieutenant Mitchell... Top Gun rules of engagement exists for your safety and for that of your team. They are not flexible, nor am I. Either obey them, or you're history. Is that clear?

Stinger : [to Maverick after the last dogfight]  How's it feel to be on the front page of every newspaper in the English-speaking world, even though the other side denies the incident? Congratulations.

Stinger : They gave you your choice of duty, son. Where do you think you want to go?

Maverick : Standby, Viper's coming down.

Charlie : It was a long cruise, was it, sailor?

Maverick : It was too long.

Charlie : What do you wanna do? Just drop right down on the tile and go for it?

Maverick : No, actually I had this counter in mind.

Charlie : Great, that would be very, very comfortable, yeah.

Maverick : It could be.

Maverick : I'll hit the brakes, he'll fly right by.

Charlie : [Looking over Maverick's shoulder in the classroom]  A rolling reversal would work well in that situation.

Maverick : [Motions with his hands]  If I reverse on a hard cross I could immediately go to guns on him.

Charlie : Yeah, but at that speed it's too fast... a little bit too aggressive.

Maverick : Too aggressive.

Charlie : [Smiling, says nothing] 

Maverick : Well, I guess when I see something I go right after it!

Charlie : I don't date students.

Maverick : I can see it's dangerous for you, but if the government trusts me, maybe you could.

Charlie : It takes a lot more than just fancy flying.

Sundown : [Maverick suddenly flies off after refusing an easy shot on Jester]  Hey, where the hell are you going?

Maverick : Uh... It's not good. It doesn't look good.

Sundown : What do you mean, "it doesn't look good"? It doesn't get to look any better than that.

Maverick : Jesus, this guy's good!

Maverick : Too close for missles, I'm switching to guns.

Maverick : There's Viper.

Goose : Hey Mav, stay with Hollywood.

Hollywood : Yeah Mav, stay with me.

Maverick : Hollywood, you look good. I'm going after Viper.

Hollywood : God dammit, Maverick.

Maverick : You're okay, Cougar. Just stay on my wing, I'll take you all the way in. Just stay with me. Easy, Cougar. Just a walk in the park, buddy.

Goose : All right, the bet is $20.

Maverick : $20!

Goose : Right. You have to have carnal knowledge - of a lady this time - on the premises.

Maverick : On the premises.

Goose : Come on, Mav. A bet's a bet.

Maverick : I don't know, it just - it just doesn't seem fair. For you, I mean.

Maverick : It's a big mystery. He disappeared in an F-4, November 5th, 1965. The stink of it was, he screwed up. No way. My old man was a great fighter pilot. But who the hell knows? It's all classified.

Maverick : Lieutenant, why didn't you tell me that you were a famous MiG insulter?

Charlie : Would it have made any difference?

Maverick : Not in the Ladies' Room, no.

Charlie : And what would've?

Charlie : I'm Charlotte Blackwood.

Maverick : I'm Maverick.

Charlie : Maverick? Did your mother not like you or something?

Maverick : Excuse me, Miss.

Goose : Hey. Hey-hey. Don't worry. I'll take care of this.

Maverick : [singing]  You never close your eyes any more, When I kiss your lips

Goose : There's no tenderness Iike before, In your fingertips

Maverick : You're trying hard not to show it

Maverick , Goose : Baby, But, baby, Believe me I know it, You've lost that loving feeling, Whoa, that loving feeling...

Maverick : Actually, I came in here to save you from making a big mistake with that older guy.

Charlie : Really? So I could go on to a bigger one with a *young* guy like yourself?

Maverick : Maybe.

Maverick : You always get what you want?

Charlie : No, not always. Yeah, maybe.

Charlie : I'm trying for this big promotion at work and if I get it, I'm not gonna be here much longer.

Maverick : It seems to me you've got it all figured out.

Charlie : Yeah.

Maverick : Except you did forget the wine.

Charlie : Oh, sorry.

Charlie : I'm sorry for being direct.

Maverick : No apologies.

Charlie : This is gonna be complicated.

Maverick : Wooo! Rock 'n' roll! Here's our chance. It's a big one, Goose.

Goose : I told her how tough it is here. You know, my ass dragging like an old, tired dog. I told her that you didn't even have a woman here.

Maverick : Oh, really.

Goose : You know what she said? Said, "Oh, he probably doesn't have one, he's got eight."

Maverick : Ice, fire or clear!

Maverick : Goose, I'm losing control. I'm losing control.

Carole : Maverick would you go fetch him!

Maverick : I'm gonna go embarrass myself with Goose for awhile.

Maverick , Goose : [singing]  You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain, Thinking 'bout your love drives a man insane, You broke my will, Oh, what a thrill, Goodness gracious, Great balls of fire!

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Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, and more talk us through the making-of Top Gun: Maverick

Thirty-six years after the original took flight, Top Gun: Maverick gave us that lovin' feeling once again. Tom Cruise and his cast and crew talk Total Film through the making of the record-breaking sequel

This Top Gun: Maverick article first appeared in the April 2022 issue of Total Film magazine. You can purchase a hard copy here or subscribe to the magazine and never miss another world-exclusive feature.

For a sequel to a film built around the need for speed, Top Gun: Maverick has been a long time coming. Recent additional delays caused by the pandemic mean that this sequel is finally touching down 36 years (almost to the date) after the original. That’s a long wait for fans who’ve been clamouring for more since Tony Scott’s fighter-pilot drama took their breath away in 1986. But, Maverick, true to his call sign, has never played by the rules.

“Originally, I wasn’t interested in doing a sequel,” star and producer Tom Cruise tells Total Film, speaking from South Africa where he’s readying his next Mission: Impossible (a franchise for which he’s managed five sequels and counting since 1996). Top Gun was the highest-grossing film of 1986, and confirmed Cruise’s movie-star status, but despite the demand, he was hesitant. “All over the whole world, people were asking for it, and asking for it. [Producers Don] Simpson and [Jerry] Bruckheimer – I remember back in ’87, they had an idea. It was the germ of the idea, actually, that ended up with the concept of [Top Gun: Maverick].”

That kernel was the relationship between Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell and Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw, the son of Mav’s former Radar Intercept Officer, Nick Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), better known as Goose. Goose died in the first film during an ejection gone wrong, sending Maverick into a guilt-ridden crisis. But, explains Cruise, “Just through time, the story was never right. I don’t do things just to do it.” 

Cruise was also waiting for the technology to reach a certain point to enable him to bring the audience into the cockpit, “to put the audience inside that F/A-18”.

