Tom Cruise ‘Really Didn’t Want to Do Another Top Gun Movie’ — How Director Joseph Kosinski Convinced Him
Top Gun: Maverick has been a massive success, more than most people could have predicted. However, Tom Cruise originally never wanted to do another Top Gun movie after the first one in 1986. Director Joseph Kosinski reveals how he convinced Cruise to come back to the franchise as Maverick.
Tom Cruise did not want to make another ‘Top Gun’ movie
Tom Cruise originally played Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the original Top Gun. Top Gun wasn’t the box office behemoth that its sequel has become, but it had a passionate fan base who grew up with it. Despite its popularity, Cruise did not want to make a sequel.
In an interview with Collider, Kosinski shared that he had a meeting with producer Jerry Bruckheimer who showed him a script for a Top Gun sequel. After discussing the script and making some changes, the two went to Paris to talk to Cruise, who was filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Kosinski didn’t know that Cruise wasn’t interested in returning to Top Gun, but the director managed to pique his interest.
“I think what I didn’t realize, and Jerry was probably smart not to tell me was that Tom really didn’t want to do another Top Gun movie,” Kosinski explained. “I think he walked into that room prepared to say, ‘Thank you for coming all this way, and I appreciate it, but I’m not interested in making another movie.’ Then at the end of that meeting, he picked up the phone, and he called the head of the studio and said, ‘We’re making another Top Gun.’ So, that was a pretty epic meeting, and pretty amazing to see that level of power on display.”
Kosinski reveals how he convinced Cruise to return
Kosinski told Collider that he eventually convinced Tom Cruise to return for Top Gun: Maverick by just telling him about the movie. The main story detail he believes convinced Cruise is the reconciliation with Rooster (Miles Teller). Rooster is the son of Goose (Anthony Edwards), Maverick’s former flying partner who died in the first movie. Cruise found this to be an interesting story to explore that would also expand Maverick’s character.
“I had kind of my four big ideas that I wanted to talk through,” Kosinski said. “I had some visuals. I had some videos. I had a poster, I had a title. I had kind of like the big stuff, but it was really, the most important thing was the story, and it was this character journey of Maverick and what it was going to be. I mean, that was the thing I think that really got him hooked, was there was finally something that he could latch onto emotionally, which was this reconciliation with Goose’s son. That drew on what was most powerful, and people remembered the most from the first film, which is that friendship with Goose.”
“Then just like looking at that little kid with the cowboy hat, sitting on the piano in that scene in the first movie, and thinking about him growing up and what that would mean if he became a Naval aviator and Maverick had to send him into combat, what that would feel like. I think that’s where Tom finally said, “You know what? That’s it. That’s what’s worth coming back for.”
‘Top Gun: Maverick” has been an incredible success story
Tom Cruise definitely made the right decision to return for Top Gun: Maverick as it is now one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. The sequel has now passed $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office. It is not only the most successful movie of Cruise’s career but also the highest-grossing movie ever made by Paramount. With the success of this movie, it may not be the last we see of Cruise as Maverick.
Top Gun: Maverick is still in theaters.