The sequel idea never really went away. “I had lots of discussions for years with Tony, with Jerry, with McQ [Christopher McQuarrie] about it, and when I was doing Oblivion, talking to Joe [Kosinski, director],” continues Cruise. “I just had to wait for that right moment. And I realised it was either going to be now or never. And basically, I liked the concept of the idea. And I was like, ‘Alright...’”

“We certainly played around with it,” says producer Bruckheimer of the decades-long development process. “But we never solved the problem of how to make another film.” Things kicked up a notch when Bruckheimer and Cruise met with Joseph Kosinski in Paris, during the shooting of Mission: Impossible – Fallout. “Joe had an idea for the movie,” explains Bruckheimer matter-of-factly. “And Tom loved the idea. And we loved it. So that’s where it all started.”

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Joseph Kosinski ( Tron: Legacy , Only The Brave) was perhaps fated to direct Top Gun: Maverick; the crew t-shirts on his first Cruise collaboration, Oblivion, featured a spin on the Top Gun logo. “It definitely must have been in the back of the mind,” smiles Kosinski.

Another frequent Cruise collaborator on TG:M is Christopher McQuarrie. The pair have worked together since Valkyrie, with McQuarrie most recently serving as writer/director on the two previous Missions (and the next two). “My earliest meeting on the project was in 2011 with Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer, [producer] David Ellison and the wonderful Tony Scott,” McQuarrie says. 

“By 2011 there were a lot of fun ideas in search of a story, but something was still missing,” McQuarrie continues. “Being in a room with three of the guys who created the original film, I chose to assume the observer role for much of the meeting, focusing on the feeling I had watching Top Gun as a 17-year-old kid. All the while I was asking myself, ‘Why do we love Top Gun so much? Why has it lasted so long? Sure, there’s ‘Danger Zone’, ‘Lovin’ Feeling’, ‘Take My Breath Away’, motorbikes and volleyball, Mav and Goose, Mav and Charlie, Mav and Iceman – forget those things. They’ve all long since been copied and never to greater effect. Why does Top Gun really work? What is its essence?’ And with 25 years of perspective, the formula – the secret ingredient – hit me in that meeting. Without some contemporary version of it, I believed, a sequel could never work as well. Tragically, we lost Tony shortly thereafter and the sequel to Top Gun was in limbo.”

Six years later, Mission: Impossible – Fallout was being filmed in Paris when Top Gun: Maverick talks were heating up again, but McQuarrie was too busy on the former to get involved with the latter. Jump to a year later. “With Fallout in the can and about a month before Top Gun: Maverick was due to start shooting, Tom asked me to read the script,” explains McQuarrie. “And while I was rewriting a particular scene in my head, I had an epiphany. I knew how to contemporise that secret ingredient now. I pitched it to Tom and was immediately brought on to do a two-week rewrite. I stayed with the movie for the next two years.”

For those who remember seeing Top Gun in 1986 or since, its pleasures always seemed remarkably simple: high-speed, endlessly cinematic military tech piloted by effortlessly cool, instantly iconic characters. But it proved remarkably difficult to bring into the present day, particularly as the team were resisting a straightforward carbon copy. “I didn’t want to do a cover of the original,” explains Cruise. “I’m not doing a cover of a song. I was always looking at tone.”

“The first film was a rite-of-passage story, and I knew that this one had to be the same,” Kosinski tells Total Film. “There had to be some sort of emotional journey for Maverick to go through.” That’s quite a challenge, when Maverick needs to be recognisable to the audience who grew up rooting for him, while still having believably aged up in this world. “He still has to be Maverick,” asserts Cruise. “I want the same quality, the same emotional tone that we had in 1986. How do we do that in the modern day? He’s still got to be Maverick. But also, you know, he’s not in his twenties.”

“I had a very kind of distinct idea of where Maverick is at the beginning of this film,” says Kosinski. “It’s a guy who’s in his fifties now. Where would a guy like Maverick end up in the Navy?”

“It was very important to Tom that Maverick still be Maverick from frame one,” says McQuarrie. “We didn’t want a movie that started with some sad guy who used to be Maverick and finds out how to be Maverick again. That trope might give him a mountain to climb, but it also crushes the spirit of the original film. With all that’s gone on in the world since, there was something uplifting in the notion of Mav still out there being Mav. And that presented the challenge: How to retain his youthful spirit without making him the boy who never grew up? How has he grown, yet still has some growing to do? It’s a very delicate balance.”

Like father, like son

When we pick up with Mav in Top Gun: Maverick, he’s still taking to the skies as a test pilot, having avoided the promotions that would chain him to a desk. A highly specialised mission requires him to train a detachment of graduates from Top Gun (the United States Navy’s Fighter Weapons School, to give it its more formal name). So we’re talking the best of the best of the best young Naval Aviators. Of course, among their number is Rooster.

Kosinski had previously worked with Miles Teller on Only The Brave, and had been struck by his likeness to a young Anthony Edwards (so much so that he took a photo of Teller along to his first TG:M meeting). “I knew Miles is just a tremendous dramatic actor in that age group, and I knew that he had the chops to be able to pull off the role and carry a scene off with Tom,” says Kosinski. “That’s a pretty tall assignment.

“So he was definitely in my mind from the beginning. But we still went through your traditional casting process of throwing the net very wide. Miles, through that process, came out on top.”

“We were talking about what that relationship is, and what it is to be Rooster’s son,” adds Cruise. “And he created it. He came in with the moustache. The subtlety and the nuance that he brought... I thought, ‘Boy, I feel like, at times, I’m seeing both of his parents.’” (In the ’86 film, Goose Jr.’s parents were played by Edwards and Meg Ryan.)

In an echo of Maverick’s plight in the first film, the death of Rooster’s father looms large in his mind. “If anybody loses a parent at a very young age, even if it’s kind of before their memory starts, that’s going to affect them,” says Teller, adding that, between Maverick and Rooster, “there’s some stuff there that they’ve got to work out.”

Another new character with links to Maverick’s past is Jennifer Connelly’s Penny, a single mother who runs the bar where the graduates hang out. “They have a history together,” Connelly tells TF. “They’ve sort of come in and out of each other’s lives over the years. It’s not by accident that they keep finding themselves next to each other. They have some character attributes in common, I think.” 

While the role didn’t require Connelly to get in a Superhornet, she did still get to take to the air with Cruise. “I was, in one scene, in a P-51 that Tom piloted,” she says, referring to Cruise’s own vintage WW2 plane. “That was pretty extraordinary. He is actually a licensed aerobatic pilot, which I didn’t know about him before. I don’t think I’d even taken the time to think about the fact that there are aerobatic pilots, to tell you the truth! It’s not something that had ever crossed my radar.” 

Another new character who’s the antithesis of Maverick is Jon Hamm’s Cyclone, a Vice Admiral with the Navy. “I’m kind of the voice of authority, so I’m a little bit of the guy who is the example of what Maverick could have been, and should have been, had he played by the rules, and followed it all to a tee,” explains Hamm. “But Maverick doesn’t do that, as we know. Maverick is a guy who just has to fly, man.”

Hamm came to the film with his own nostalgic memories of the original. “I would have been 14 or 15 years old [when it opened],” he says. “I was dialled pretty tightly into the centre of the bullseye of that demographic. It was a pretty big part of my teenage male existence. It didn’t make me want to run and join the Navy, but it did make me kind of want to do the next best thing, which was to become an actor!”

Although this is a new story, of course, fans can expect some Easter eggs and callbacks throughout. Kelly McGillis’ Charlie doesn’t return (“That’s left back in the first one,” says Bruckheimer), but Val Kilmer will reprise his role as Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky in some capacity, though details are under wraps. “That was a huge, huge get – having Val come back to play Iceman,” beams Kosinski. “To get to work with an actor of that calibre, to see the chemistry, the camaraderie between him and Tom, and to have those two characters reunite in this film, was a really special moment, and one of my favourite parts of the film.”

Flight club

Another element of the original film that endures is the fact that the external threat remains anonymous, to better focus on the competition and companionship within the Top Gun program. There’s rivalry, sure, but teamwork and affection too. The sequel takes the same approach, Bruckheimer confirms. “There’s really no designated enemy, just like the first one.”

Assembling a cast of young graduates who could live up to the first film, and handle the physical demands of this film, was a tall order. “I like to work with people that are really passionate about working,” says Cruise. “Look, I work hard, so I expect people that work with me to know, ‘You better enjoy this. You better be in it for the right reasons, because that’s what it’s about.’ It’s real work, man. And you’ve got to really enjoy it. I’m constantly learning and pushing myself and everyone around to contribute to the film. Each one of these guys is very charismatic, very talented, and very distinct and interesting onscreen.”

At the best of times, you don’t want a cast whose egos are writing cheques their bodies can’t cash, but it was essential for Top Gun: Maverick, with its commitment to shoot the actors practically, inside the Boeing F/A-18 Superhornet jets.

“We were all mini Toms making this movie,” says Teller. “He put us through... I’ll just call it a ‘Tom Cruise boot camp’. We were getting in killer shape. And also for the stunts and stuff that Tom does in movies, it’s usually a very specific type of training. You’re not just going into the gym and lifting some weights. We did flight training for three months before we started filming... We got put through the wringer.”

The sheer amount of time the cast spent in the skies marks a significant shift from Cruise’s experience on the first film. Ahead of shooting the original, he stipulated that he’d be filmed in a Grumman F-14 Tomcat jet. “When I first committed to the first Top Gun, I did it based on the fact that I’d be filmed in the F-14, and I’d get to fly in the F-14,” he says. “I wanted to give the audience that experience of what it’s like being a fighter pilot, and what that world is like, and the culture of it.”

But the actual time up in the air was limited, and the footage of the largely unprepared actors not that useful. “On the first movie, we put all the actors in an F-14, and we couldn’t use a frame of it, except for some stuff on Tom – that was it,” recalls Bruckheimer. “Their eyes were rolling back into their heads. They were throwing up. So Tom remembered that, and since he’s an avid pilot, he said, ‘We’ve got to train them to be able to handle the g-forces.’”

“I developed a whole programme for the actors, and how we could get them in the [F/A-18s],” says Cruise. “It was every step of the way. I had to teach them how to fly. I had to teach them how to handle gs. I had to get them confident in the aeroplane.”

The regime cemented the graduates off-screen relationship in a way comparable to their onscreen dynamic “Because we went through such a traumatic experience together with learning how to fly aircraft and going through the rigorous programme that Tom Cruise put together, it was something that we had to bond on,” says Greg Tarzan Davis, who plays graduate Coyote.

“Maverick is pushing them to their limits [in the film],” adds Jay Ellis, who plays Payback. “I think it ultimately makes them bond in a way that makes them stronger, and more in sync with each other.”

“When I got the audition, I was actually afraid of flying,” explains Danny Ramirez, aka Fanboy. “I couldn’t have imagined myself truly flying, more than once a day, a commercial plane, let alone an F/A-18. But I knew the opportunity was too big to pass upon. I had to sign a paper saying I wasn’t afraid of flying. I was like, ‘This is way too big to say no. So I’ll sign it anyway, and I’ll figure it out as it goes.’”

Lewis Pullman - who portrays graduate Bob - struggled to hold his stomach. “This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” he laughs. “There are certain points in the training where I was like, ‘Shit, I can’t do this. Maybe I’m born different. I can’t pull this many gs.’ I probably puked a jacuzzi’s worth of puke during this whole process. It was so gross.”

Glen Powell (Everybody Wants Some!!) has the pivotal graduate role of Hangman - after narrowly missing out on playing Rooster. Having so impressed in the audition, this part was developed for him. “I think the thing that I’m really grateful about this movie is, I got to truly do ‘Tom Cruise film school’, which is something that very few people ever have the opportunity to do, to really get inside his brain – which is so fun. He’s just so excited about movies, and the potential of movies, and he celebrates when any department head or any performance does something great.”

Monica Barbaro is Phoenix, a woman in the testosterone-heavy mix. “She is incredibly tough and courageous,” Barbaro says. “The thing in the first movie is, they’re trying to weed out who’s the best of the best. But the thing about this group is, they are that. They’re already beyond that. They’ve literally graduated from the program... These are all the best of their classes getting together.”

It was important for everyone that Phoenix represent the excellence of women in the Navy. “The production and Tom and Joe and the Navy, as well, were very adamant about making sure that she is a well-rounded and really incredible individual, because that is representative of the women I met who are pilots,” she says. “So I was lucky in that sense that everyone wanted to take very good care of the Phoenix character.”

The actors didn’t have to merely survive the immense g-forces when they took to the skies in the F/A-18s. Given that they were each sharing a craft with a real Navy aviator, there’s not really room in the cockpit for a cinematographer, hair and make-up, or any of the other departments you might find on a soundstage. “We had to teach them about editing, and what kind of performance [to deliver],” says Cruise. “And lighting. Because they’re up there, turning their cameras on and off. And I also taught the Top Gun pilots how to do that.”

“Before every flight, I would sit there, in a little tent, with a mock-up of the Superhornet cockpit, and we would go through every scene, every eyeline, where the sun is,” explains Kosinski. “The Navy pilot flying the plane would have to be intimately choreographed with every scene as well.” A wooden replica cockpit was built on the ground so that the actors and pilots could hone the details before taking to the skies.

“And once they landed, we would bring the tapes straight into a screening room, and we would watch all the takes with them, directly, and give them notes and adjustments, and maybe send them up again in the afternoon,” continues Kosinski. “It was a very slow, laborious process that resulted in just maybe minutes of footage each day.”

Even for an experienced aviator like Cruise, the g-forces experienced in an F/A-18 are extremely physically intense. “There’s a lot going on in that jet,” says Cruise. “It’s very intense. The adrenaline is always flowing. It’s always flowing. You prep, and you prep, and you prep. And then you go and do it. You’re always surprised about what you did get.”

The cast and filmmakers have nothing but respect for the members of the Navy they worked closely with throughout. “They couldn’t have been more professional and terrific to work with,” says Bruckheimer. “We were very, very blessed that we had such a good relationship with the Navy.”

It seems the respect between the cast and Navy was reciprocated. Ramirez remembers his first F/A-18 flight with his Navy pilot. “Once we’d landed, he told everyone, ‘Oh my God, you guys really trained for this, because I was trying to make Danny pass out back there, and I’d just hear over the headset this cheery voice,’” laughs Ramirez. “I think, at that point, after the first flight, we gained a little respect.”

Pitch perfect

When you have access to those magnificent flying machines, you need to capture them appropriately. That’s another way in which the bar has been raised considerably since the shooting of the ’86 film, when it was only possible to have one bulky camera capturing the actors in-flight.

“I’d been working with Sony on a prototype of a new camera that gives an IMAX quality image, but does it in a very, very small form factor,” explains Kosinski. “I worked very closely with my cinematographer, Claudio Miranda, who’s very, very smart about these sorts of things, and we worked very closely with the Navy over the course of a year to get six 6K cameras in the cockpit. And then we had two to four mounted on the outside of the planes as well, and ground units that were also shooting ground-to-air. There was, I think, one day on set when we had 24 cameras rolling, which is a lot. 

“We actually mounted one of these cameras on the nose of another fighter jet. It’s called an L-39. It’s a smaller, very manoeuvrable jet. That allowed us to keep up with – or almost keep up with – these military jets, and get that kind of air-to-air coverage that normally you would not be able to get, just because they’re too fast.”

The results are – as anyone who’s glimpsed any footage attests – spectacular. “I was there when editor Eddie Hamilton presented the first assembly of some of the footage,” says McQuarrie. “Keep in mind, I was fresh from directing a helicopter sequence in Mission: Impossible at this point and understood the challenges and limitations of an aerial sequence intimately. I was also going to be pretty hard to impress. When the presentation was over, I turned to Joe Kosinski and dropped a few choice expletives on behalf of everyone who worked on Fallout, which he understood to be the highest possible praise. You won’t see the likes of this movie done practically ever again. Ever.” Hamm succinctly describes the 6K footage as “the H-est of HD... The clarity of it is going to be bonkers.”

While the wait for the film has been long and protracted (extended by those Covid delays which proved another big hurdle to overcome), Kosinski sees TG:M existing in its own space and time. “I kind of approached it like it is its own cinematic universe,” he says. “In the world of Top Gun, the sun is always just about to set. It has a tone, a look, a feel. It’s iconic. We all wanted to make sure that we respect the past and where this came from, but at the [same] time we’re telling a new story about this next phase in Maverick’s life. It was always about the balance of the old and the new. That’s why I’m not too concerned about this movie coming out now, because I do feel like it doesn’t matter if it had been 2020 or 2022 – the movie kind of has a timeless quality to it.”

For Cruise, the whole endeavour has been built around giving the audience a big-screen experience that’s becoming a rarity today. “It was really looking for that whole team, of all of us reaching for the same thing, to entertain the audience, and to capture something that is cinematic and unique,” he says. “I wanted to capture something where the audience leaves, and they just feel good. I want them to walk away, and be like, ‘Aw, yeah! I want to fly an F/A-18! I want to play on the beach! I want to live!’” 

He erupts into an infectious laugh. “This is what I want them to feel! Come on, guys. It’s summer! And especially after everything everyone’s been through, it’s even more so. I want people to dress up, and go and have a blast. We’re going to take you through it. It’s going to be a rollercoaster. We’re going to take you up and down, but we’re going to give it to you.”

Top Gun: Maverick is out now in cinemas and on digital. For much more from Total Film, make sure to subscribe to the magazine and never miss another world-exclusive feature.

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.

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The Stars of Top Gun Then and Now Will Take Your Breath Away

With top gun: maverick nominated for six oscars, let's catch up with the original 1986 film's cast—and meet the stars who joined tom cruise on his years-in-the-making sequel mission..

Mission accomplished for  Top Gun: Maverick .

The years-in-the-making sequel made almost $1.5 billion at the global box office and proved that pandemic-weary audiences' need for speed was greater than any reservations they might have about sitting in a crowded theater. And now it's  nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture , heading into the March 12 ceremony .

Though snubbed for his true-to-form performance as Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell,  Tom Cruise   still picked up a nomination as a producer on the film, which landed in theaters a few years behind schedule because foregoing IMAX screens and that collective lovin' feeling was not an option.

And, happily, it was worth the wait. Which is never a given when you're talking sequels to beloved classics.

It had been 36 years since the original  Top Gun  first took up residence in the cultural lexicon with its sleek jets, perfect soundtrack, shirtless volleyball, bar-room serenade and endlessly quotable dialogue.

The bromantic action-adventure drama made $354 million worldwide, put director  Tony Scott  on the map and inspired countless future fighter pilots.

Oh, and it's an Oscar winner, taking home Best Original Song for "Take My Breath Away."

But Maverick's return as a promotion-resistant flight instructor tasked with training the incoming class of Top Guns, at least one of whom is not  impressed, was just the shot of adrenaline the 2022 theater schedule needed (and the Academy is hoping for).

Though you've since been treated to a whole new crop of call signs, keep scrolling to see where it all began and what the crew from 1986's Top Gun  looks like now:

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Maverick may be the oldest guy in the squad, but he's looking none the worse for wear since Cruise's first go-round as the best Navy pilot in the land after three Oscar nominations for acting (for  Born on the Fourth of July ,  Jerry Maguire  and  Magnolia ), three recently returned Golden Globe statues (wins for those same three movies), six  Mission: Impossible  films (with at least two more coming); many, many other films; and the achievement of iconic movie star status.

The father of Connor , Isabella and Suri Cruise  has also tirelessly powered through three divorces, from Mimi Rogers in 1990, Nicole Kidman  in 2000 and Katie Holmes  in 2012.

Astrophysicist and civilian Top Gun instructor Charlie Blackwood took Maverick's breath away and theirs was a cinematic love story for the ages...or at least the 1980s, since McGillis said she was not asked to be in the sequel. And she almost didn't make it into the first film, either.

"I didn't want to do it," she  recalled to  The Guardian in 2001. "But because I'd done Witness , I owed Paramount another film, and my agent said, 'You have to do this.' I took one look at it and said, 'This is like a Western in the sky—I don't wanna do this.' It wasn't about acting, it was about being a cartoon character. You know what I mean? I could have done it blindfolded. I was grateful for the fact that it gave me opportunities I wouldn't otherwise have had. But I showed up for work, did my bit, hung out with a bunch of boys, played baseball, and went home. It was like being at camp. Why they hired me I'll never know."

McGillis next portrayed a prosecutor seeking justice for a rape victim played by eventual Oscar winner  Jodie Foster  in  The Accused . She kept acting in the likes of  The Babe ,  North  and many smaller films and TV movies, but she also opened a restaurant in Florida  with her yacht mogul second husband, Fred Tillman , in the 1990s and put acting on the back burner.

She has two daughters with Tillman, whom she divorced in 2002. She came out as gay in 2009 and had a civil union ceremony with Melanie Leis in 2010, but they broke up the following year.

"I think just my priorities in life changed," McGillis  told Entertainment Tonight   in 2019 from home in North Carolina. "It wasn't like a major decision that I made to leave [acting], it was just that other things became more important. I love acting, I love what I do, I love doing theater, but I don't know. To me, my relationships to other people became far more important than my relationship to fame."

The  Top Secret! and  Real Genius  star was as cool as they come as Maverick's nemesis turned fellow hero in combat Lt. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. And he returned for the sequel in a touching cameo, Iceman having become a four-star general who had Maverick's rogue back for the past 30 years. 

After the first  Top Gun , Kilmer preceded to have one of the premiere acting careers of the 1990s, starring in  Willow ,  The Doors ,  True Romance , Tombstone ,  Batman Forever ,  Heat ,  The Island of Dr. Moreau ,  The Ghost and the Darkness ,  The Saint and  The Prince of Egypt  (as the voice of Moses and God).

Rumors swirled about the state of Kilmer's health toward the end of the 2010s as he became more elusive and, in April 2020, he confirmed that he  survived a battle with throat cancer . "You may notice I sound like I have a frog in my throat. It's not. It's a buffalo," he wrote online ahead of an appearance on Good Morning America , his first TV interview in 10 years. "Though being healed from cancer, I am slowly and surely regaining my speech. As I haven't let the adversity stifle my voice as an artist."

Kilmer has two children, daughter Mercedes and son Jack , with ex-wife Joanne Whalley , and he opened the door into his private world for the critically acclaimed 2021 documentary  Val .

Goooooooose! The  Revenge of the Nerds star was known primarily as Maverick's doomed wingman, Officer Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, for a good eight years before he landed the role of Dr. Mark Greene on  ER . Over his eight-year run on the show before his tearjerker of a farewell, Edwards won a Golden Globe and was nominated for four Emmys.

He won an Emmy in 2010 as an executive producer of that year's Best TV Movie,  Temple Grandin .

Edwards' acting work on the big and small screens over the years has included The Client ,  Northfork ,  Zodiac , Showtime's  Billions ,  Law & Order: True Crime  and  Designated Survivor , and he's currently streaming in the inspired-by-true-scandal dramas  WeCrashed  on Apple TV+ and  Inventing Anna  on Netflix.

He has four children with ex-wife  Jeanine Lobell , the founder of Stila Cosmetics, whom he was married to from 1994 until 2015. He married Emmy winner Mare Winningham , who also has four kids, in 2021.

"Morning coffee, get up on news and get out and do something I'm fortunate to do," Edwards told Fox News  in April 2020, giving a glimpse of his pared-down pandemic schedule. "I'm fortunate to be able to work on my garden and there are these kinds of chores that you've put off for years."

After her emotional supporting role as Goose's wife, Carole, Ryan's career took off. After solid supporting turns in  Innerspace and D.O.A.  (both with future husband Dennis Quaid , whom she married in 1991), she starred in When Harry Met Sally...  and the title of America's Sweetheart soon followed.

She had classic rom-com chemistry with Tom Hanks  in  Joe vs. the Volcano  (playing three characters),  Sleepless in Seattle  and  You've Got Mail , as well as other adorable moments in  French Kiss ,  I.Q.  (with  Top Gun 's Tim Robbins ) and  Kate and Leopold . Ryan also did heavy drama, playing Jim Morrison 's long-suffering partner Pamela Courson  in The Doors  (opposite Kilmer as the volatile rocker), an alcoholic wife and mom in  When a Man Loves a Woman , an Army captain whose death is posthumously investigated in  Courage Under Fire , and a wife trying to get her husband back from kidnappers with the help of professional rescuer  Russell Crowe   in Proof of Life .

Ryan and Quaid divorced in 2001. They're parents of son Jack and Ryan adopted daughter Daisy in 2004. She later dated John Mellencamp off and on for years before they split up for good in 2019. 

Later work included In the Cut ,  Against the Ropes ,  In the Land of Women ,  The Women and she reunited with Hanks in  Ithaca .

"Now I'm focused on producing," Ryan told InStyle in the summer of 2019. "I'm also teeing myself up to direct, and I'm working on a fun e-commerce project with some of my friends. But most of all, what I'm ambitious for in the 12 hours a day that I'm awake is my kids' happiness. I just am."

After getting his start on TV shows like  St. Elsewhere ,  The Love Boat  and  Hill Street Blues , Robbins made his film debut in the teens vs. terrorists action movie  Toy Soldiers and carpooled with John Cusack  in  The Sure Thing  before landing the role of Lt. Sam "Merlin" Wells. 

He was in  Howard the Duck but then his career took off after he plays an eager minor league pitcher vying with Kevin Costner  for Susan Sarandon 's heart in  Bull Durham . He got the girl in real life, and he and Sarandon were together for 21 years and had two sons, Jack and Miles , before amicably splitting up in 2009. He also directed Sarandon in her Oscar-winning turn in 1995's  Dead Man Walking  and was also behind the camera for  Bob Roberts  and  Cradle Will Rock .

Throughout, Robbins has remained politically active, he founded the Actors' Gang Theater Group, and he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2004 for Mystic River.  A further sampling of his screen highlights includes  Jacob's Ladder ,  The Player ,  The Hudsucker Proxy, The Shawshank Redemption ,  Arlington Road , cameos in  Zoolander  and on  Portlandia , HBO's  The Brink ,  Dark Waters  and Hulu's  Castle Rock .

Fresh-faced Lt. Charles "Chipper" Piper marked the movie debut of the future star of  Heroes ,  Colony ,  Political Animals ,  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  and much more. And if you haven't been seeing Pasdar, you've been hearing him as the voice of Tony Stark/Iron Man in his own animated series and assorted other Marvel shows, including Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. ,  Ultimate Spider-Man  and  Avengers Assemble .

In the flesh he's also been on the small screen in  Lethal Weapon ,  Grand Hotel and  Supergirl . Pasdar has a son, Jackson , with ex-wife Natalie Maines . He and the Dixie Chicks singer married in 2000 and she filed for divorce in 2017; the split was settled in 2019 .

His name alone is tough. And sure enough, Lt. Cmdr Rick "Jester" Heatherly, Maverick's flight instructor, had a gaze of steel.

Ironside is a prolific character actor who, since  Top Gun , has showed up in movies such as (to name a few)  Total Recall ,  Starship Troopers ,  The Next Karate Kid ,  The Perfect Storm ,  The Machinist ,  Terminator: Salvation , and  X-Men: First Class , as well as on TV in  Walker, Texas Ranger , ER ,  Cold Case ,  Castle ,  Smallville ,  Community ,  Vegas ,  The Flash , Justified ,  The Alienist ,  Hawaii 5-0 ... and the list goes on. Most recently he appeared in  The Dropout  and on  Barry .

He's been married to his second wife, Karen Dinwiddie , since 1986 and has one child with her and another from his previous marriage.

You may know him as Julia Roberts ' dad in Steel Magnolias (or Sara Gilbert 's dad in  Poison Ivy— lots of father roles and foliage), but first he was Cmdr. Mike "Viper" Metcalf, the voice of reason who helps Maverick, racked with guilt over Goose's death, recover his confidence.

Born in 1933, Skerritt has been acting since the 1960s and had previously starred in the likes of  MASH  and  Alien , so just add Viper to his list of classic roles. He remained a go-to guy for law enforcement, military men and politicians, whether it was his cameo as the mayor of Seattle in  Singles , playing Sheriff Brock on  Picket Fences  (for which he won an Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama in 1993), having a turn as Sen. Carrick on  The West Wing , his arc as a CIA agent on  The Grid  or showing up as a bureaucratic scientist in Contact .

He had a recurring role as the deceased but often-referred-to Walker family patriarch on  Brothers & Sisters  and appeared on  The Good Wife and  Madam Secretary . More recently he played a terminally ill retired heart surgeon who returns to his hometown in a feature adaptation of David Guterson 's novel  East of the Mountains  and the patriarch of a gun-slinging family in the western Catch the Bullet .

Skerritt has three children from his first marriage and one from his second, and has been married to third wife  Julie Tokashiki  since 1998.

And meet the class of recruits who joined Cruise for his sequel mission:

The tension is thick when Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell's late best friend's son, Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, played by Teller , shows up among the Navy's latest crop of Top Gun pilots.

Even sporting a mustache like his dad, Anthony Edward 's Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, count Rooster among the long list of people who don't think much of Maverick's rogue ways.

"That was all me, I showed up with it at the camera test," Teller, who previously worked with  Top Gun: Maverick  director Joseph Kosinski on the harrowing firefighter drama  Only the Brave ,  told USA Today   of the facial hair. "Tom was like, 'This is perfect; you look so much like him.'"

Powell does Iceman-dipped-in-honey as the cocky but charming Lt. Jake "Hangman" Seresin, a character he collaborated on with Tom Cruise  in order to get the notes right.

"I can't top what Val did in the first one," Powell told  USA Today . "I tried to make Hangman stand on his own. That just comes with growing up in Texas."

Having previously played astronaut John Glenn in  Hidden Figures  and after zooming through the skies in real F-18s, the actor decided to lean into this whole pilot thing, getting his certification with Cruise's help.

"So I get my pilot's license, I get to sign the whole thing and they're like, 'You're a private pilot'—Tom had a thing waiting for me," Powell told E! News . "It was a note that said, 'Welcome to the skies,' and it was a certificate for stunt driving lessons."

In case his need for speed had yet to be fulfilled.

The Top Gun program has come a long way(ish) since 1986.

Barbaro plays mission candidate Lt. Natasha "Phoenix" Trace, Rooster's love interest but first and foremost a hell of an F/A-18F pilot.

"Of course, part of this role is about being a woman," the actress told USA Today . "But she also represents a pilot who is just very capable."

Lt. Robert "Bob" Floyd may look bookish, but any weapon systems officer played by Bill Pullman 's son obviously belongs in the air!

"There was a guy with a sign saying 'I Love Bob' outside my first TV interview," the younger Pullman told USA Today . "He said to me, 'I keep thinking, what would Bob do?'"

He likes that "audiences can see that soft-spoken people can become pilots. And they can be absolute road dogs in the sky." But as for his instantly iconic call sign...

"I like that it doesn't have an explanation," Pullman said. "There's great mystery behind Bob."

Playing Air Force Lt. Joaquin Torres in the Disney+ series  The Falcon and the Winter Soldier  didn't turn Ramirez onto flying—but portraying the very sure-of-himself Lt. Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia did , despite the occasional bout with air sickness.

"I didn't love it before this, but I love flying now," he told USA Today . "I was having so much fun. I can be cocky in the air."

Playing a weapons systems officer, the guy in the plane who's directing his attention this way and that, could be a little nauseating, he admitted. "It's like texting in the back seat of a car, but you're moving at 500 knots," he explained. "So I tossed my cookies quite a bit."

Playing mission candidate Lieutenant Reuben "Payback" Fitch, Ellis—whose dad, two grandfathers and step-grandfather served in the Air Force—is proud to represent his lineage onscreen, even if it is as a Navy man.

"I grew up around aviation, and I think about the sacrifice that so many men and women take—they give, rather—just for us to be safe," the actor told NBC News . "I think we all wrap our arms around this community and we protect it so much. And we understand the responsibility to be amazing on-screen for these folks."

Ellis also found another use for his air sickness bag after realizing early on that once you're up, you're not coming down for awhile. "Every flight from there on, I peed and I got it down to a science," he told USA Today . "It just became a thing."

"When I saw the first Top Gun , obviously there was one Black character, Sundown [played by Clarence Gilyard ], but I don't think he was represented as fully as he could have been," Davis, who suits up as Lt. Javy "Coyote" Machado, told NBC News . "So I think that it's really cool that we have the representation, not just of Black characters, but of many different men and women."

Newer to being a working actor when he was cast in Top Gun: Maverick  ages   ago but having since amassed credits including  The Call of the Wild  and  Grey's Anatomy , he'll will make his mark yet again with Cruise in the also-years-in-the-making  Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning, due out in 2023.  

"Four of my six years of acting have been with Tom Cruise," the Davis remarked to  USA Today . "I cannot complain about life."

New to the franchise but not to the lore, Connelly 's Penny Benjamin is the "one admiral's daughter" referred to in the  Top Gun  bar scene, when Maverick's said to have "a history of high-speed passes over five air control towers and one admiral's daughter."

Goose's wife Carole ( Meg Ryan , seen in flashback in  Top Gun: Maverick ) mentions her by name when she tells her husband's best friend that Goose "told me all about the time you went ballistic with Penny Benjamin."

Penny is now a bar owner and single mom who's cautiously willing to give Maverick another shot.

Someone's got to be serious and in charge. Hamm joins the fleet as Vice Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson, commander of Naval Air Forces.

"He's the adult in the room," the Emmy winner told The Hollywood Reporter . "He's not the petulant angry chief, and he's not the cigar-chomping guy [ James Tolkan 's Stinger] in [Top Gun], whose ego is writing checks his body can't cash. Cyclone is way more in the Tom Skerritt vein, who I really looked to for inspiration. First of all, I love Tom as an actor, but I loved him in the film, too. He's got that tough-love sensibility, but he also has that great line at the end, 'I'll fly with you.' It's a begrudging mutual respect, and my character has a lot of that, too."

Four-time Oscar nominee Harris has a brief turn as Rear Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain, head of the Darkstar program, aka the mission involving the SR-72 Son of Blackbird aircraft, and another officer who Maverick manages to cross in a short period of time.

"I had a good time on it. Just worked a few days, but it was fun," the actor  told NBC News'  Willie Geist . "I'm sure it'll be spectacular." But, he added, "I'm just really in the first three minutes of it."

( Originally published May 16, 2020, at 7 a.m. PT )

Nicole Kidman Unveils Her Most Dramatic Dress Yet at 2024 Met Gala

You missed kim kardashian's bizarre shoe detail at 2024 met gala.

Tom Cruise relives famous roles on James Corden's pun-filled cruise ship (video)

• Updated: Jun. 08, 2017, 1:58 p.m. |
• Published: Jun. 08, 2017, 12:58 p.m.
• Geoff Herbert | [email protected]

Syracuse native Tom Cruise is a good sport.

The international movie star is promoting "The Mummy," his ninth film in seven years, but is still happy to revisit some of his biggest roles from back in the day. He's already confirmed "Top Gun 2" (now titled "Top  Gun: Maverick"), is filming "Mission: Impossible 6" and had no problem even going back to his "Risky Business" and "A Few Good Men" days for a "Late Late Show" skit.

Late-night host James Corden created a pun-filled "Tom's Cruise" on Wednesday night, an actual cruise ship floating on the "River Thames Corden" in London with different rooms dedicated to Cruise's most famous films. "Eyes Wide Shut" is strictly for adults, while "The Last Samurai" is actually the toilet.

At first, Cruise plays skeptical -- "why?" -- but then gets into it, reliving his "Cocktail" role as a fun-loving bartender for passengers on the party cruise. Meanwhile, Corden is disappointed no one's interested in his "Cordon'd off" area with tributes to "Carpool Karaoke," "Into the Woods" and his actual CBS show.

But even with a few attempts at "Interview with the Vampire" and "Jerry Maguire" references, Cruise has to resort to singing to cheer up Corden. Together, dressed like Navy pilots, they sing the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" from the "Top Gun" scene.

"Look, at the end of the day, you can't do things alone," Cruise explains. "There is no Maverick without Goose."

"That's right," Corden says before making an awkward realization. "Although Goose does die halfway through the film."

"The Mummy," starring Cruise, Sofia Boutella and Russell Crowe, opens in theaters Friday. The Universal movie monster reboot will launch a new cinematic universe called the Dark Universe, featuring new versions of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Crowe), the Invisible Man (Johnny Depp), Frankenstein's monster (Javier Bardem), Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Phantom of the Opera.

Cruise also had fun promoting his new action-adventure-horror film on "The Tonight Show" this week, acting out kid-theater versions of "The Mummy" with Jimmy Fallon:

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Watch Tom Cruise and Jimmy Fallon Prove They Have Have Not Lost That Loving Feeling for Top Gun

Tom Cruise recently confirmed that after 30 years, Top Gun was finally getting a sequel.

When Cruise stopped by The Tonight Show on Tuesday, he gave Jimmy Fallon part of the credit for bringing Maverick (if not Goose) back to the silver screen. Back in 2015, Cruise and Fallon faced off in an epic Lip Sync Battle that re-created Goose and Maverick’s famous Top Gun duet to the Righteous Brothers’ song “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’’” Appropriately enough, it brought up a lot of feelings for Cruise who had never lost that lovin’ feelin’ for Top Gun. Returning to the character, even if momentarily, made him want to hop back on the highway to the Danger Zone. “It started right there,” Cruise told Fallon. “You lit the fire and I kicked the tires.”

Fallon was thrilled by the news that Top Gun: Maverick is becoming a reality , and not just because of his small part in its conception. “I’m freaking out!” he said and Cruise admitted that he was, too, although he didn’t jump up and down on the couch . “We finally figured out the story and it’s really exciting,” said Cruise. “There’s no turning back now. I can’t wait.”

Watch below.

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16 Things You Didn’t Know About Katie Holmes And Tom Cruise’s Relationship

By ActiveBeat Author

The marriage between Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise has to be one of the weirdest we’ve ever seen. From a relationship that appeared to move at the speed of light, to their erratic behavior in front of the cameras, we can’t say we were surprised when TomKat’s marriage came to an end. We’ve made a list of 16 things you may not have known about their relationship.

16. Whirlwind Romance

Tom and Katie’s relationship moved incredibly fast. In 2004, Katie told Seventeen, “I think every little girl dreams about (her wedding). I used to think I was going to marry Tom Cruise.” He was also a fan of hers. According to him, he admired the work she did in Dawson’s Creek and in film. In April 2005, they finally met when he invited her to L.A. to meet about a possible role in Mission: Impossible 3. She didn’t get the role, but she got the guy!

15. Weird Signs Of Affection

Only a month after meeting, Cruise made his famous appearance on Oprah where he confessed his love for Katie. “I’m in love! I’m in love,” Cruise exclaimed while jumping on Oprah’s couch. “I can’t be cool. I can’t be laid-back. It’s something that has happened, and I feel I want to celebrate it. I want to celebrate her. She’s a very special woman.” In a poll by People, 63 percent of readers thought Cruise’s behavior was a publicity stunt. Even Oprah admitted that Cruise was acting bizarrely.

14. Love at First Sight

According to Tom and Katie, it was love at first. “I fell for him from the minute that I shook his hand for the first time,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “Tom makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.” According to Tom, he loved Katie from “the moment he met her.” “I’m a romantic. I like doing things like creating romantic dinners, and she enjoys that. I don’t know what to say – I’m just happy, and I have been since the moment I met her. What we have is very special,” he told Playboy. He knew he wanted to marry her after their first date. “As a young girl, Kate said she dreamed of marrying me. And I said I wouldn’t want to disappoint her. I knew I wanted to marry Kate when I met her. After our very first date, I was sure. So I bought the ring shortly after that first date. At one point, I thought she was going to ask me to marry her first and I put her off by changing the subject. I wanted to ask her,” he told T Magazine.

13. Quick Engagement

Cruise proposed to Holmes at the Eiffel Tower in Paris with a tear-shaped diamond back in June 2005. The couple had been dating for less than three months at the time. “Today is a magnificent day for me, I’m engaged to a magnificent woman,” he had said during a press conference at the Eiffel Tower.

12. Baby Before Marriage

Before she began dating Tom, the Dawson’s Creek actress had said that she was planning to remain a virgin until her honeymoon, but that obviously changed when she met the Oscar-nominated actor. In October 2006, less than six months after going public with their relationship, the couple announced that they were expecting. In April 2006, she gave birth to Suri.

11. Lavish Wedding

They were married on November 18, 2006, at Odescalchi Castle in Italy. The couple went to great lengths to have a lavish wedding ceremony. Katie’s dress was designed by Georgio Armani, and her veil took more than 70 hours to make. Several celebrities were in attendance including Jim Carrey, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Kristie Alley and John Travolta. Their daughter Suri was also in attendance, having been born earlier that year on April 18, 2006. The evening ended with an extravagant fireworks display.

10. Waiting At The Altar

Despite being a luxurious wedding, not everything went as planned. Leah Remini’s tell-all memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, talks about the awkward moments at the couple’s wedding. After Tom took his place at the altar, Remini says he was left standing there “for the next twenty minutes (but what seemed like an eternity)” and tried to maintain “that everything-is-great look plastered on his face even as the crowd grew uncomfortable.” Remini sat next to her friend, Jennifer Lopez, who asked her, “Do you think Katie is coming?

9. He Performed a Song from Top Gun at the Wedding

At their wedding, the actor performed The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” to his bride. Some found this strange seeing as the song is about a failed relationship, but Katie was completely touched by Cruise serenading her, according to Leah Remini.

8. Scientology

In 1986, Tom Cruise joined the Church of Scientology. He was 24. The actor claimed the religion’s study methods helped him to come over his dyslexia and have a successful career. Since this time, his relationships have been greatly affected and controlled by the Church. Katie was heavily influenced by Cruise, and converted from Catholicism to the Church of Scientology after less than 2 months of dating, but she left after she filed for divorce from Cruise.

7. Monitoring

According to Vanity Fair, Katie and Tom never lived alone. They were closely monitored by an entourage from the Church of Scientology. In addition, Katie distanced herself from her good friends, and fired her agent, manager, and publicist. Katie was also assigned a chaperone, Jessica Rodriguez, who was referred to as her “best friend.” In 2005, Rodriguez attended Katie’s interview with W, and took over the conversation in an attempt to deflect attention away from Cruise’s involvement with Scientology.

6. He Didn’t Call Her Katie

When the two began dating in 2005, the Top Gun actor made a point of calling her “Kate” instead of “Katie.” “Katie is a young girl’s name. Her name is Kate now – she’s a child-bearing woman,” he said during an interview with All Headline News. Katie reportedly decided to start going by the name “Kate” after she discussed it with Tom.

5. Blindsided Divorce

After 7 years together, the couple divorced in August 2012. Holmes initiated the split that reportedly left Cruise blindsided. Just a month prior to the news of the divorce, Cruise gushed about his relationship with Holmes. He told Playboy, “I’m just so happy, and I have been since the moment I met her. What we have is very special.” Several reports say that Katie went about the divorce plans secretly, like using a disposable mobile phone to contact lawyers from 3 different firms in 3 separate states. There’s also claims that she leased a secret apartment in order to keep her daughter Suri safe from Scientologists. Cruise was away in Iceland at the time and was working on the film Oblivion.

4. Solid Prenup

According to a report from Gawker, Katie had a solid prenuptial agreement that enabled her to get out of her marriage with Tom quickly. Katie’s father is a lawyer and ensured that the agreement was detailed and comprehensive. Vanity Fair claimed the agreement “filled five banker’s boxes.” As part of the agreement, Katie will receive $400,000 a year until Suri turns 18 years old, plus medical and educational expenses for their daughter. In return, Katie has stayed quiet about Scientology since their divorce.

3. Her Career Suffered

Prior to her marriage to Cruise, Holmes was on her way to becoming a successful actress. In 2005, she had roles in Batman Begins and Thank You for Smoking, both of which were box office successes. However, once she married Cruise, her career suddenly stalled. While she initially took a break from movies to raise Suri, once she came back, many of her films underperformed at the box office. There were rumors that Cruise had taken control of Holmes’ career during their marriage; however, she has since negated that.

2. Defamation Case

In 2013, Tom Cruise pursued legal action against Bauer Publishing Company, which owns Life & Style and In Touch. Cruise challenged the company’s claim that he had “abandoned” his daughter after the divorce. While the defamation case was dropped later that year, some interesting details emerged about the private proceedings of Tom and Katie’s divorce. According to the deposition obtained by RadarOnline, Cruise admitted that Holmes had left him in order to protect their daughter from Scientology. When lawyers first asked him if this was true, the actor responded that he felt the question was “offensive,” and that “there is no need to protect my daughter from my religion.” When probed further as to whether or not Holmes had said she left to protect Suri, Cruise said, “Did she say that? That was one of the assertions, yes.”

1. Moving On

While Katie has remained quiet about the specifics of her divorce from Tom, it’s clear it wasn’t one of the prouder moments of her life. In a 2014 with People the actress stated, “I don’t want that moment in my life to define me, to be who I am. I don’t want that to be what I’m known as. I was an actor before, an actor during and an actor now.” She has sole custody of Suri who, according to reports, has not seen or contacted her in more than three years.

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